Top 40 Albums of The Year 2025, Part 2
Albums #30-21: Conjurer, Alpha Male Tea Party, Mogwai and more
Here are entries 30 through 21 on the 2025 AOTY List. If you missed the previous instalments:
30. Conjurer - Unself
You want Big Riffs? Conjurer have Big Riffs. You want excoriations of capitalism and a defence of trans rights? Conjurer have that too. This is uncompromising metal, lent emotional impact by the impassioned lyrics of Dani Nightingale, veering into soulful cleans alongside bone-shattering roars. On their recordings, Conjurer have always been a challenging prospect, but amidst the heavy intensity, there are some great hooks and tenderness here that set Unself a level above its predecessor.
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29. SCALER - Endlessly
SCALER are the latest in a small but excellent tradition of electronic acts that wield guitars and find themselves on post-rock and chin-scratcher metal festival bills. (See also: 65daysofstatic). Endlessly is an interesting dichotomy of an album - dark and experimental instrumental rave bangers interspersed with female vocal guest spot singles that verge on Kelly Lee Owens at her most popular. Plus there’s a Godflesh-with-spoken-word industrial EDM song on there too. Would it be more compelling if it stuck to one lane? Maybe. Fair play to a band doing what they want to do.
Read my full album review on Distorted Sound
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28. Frost Children - SISTER
Hyperpop! Look, hyperpop gets a bad rap, particularly given its widespread emergence was driven in part by Spotify playlists, as discussed in Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine (highly recommended, despite its challenging prose). And yeah, the whole “I’m a Barbie Girl for the Kawaii generation” vibe can be definitionally grating to write as a sentence, let alone hear. SISTER definitely has its grating moments in overexposed synth production, and it’s a good ten minutes too long. But Frost Children don’t lack some serious songwriting ability, with an undeniable talent for earworm melodies and a proper understanding of how to structure a banger. Redefine it as “maximalist pop” and luxuriate in the hooks. You won’t regret it.
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27. H E X - II
Among my favourite albums from my insufferable late 2010s obscure music phase (obvious joke is obvious) was a self-titled record from Swiss act H E X. It defies definition - it’s kind of doom, kind of industrial, big on discordant chord changes, weird time signatures and lurching synths that leave you uncomfortable and disoriented. I assumed it to be a one-and-done record, so imagine my delight when they dropped a second record this year. The sophomore effort brings in some vocals and a little less of the demonic intensity, but they still have that gear in them, especially in the kaleidoscopic, apocalyptic Liminal.
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26. Indifferent Engine - Speculative Fiction
I saw Indifferent Engine live a couple of years ago, one of those experiences that left me baffled. A stage covered in static-filled CRT screens, a rush of post-hardcore riffs, and a vocalist appearing to be in actual emotional pain as he screamed, sobbed, and smashed the microphone against his head repeatedly. Bold for a support act. Given time to absorb it, I’ve decided that this is, in fact, great. Their debut album on Church Road Records (a label that doesn’t seem to miss) is an explosion of post-hardcore intensity, the sort of thing that generations of bands have tried to copy from At The Drive-In with mixed results.
Read my full album review on Distorted Sound
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25. Heretoir - Solastalgia
Heretoir made my 2023 AOTY list through a pitch-perfect execution of blast-beat-to-double-kick drumming assaults. That album, Nightsphere, was a dark and moody affair; Solastalgia instead goes for full, heart-rending catharsis, a rush of blackened post-metal focused on positivity. It’s expertly produced and replete with heartstring melodies, not to mention their vocalist going up about three levels in quality with some serious belting. It’d be a lot, lot higher on this list if the latter stages of the album didn’t prompt some saccharine fatigue.
Read my full album review on Distorted Sound
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24. Alpha Male Tea Party - Reptilian Brain
Your favourite angular instrumental three-piece with a name that you might not want on a T-shirt have discovered that they can sing. An instrumental band pivoting to doing vocals appears to be a growing trend (see also: Bicurious last year), and the concern was that adding singing might flatten the magic of their octave-doubled guitars and fist-in-the-air riffage into just another rock band. Alpha Male Tea Party avoid this through:
Actually having pretty good singing voices
Lyrics that match the energy of their music, without compromising the sound
Knowing how to write hooks
Five albums in may be an odd time to make this transition, but Reptilian Brain is all the better for it. Perhaps more bands should learn how to write compelling instrumental songs for a while before throwing in vocals. I should never have doubted you, AMTP.
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23. Ba’al - The Fine Line Between Heaven And Here
Another band who had a Top 10 EP from last year - Ba’al follow up the excellent Ornamental Doll with this meaty full-length, recorded in the same sessions. The energy of that appetiser carries over to this banquet of a record, packed full of shrieks, crushing riffs and rapid-fire guitar lines. Like a few albums on this list, it can be an exhausting listen for its length and its emotional heft (another recurrent theme!), but it’s well-earned.
Read my full album review on Distorted Sound
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22. Mogwai - The Bad Fire
Man, Mogwai have had an increasingly mad career. Early post-rock fame led to a succession of decent records, then a pivot into soundtracks for Hollywood movies, football documentaries and drug-crime prestige TV. And then they had a Number 1 charting album in 2021. At this point, they’re just doing their thing and doing it well, and The Bad Fire mainly consists of the same: unconventional and loud post-rock closer in vibe to My Bloody Valentine than Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It may not be the highest-rated post-rock album on this list (there’s a lot more coming; it’s been a banner year), but go and put Lion Rumpus on at full volume on the largest speakers you have and tell me it isn’t great.
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21. Pool Kids - Easier Said Than Done
Another bubblegum math pop band pivoting a little closer to synth pop? I’m having some AOTY déjà vu. To say Pool Kids are the American equivalent to Orchards does both bands a disservice, but they have both doubled down on poppier song structures and deeper emotional writing whilst tastefully scaling back (without excising) their fiddlier elements. There’s a lot of Paramore energy here, too, which is no bad thing. I loved their self-titled sophomore album in 2022; Easier Said Than Done is just as good.
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