Instrumental post-metal that views itself as a conceptual journey across the solar system. It is both big in ambition and in scale. It works on a monumentally large canvas, scoping a gargantuan cathedral of interlinking sound. Sometimes immensely heavy but also in other places scarce and sparse, it is a hypnotically entrancing album that feels like a meditation on our finite small part in the cosmos. Brilliantly rendered, it is a breathtaking record that looks up to the skies for both salvation and inspiration.

2025 TOP 100Author : Stewart Lucas26 November 2025Hemelbestormer, The Radiant Veil, 60-41, 2025Comment

47. Lera - "Rêverie"

A highly enticing mix of ambient and doom via a debut album from a bunch of Italians. It is dark, atmospheric and rather compelling. It knits together crunching heavy cyclical riffs and fragile dreamy ambience. These two juxtapositions gel well, creating a solid ecosystem that feels both alien and familiar. It all feels rather detached, mysterious and emotive. Full of textured layers it is an album that absolutely commands repeated listening.

2025 TOP 100Author : Stewart Lucas26 November 2025Lera, Reverie, 60-41, 2025Comment

46. Bloodred Hourglass - "We Should Be Buried Like This"

playing with heavy metal’s constructs, or that are subverting and manipulating what my beloved genre should sound like. Well, this one isn’t attempting to rewrite any rule book. This is straight down the line meat and potato metal and its gloriously wonderful for being that. It is a fabulous amalgamation of aggression and melody. This is how I want my metal to sound, cathartically energetic and full of contagious beauty. It’s quite simply a collection of brilliantly written heavy metal songs that understand the need for rousing choruses and soaring riffs. Absolutely excellent.

2025 TOP 100Author : Stewart Lucas26 November 2025Bloodred Hourglass, We Should Be Buried Like This, 60-41, 2025Comment

45. Der Weg Einer Freiheit - "Innern"

We are back to the auteurs playing with form and function. This is a tempestuous maelstrom of emotionally charged black prog. It tempers harsh aggression with melodic, vulnerable passages that are full of fragile introspection. The pivet between styles is done really well, avoiding any sense of jarring and instead creating a natural meld between the two states of being. For all its opulent anger, it is a mature and sophisticated album that can understands how to overwhelm and sooth in equal measure.

2025 TOP 100Author : Stewart Lucas26 November 2025Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Innern, 60-41, 2025Comment

44. Benediction - "Ravage of Empires"

Let’s put aside the sophistication for one moment and go big on the brutality. This is old school death metal from one of this country’s foremost pioneers in this style. Benediction may not have gained the plaudits of Napalm Death or Bolthrower but they existed alongside both bands, happily trading members like a deranged wife swap party. This is a brilliantly simple and minimal album that strips everything back to core aggression. It is remorseless, angry and unabatingly intense. It illustrates the beauty of brittle belligerent heaviness and happily builds upon over 35 years in this game. Absolute belter of a record.

2025 TOP 100Author : Stewart Lucas26 November 2025Benediction, Ravage Of Empires, 60-41, 2025Comment

43. Dark Chapel - "Spirit in the Glass"

An early doors release, this has yo-yoed over the year. Every time it has slipped down the ranking as other records have appeared, I have given it a quick listen, and it has sprung its way back up the countdown. It is a magical, ethereal record. Mournful and husky, it is dry and arid heavy rock album. It does contain riffs but in the main, it is melodic and forlorn. It is haunting rather than heavy and it feels like the soundtrack to a downbeat movie. Overall it is brilliantly constructed and it has held its place on the list for the last eleven months because it is memorable and distinctly moreish.

2025 TOP 100Author : Stewart Lucas26 November 2025Dark Chapel, Spirit In The Glass, 60-41, 2025Comment

42. Sheev - "Ate’s Alchemist"

Happily hanging onto the coattails of Tool and Mastodon, this is an impressively sprawling piece of stoner prog. It is loose enough to have that lethargic sensibility, but it exhibits its prog tendencies enough to lean into a cacophony of complex time signatures. It blends technical procession with raging aggression. It is immaculately constructed, and even the free-form parts feel stringently rehearsed. Complexly textured, it is another album that reveals itself over time.

2025 TOP 100Author : Stewart Lucas26 November 2025Sheev, Ate's Alchemist, 60-41, 2025Comment

41. Hexvessel - "Nocturne"

Mat McNerney (here appearing as Mathew Kvohst McNerney) is rather a metal Renaissance man. He is a constantly evolving creative dynamo, simultaneously weaving his mystical spell across a multitude of different musical vehicles. Terrifically authentic new wave goth outfit Grave Pleasures is apparently still a going concern yet he has this year produced not one but two side projects. Scorpion Milk in 95, but here (just) in the better half of the main list is his other other other band Hexvessel.

They have actually been around for much longer than Grave Pleasures, in fact they predate Grave Pleasures' doomed predecessor, Beastmilk. They are Kvohst (as his nan likes to call him) Black Metal outlet surrounded by several virtuoso Finish musicians. Actually, this is as much dark folk as it is Black Metal. It is a feral, organic record that is raw and primitive. It scales back as much as it lunges forward, and it taps into a rich vein of ritualistic paganism. It feels spiritual on a stripped-down level, where the deity in question has dirt on their face as opposed to the gold dust in their hair. It’s that off-key dishevelment that makes the album so interesting. It is a girty, grumpy album that feels in touch with its wild side.

2025 TOP 100Author : Stewart Lucas26 November 2025Hexvessel, Nocturne, 60-41, 2025Comment