Our October 2025 Albums of the Month!
And so we enter the final quarter. The beginning of the end of the year. Will 2025 fall or will it stand tall? It’s been a year of ups and downs, lefts and rights, quarters and thirds. I’m basically just rambling. It’s October! Albums of the month. Best ones. We collect ‘em here. And what a month it was! We were treated to the return of some tech thrash legends after thirty years’ silence, bombastic prog metal of a dreadfully distinct theatrical bent, stoner prog of such grandiosity that you’ll need the fattest blunt ever rolled to sustain you through its heft, a more contemplative and emotional work of progressive post-metal for the afterglow, prog death suffused with enough synth to make Vangelis blush, and a calmer sojourn into the wintry divide between modern classical and metal influences as an aperitif. So go wrap yourself up in a cardigan, sit out with a nice steaming mug of cocoa, and watch the leaves fall while sampling our selection.
Conjurer – Unself
Recommended for fans of: Baroness, Cult of Luna, The Ocean
Picked by: Cooper
From their vitriolic debut with Mire to their palpably optimistic collab with Pijn Curse These Metal Hands, Conjurer has never been one to shy away from strong emotions in their music, but it is with their most recent Unself that they have captured their most vivid depiction of emotion yet. Written during a time of self discovery and transformation for the band, Unself captures feelings of dissociation, self-loathing, and severance via its bouts of post-hardcore breakdowns, festering black metal forays, and toothsome post-metal riffs, but it is actually in the album’s softer moments where its true identity shines through. On tracks like “A Plea” and “This World Is Not My Home,” Conjurer’s use of acoustic guitars and clean vocals dig into the album’s themes like a knife to the gut, simultaneously providing the album’s catchiest and most wrenching moments. Conjurer have always brought the heaviness, but with Unself they also carry something more vulnerable and human in tow.
Recommended tracks: Let Us Live, Hang Them In Your Head
Related links: Bandcamp | original review coming soon!
Psychonaut – World Maker
Recommended for fans of: Mastodon, The Ocean, Tool, Dvne
Picked by: Christopher
The third release from the Belgian progressive post-metallers sees the trio in a more reflective mode. Bittersweet but hopeful, the group ramp up the psychedelia and centre the clean vocals without compromising those groove-laden riffs or strident harshes. But what truly impresses is how an album that’s heavy both in terms of sound and emotion can so often feel truly uplifting, from the major key riffing of “Stargazer” to the consistently defiant optimism of the lyrics. Sparing with the distortion, capaciously produced, and transportively emotional, World Maker sees Psychonaut cement themselves as a unique force within their niche, as well as one of the most important and consistent bands to emerge in the last decade.
Recommended tracks: You are the Sky…, Stargazer, Origins
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Coroner – Dissonance Theory
Recommended for fans of: Vektor, Voivod, Kreator, Strapping Young Lad
Picked by: Cory
A lot has happened since 1993. Half of you reading this probably weren’t born yet, and the rest of you were probably infatuated with Jurassic Park or tracking the very beginnings of the public internet. Look how far we’ve come! What hadn’t happened since 1993, though, was a new release from Swiss tech-thrash pioneers Coroner—until now. Out of a thirty-two-year studio hiatus comes Dissonance Theory, and it absolutely rips. It’s as if the band went into hibernation, dreamt of nothing but riffs, leads, and how to elegantly destroy a drum kit, and then woke up and put it all to tape. From frenetic fretboard heroics to massive midpacers to slow, thudding wallops, Coroner deliver at a level nearly unmatched in modern thrash. The band also sound heavier and more aggressive than ever, wrapping Dissonance Theory in an addictively dark, urgent atmosphere. The record marks another notch in a legendary discography and emphatically spurns the idea that time erodes all things.
Recommended tracks: Consequence, Symmetry, The Law, Trinity, Renewal
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Dissona – Receptor
Recommended for fans of: Devin Townsend, Celldweller, Sybreed, Leprous (Bilateral)
Picked by: Dave
Maximalist songwriting in the wrong hands is almost certain to spell disaster—without thoughtful and incisive compositional choices, the end result is likely to be rendered mush. Dissona, however, are masters of the maximal, tweaking their sound on latest record Receptor to find remarkable balance in a balls-to-the-wall approach through soft interludes and slower-paced tracks prudently dotted throughout. Receptor’s instrumentals are highly technical and head-spinning, crafting dense melodic knots from sinewy hands; even the opening synth arpeggio of the title track is fluttery and complicated before exploding into a neutron star of grandiosity and drama. The record makes plenty of room for fun surprises as well, whether it be the mysterious folkiness of “Suffuse” or the scorching EDM breakdown of “Incisor”. On top are the deliciously manic vocals of David Dubenik, who projects an ineffable urgency through his gravelly, larger-than-life timbre. Receptor is an endlessly dense, trembling celestial body at the edge of the galaxy, and one you’ll readily get drawn into.
Recommended tracks: Incisor, Receptor, Suffuse, Red Mist
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Khan – That Fair and Warlike Form // Return to Dust
Recommended for fans of: Elder, Pallbearer, Mastodon
Picked by: Cory
Tell my employer to schedule a drug test, because this is the second stoner metal release I’ve included in three months. In August, it was Bask’s The Turning—an accessible, Americana-infused beaut of an album. On the other side of the spectrum, this month we have That Fair and Warlike Form // Return to Dust by the Australian act Khan. The two-track LP spans forty-six epic minutes, seeing each of its side-length compositions build, meander, retreat, and do it all again in Elder-like fashion. A thick, melancholic atmosphere hangs as Khan wrap you in sonic layer after layer until you’re fully ensnared, releasing you only after each track ends in spectacular fashion. There’s no shortage of shimmering leads, pulsing bass lines, and grooving drums along the way, all engaging and memorable enough to keep the experience cohesive and flowing. Khan nail the best aspects of stoner metal in a record that’s somehow both sprawling and concise. If my fixation with this album doesn’t cease, I’ll be peeing in a cup soon enough.
Recommended tracks: Give them both a listen
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Raphael Weinroth-Browne – Lifeblood
Recommended for fans of: Apocalyptica, Max Richter
Picked by: Christopher
On his second solo release, cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne is a one-man, one-instrument band. Layering his violoncello parts with pedals and effects, tapping percussively, and applying a bunch of string instrument techniques I’m not well-versed enough in to adequately describe, Lifeblood sounds more like a full band than even Apocalyptica did. Influenced by Arabic scales as well as progressive metal, Weinroth-Browne lays down cello-djent rhythms and shred solos just as often as he produces Max Richter-esque classical pieces. The result is an album that works in the background and foreground; something you can grip on to emotionally and be enthralled by, and something that will sit into the background while you’re cooking or reading. Help Raph buy a shirt, winter is coming.
Recommended tracks: Lifeblood, Ophidian, The Glimmering
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City
Recommended for fans of: Ne Obliviscaris, Opeth and every band ever like them
Picked by: Sam
My colleague Christopher didn’t give The Sleeping City a particularly warm reception in his review, and I am here to tell you that he is WRONG. An Abstract Illusion continue to deliver on their deeply emotional, contemplative brand of progressive death metal, now with extra synth and judicious clean vocal melodies perfect for the onset of winter. Each song is densely packed and structurally ambitious in a way that makes for immensely rewarding repeated listening. Don’t get me wrong, though; moment-to-moment, The Sleeping City is also spectacular—be it a crushing riff (“Like a Geyser Ever Erupting” lives up to its name), a sexy synth solo (“Blackmurmur”), an immersive build-up to a crescendo (“Frost Flower”, “Emmett”), or an emotive guitar solo (“No Dreams Beyond Empty Horizons”, “The Sleeping City”). An Abstract Illusion continue an impressive run of albums, cementing their place as one of the genre’s leading lights.
Recommended tracks: Blackmurmur, Frost Flower, Emmett
Related links: Bandcamp | original review
Non-Subway Picks
Thrice – Horizons/West (post-hardcore/alt rock)
Twenty-seven years into their career, the boys from Irvine show no signs of atrophy. Mixing anthemic alt rock with arty experimentation and gritty riffs, and with Kensrue’s husky vocals tying everything together, Horizons/West proves an impressively strong showing that ranks high in a staggeringly consistent discography.
Picked by: Christopher
Dayseeker – Creature In The Black Night (alternative metal/metalcore)
Dayseeker enliven their dancey, Gunship-adjacent synths and atmospheric breed of broody, heart-forward metalcore with splashes of angular, grinding riffage courtesy of post-Iridescent Silent Planet, giving their seventh LP an infectious bite that, once it’s taken hold, has made it nearly impossible to shake.
Picked by: Vince
Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (folk)
Highlighting her unique vocal style influenced by both jazz and Latin American folk singers, Silvana Estrada ditches the minimalist aesthetic of her debut for a lush, rich followup.
Picked by: Andy
The Acacia Strain – You Are Safe From God Here (deathcore, doom metal, hardcore)
Continuing the trend began with 2023’s Step Into the Light, You Are Safe From God Here sees the Chicopee natives honing their belligerent deathcore brutality into hardcore sized packages sure to churn up any mosh pit into a bloody, pulpy mess.
Picked by: Cooper
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