In 2025, we said a lot of words at The Subway. Between myself and the other writers (including a slew of fabulous new writers we brought on this year), a ridiculous amount of proverbial ink was spilled about music in our little corner of the internet, amassed in 440 (!!!) posts. We also saw a huge growth in readership unlike any the blog has ever seen and, in my opinion, the quality of our writing has skyrocketed. I’m so grateful to have been a part of it all, and I’m already looking forward to what 2026 has in store!

Without further ado, let’s check out some honorable mentions:

Nospūn – Ozai: The year’s premier temporal anomaly. I don’t care if Ozai comes from the past, the future, or from curves and angles outside of spacetime, its high-octane djenty grooves and powerful vocal performance are an addicting treat every time I pick it up. Recommended track: Life, the Universe, and Everything

Kayo Dot – Every Rock, Every Half-Truth Under Reason: The latest release from Driver and co. transports the listener into frightening liminal spaces through its shrill, brittle drone. These pieces are broken up by brilliant through-composed post-rock tracks, hearkening back to debut Choirs of the Eye. Who knew that being haunted could be so fun? Recommended track: Closet Door in the Room Where She Died

Calva Louise – Edge of the Abyss: Heavy, aggressive, and groovy, Edge of the Abyss straddles the line between chaos and control with finesse. Come for the head-smashing aggression, stay for the slick, subdued rhythmic breaks and clever interweaving of English and Spanish lyrics. Recommended track: Lo Que Vale

Heinali, Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko – Гільдеґарда (Hildegard): Hauntingly touching, Гільдеґарда is one of the slowest-moving releases of the year and yet packs the punch of an almighty glacier. Heinali’s droning keys and Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko’s enchanting open voice induce a profound quietude. Recommended track: O Ignis Spiritus

Double Mute – Corporate Culture_FINAL_v2: While I didn’t rate this one terribly high, it hasn’t left my mind since I reviewed it. The central conceit of Corporate Culture_FINAL_v2 is so endearingly silly, so absurdly Lynchian, and commits so fully to its bit that it’s impossible not to love. Recommended track: CEO

Here are a few standout songs from records not on the list:

Brainblast – Caelus Elixir

Crippling Alcoholism – LADIES’ NIGHT

Fós – Táim i mo shuí

Intrascendence – Believing to See

Maud the Moth – Canto de Enramada

Moron Police – King Among Kittens

Wyatt E. – The Diviner’s Prayer to the Gods of Night

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10. Dissona – Receptor

Style: Progressive metal, symphonic metal, cyber metal (Mixed vocals, mostly clean)
Recommended for fans of: Devin Townsend, Celldweller, Sybreed, Leprous (Bilateral)

With prog metal passages as dense as a neutron star and a vocal performance that perfectly encapsulates manic hysteria, Receptor is an absolute rush of an album. Dissona have evolved their sound beyond the baroque sensibilities of Paleopneumatic and ascended into something frightening, twisted, and outright excessive. And this is to say nothing of the absolutely killer EDM breakdown of “Incisor”, an obvious highlight. Intentional vagueness in the lyricism augments Receptor’s horror element: the fear conjured by the narrator’s fucked up transformation is only heightened by the scant details awarded to the listener. Receptor is an overstimulated, hyper-maximalist slab of progressive metal brilliance.

Recommended tracks: Incisor, Receptor, Suffuse, Red Mist
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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9. Point Mort – Le Point de Non-Retour

Style: Post-hardcore, post-metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Rolo Tomassi, Converge, Terminal Sleep

Le Point de Non-Retour features some of the best post-hardcore and post-metal songwriting of the year. Opening epic “An Ungrateful Wreck of our Ghost Bodies” pummels the listener into the ground with aggressive blast beats, crunchy post-hardcore riffs, and a throat-shredding vocal performance before parting the waters in a floaty, ethereal electronic break. Compositionally, Le Point de Non-Retour is stunning: “The Bent Neck Lady” methodically builds itself from faint embers into a volcanic climax, while other tracks range from multi-part epics to bite-sized fireballs of fury. Behind the visceral exterior is a vulnerability and a playfulness exuded by vocalist Sam Pillay, ranging from the aforementioned shrieks to smooth cleans and squeaky sass retorts. These elements alchemize Point Mort’s ineffable rage into a supreme catharsis.

Recommended tracks: An Ungrateful Wreck of Our Ghost Bodies, The Bent Neck Lady, Le Point de Non-Retour
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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8. Wÿntër Ärvń – Sous l’Orage Noir – L’Astre et la Chute

Style: Dark folk, neofolk (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Empyrium, Vàli, Ulver (Kveldssanger), The Moon and the Nightspirit

Dark folk centralizes itself on the synthesis of natural beauty and sadness; Sous l’Orage Noir – L’Astre et la Chute perfectly balances these elements through nautical elegance and despondent intrigue. Foggy horizons are gazed upon wistfully as a fragile contrapuntal dance is engaged between guitars and myriad instruments. For all its subtleties, the record’s interrelationships are striking, whether it be the clarinet and guitar gingerly weaving around each other on “Vingt Ans de Brouillard” or the rambling acoustic tremolos underneath haunting, ethereal vocals on “Appellé à l’Abîme”. Harsh vocals even surface intermittently, adding intensity and texture yet never disturbing Sous l’Orage Noir’s diaphanous tapestries. One would be hard-pressed to walk away from Sous l’Orage Noir – L’Astre et la Chute without a sense of awe at its powerful-yet-nuanced compositions.

Recommended tracks: Ad Umbras, Vingt Ans de Brouillard, Un Voile sur l’Azur, Appelé à l’Abîme
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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7. Effuse – On Others

Style: Progressive metal, post-hardcore (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Contortionist, Circa Survive, Voyager, Ions

For as much as we love art here at the Subway, it is at its core a lossy means of exchanging ideas. Effuse’s On Others explores this in full, investigating the inner world of the artist, the nature of artistic interpretation, and how it manifests in fans and peers alike. This meta-commentary is delivered through crunchy, djenty progressive metal: vocalist (and fellow blog member) Chris Deese delivers airy cleans and raspy harshes on top of swirling guitar grooves, thumping bass, and punchy drum work. Each of On Others’ four tracks is a barnstormer, expertly building to massive climaxes before crushing the listener under hefty grooves. The EP culminates in “Two Cathedrals”, which swirls into Contortionist-flavored chaos in its final moments. Regardless of your interpretation, there’s no getting around On Others’ sheer compositional quality and melodic acumen.

Recommended tracks: Observer, Augury, Orbweaver
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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6. The Mars Volta – Lucro Sucio; los Ojos del Vacío

Style: Art rock, progressive pop, neo-psychedelia (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Radiohead, Animal Collective, Death Grips, Aphex Twin

A hallmark of The Mars Volta’s records is an alluring opacity in their songwriting and lyricism: their albums are just oblique enough that they effectively beg you to understand their inner worlds. Lucro Sucio; los Ojos del Vacío is no different, as Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez extend their tendrils into neo-psychedelia. The inner scaffolding that makes TMV so weird and unique is still present, but now, their compositions focus on textural exploration and hazy, dreamlike songwriting. One moment, a piece will be a percussive symphony performed by a thousand skittering bugs (“Enlazan las Tinieblas”); the next, utter stillness takes over in liminal ambience (“Mictlán”). These pieces shouldn’t work together, but the big picture has such an impressive flow that Lucro Sucio; los Ojos del Vacío ends up wiggling its way into your consciousness anyway.

Recommended tracks: Celaje, Un Disparo al Vacío, Reina Tormenta/Enlazan las Tinieblas, Cue the Sun
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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5. Sangre de Muérdago – O Xardín

Style: Neofolk, dark folk, Galician folk (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Trobar de Morte, Ulver (Kveldssanger), Wardruna, Osi and the Jupiter, The Moon and the Nightspirit

Nothing conjures inspiration like the hazy orange beams of sunrise. Sangre de Muérdago’s O Xardín glimmers with the opportunities of a new day, recontextualizing their somber collaboration with Judasz + Nahimana, A Ilusão da Quietude, in a fresh, optimistic light. O Xardín is exuberant and heartwarming, indulging in touching animist vignettes (“A Chave”, “A Gralla”) and showcasing playful interaction between hurdy-gurdy, clarinet, and a whole host of Galician folk instruments (“A Porta”). Within its playfulness lies an undercurrent of mystery: “O Transo” is calm and meditative and “O Abismo” culminates in a hypnotic dance among the abyss. Even the dramatic fanfare of “A Porta” belies curious exploration. O Xardín demonstrates Sangre de Muérdago’s stature as a juggernaut of modern folk music, steeping itself deeply in Galician cultural tradition delivered with unbridled joy.

Recommended tracks: O Abismo, O Xardín, A Chave, O que Mora no Lume
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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4. Sumac, Moor Mother – The Film

Style: Atmospheric sludge metal, avant-garde metal, poetry (Spoken word, harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Isis, Neurosis, Chat Pile, Thou, Mizmor

Sumac’s 2024 release, The Healer, saw the Canuck sludge metallers stretch their compositional legs to their limits; bookending tracks “World of Light” and “The Stone’s Turn” skirted by at a breezy twenty-five minutes each. Follow-up release The Film crunches down the length, but dials the experimentation up to eleven with the help of hip-hop powerhouse Moor Mother. Not only are The Film’s pieces even more disorienting, atonal, and arrhythmic, but they’re significantly more profound as Moor Mother dishes out spoken-word poetry with incalculable weight. Building in tension across its runtime, The Film culminates in apocalyptic closer “Scene 5: Breathing Fire”, where menacing chords are hit with militaristic precision, Moor Mother summons an unstoppable fury, and the record completely collapses in on itself in a fuzzy, bassy meltdown. “Scene 5”, and The Film by extension, stands confidently among the most titanic and monumental of sludge metal projects.

Recommended tracks: Scene 5: Breathing Fire, Camera, Scene 2: The Run
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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3. Cascadent – Telemetry

Style: Swancore, progressive metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Hail the Sun, Good Tiger, Makari, I Met a Yeti

The Atlanta metal scene is eating good this year. Not only did we get Effuse’s fantastically short-but-sweet EP On Others, but we got Telemetry, the stellar debut LP from Cascadent. And when I say stellar, I mean stellar—the record is imbued with equal parts galactic antics à la Cowboy Bebop and the flashiness of your favorite anime OP. Telemetry leans hard into its anime vibe, with centerpiece “Playground Parachute” feeling like a high-speed alien bazaar chase that leads to a dramatic fight atop a glacier. Every piece is jam-packed with excitement, grafting dense knots of guitarwork to intricately layered vocal performances from both the band members and guest musicians. Cascadent’s sense of teamwork is wholly palpable: while every member’s contributions stand out on their own, the group transcends the sum of its parts by cleverly piecing elements together like a swancore Rube Goldberg machine. Telemetry is easily the debut of the year and I’m dying to see what the Atlantans cook up next.

Recommended tracks: Collision Hymn, Playground Parachute, Sunset In a Sense, Carousel Spin
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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2. Cocojoey – STARS

Style: Bitpop, digital fusion, j-pop, cybergrind (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: KNOWER, Fire-Toolz, Poppy, Sophie, Trust Fund Ozu

STARS unquestionably features the most brilliant genre mashups of the year—this jittery ball of glitter tosses the listener around digital fusion, bitpop, hardcore breaks, and cybergrind like it’s nothing. To top it all off, the transitions between these disparate styles are seamless—for example, the subtle dissonant key changes right before STARS’ numerous cybergrind meltdowns become second nature after a listen or two. Alongside these meltdowns are geysers of technicolor excess: the record’s fusion synth stabs feel like a flashbang of ten million ultra-saturated hues.

Lyrically, STARS is a meta-commentary on the internal and external world of a queer disabled person; neurodivergent people of a certain age (read: autistic/ADHD people who were exposed to too much 2000s internet brain rot)¹ will inevitably relate to both Cocojoey’s lyricism and the record’s gloriously chaotic songwriting. Lyrical topics range from pointed callouts of predatory healthcare corporations (“COCOJOEY’S LACK OF REGRETS”) to mantras centered on all the things that make life worth living in the worst moments (“THE I LIKE SONG”) to lessons that can be learned from the carefree lifestyle of cats (“MIDNIGHT LICKING HOURS”). These STARS shine bright with glimmering hyperactivity, quirky interjections, and explosive fury in one of the most fabulous surprises of 2025.

Recommended tracks: COCOJOEY’S LACK OF REGRETS, TIME TO GO!, THE I LIKE SONG, hearth<3
Related links: Bandcamp | Instagram | original review

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1. Wardruna – Birna

Style: Neo-pagan folk, dark folk, neofolk (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Sowulo, Heilung, Forndom, Nytt Land

Like much of Wardruna’s catalog, Birna may have historical roots, but the record is a product of the modern times that transcends both past and present. Pulling from the past is traditional instrumentation and an eye towards the natural world in a story centered on the mythology of the fearsome she-bear, shepherd of the forest and cosmos alike. Pulling from the present are modern songwriting techniques and a dire warning of habitat loss; both ecological and cultural rehabilitation are a must, should we wish to restore and preserve the natural world. Birna’s Animist ideas are synthesized in percussive, layered compositions with voices that entwine in rapturous fervor and drums that pound with unparalleled conviction. And that’s just the opening track!

Birna’s middle section is nothing short of a marvel—the stretch of tracks from “Ljos til Jord” to “Hibjørnen” evokes an oaken sublimity, dancing with irrepressible glee to punctuated percussion (“Himmindotter”, “Ljos til Jord”) and lazily dreaming among teetering lyre and reverberating ice (“Dvaledraumar”, “Jord til Ljos”, “Hibjørnen”). This stretch of record is tied together with lyrical reprisal: the verses of “Dvaledraumar” huddle close in frigid torpor, but those same verses in “Jord til Ljos” shudder with the budding energy of Spring. “Hibjørnen” resurfaces these ideas once more, awaiting next year’s hibernation in a sun-dappled mossy grove.

Birna is a larger-than-life opus that strikes at modern problems through the lens of restoration. While its powerful drumming had me dancing in joy and its strings lulled me into a deep trance, it was Birna’s lyricism that touched at my heart in a way nothing else in 2025 did. In the coming year, take a moment to walk beside the bear, swim upstream with the fish, and seek counsel from the trees; they may have more to say than you think.

Recommended tracks: Dvaledraumar, Jord til Ljos, Ljos til Jord, Hertan, Himinndotter
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review

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1. Of which I am in no uncertain terms count myself a part of. ↩︎