The Progressive Subway’s Official Top 10 Albums of 2025!
Hello and welcome to The Progressive Subway’s Official Top Ten Albums of 2025! Last year was undoubtedly our best ever. With a bunch of incredibly passionate and talented new recruits on board, and having expanded our scope to reviewing everything in the prog world (not just underground stuff), we were able to put out more content than ever and of a higher quality than ever before. Our viewership nearly tripled on 2024’s numbers, we found out that we’re being used as a source on Wikipedia [citation needed], and we embarked on a number of great projects, from interviewing festival promoters about geopolitical problems to taking a stand against AI slop.
On with the Top 10! There’s no getting around it, this year’s is a bit weird. Our individual writers’ tastes differed wildly in a year marked by an enormous diversity in the prog scene, but also a dearth of albums that could really unite us. That’s reflected in the omissions that some readers might’ve expected to see here, and the inclusions which might cause some raised eyebrows. Twelve of our writers voted in this year’s top 10 (their individual posts acted as their ballots), and between them they nominated seventy-nine unique albums. As a result, it’s well worth checking out each individual top ten to see the sheer breadth of albums on offer across 2025.
Top tens: Andy | Chris | Claire | Cooper | Cory | Daniel | Dave | Doug | Ian | Ishmael | Justin | Vince
Or you can just dive right in! Here they are: The Official Top 10 Albums of 2025 according to The Progressive Subway:
10. Cocojoey – STARS
Recommended for fans of: KNOWER, Fire-Toolz, Poppy, Sophie, Trust Fund Ozu
Write-up by: Dave
Optimism is the default modus operandi for many of us—it is wholly unlike the human spirit to give in to the world’s insanity and permanently fall into an insurmountable crag of depression. No, our purpose is to adapt and to persevere and to hold on to our humanity. STARS, the sophomore record by Chicago-based artist Joey Meland (known as Cocojoey), fully expresses the undying human spirit in a messy, glitchy, and hyperactive stew of bitpop, digital fusion, cybergrind, and hardcore beats. Ultra-technicolor fusion keyboard stabs sit comfortably alongside mechanized mental breakdowns as Meland lays bare the joys and struggles of life as a queer disabled person. STARS’ lyricism mirrors the songwriting, at times acting as a centering mantra for life’s hardest moments and at others unabashedly exuding frustration at predatory corporations. The record’s emotions aren’t neatly packaged into digestible chunks—overflowing love and volcanic rage constantly fight for sonic and lyrical space—yet these extremes are necessary to properly articulate the swirling chaos of one’s inner world. Additionally, Meland handles transitions between these extremes with grace and acumen, blending opposites together with clever key changes and subtle musical signals. STARS’ brushstrokes may overlap and clash, but stepping back from the canvas reveals a brilliantly complete tapestry of the optimist’s experience in a world designed not for them. If that’s not the purest embodiment of artistic merit, then I don’t know what is.
Recommended tracks: COCOJOEY’S LACK OF REGRETS, TIME TO GO!, THE I LIKE SONG, hearth<3
Related links: Bandcamp | Instagram | original review
9. Cascadent – Telemetry
Recommended for fans of: Hail the Sun, Good Tiger, Makari, I Met a Yeti
Write-up by: Ian
For all of our florid adjectives and carefully considered metaphors, there are certain albums where we music critics must set our pots of purple ink aside and come to the simple, irreducible conclusion that this shit goes fuckin’ hard, yo. Such is the instinctive reaction engendered by Atlanta’s own Cascadent and their fantastic record Telemetry. This album serves up a deliriously addictive style of energetic, noodly post-hardcore whose soaring, anime-inspired melodies sail effortlessly past the highfalutin barriers of the frontal cortex to be absorbed by the primal caveman parts of the brain. Upon hearing the sugar-sweet chorus of “Sunset, In a Sense” or the explosive riffs of “The Baku’s Bargain”, said caveman parts then respond, “This fun. This banger. Me dance and sing along now.” What’s more, for all its immediate appeal, Telemetry offers plenty of complexity beneath its candy-coated veneer. With intricate guitar work, towering horn arrangements, and left-field electronic interludes aplenty, there’s a shocking amount of density here, hidden depths that are a joy to tease apart on subsequent listens. And trust me, given how utterly addictive this album is from front to back, there will likely be plenty of said subsequent listens in your future.
Recommended tracks: Collision Hymn, Playground Parachute, Sunset In a Sense, The Baku’s Bargain
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
8. Psychonaut – World Maker
Recommended for fans of: Dvne, The Ocean, Mastodon, Tool
Write-up by: Cooper
With World Maker, Belgian progressive post-metallers Psychonaut have delivered a radiant and deeply assuring third album, confirming their place among modern prog’s brightest lights. Breaking free from the solid foundation that was established with Unfold the God Man and Violate Consensus Reality, the band shifted their center of gravity, leaning further into psychedelia, groove, and nuance without sacrificing much of the heft that made them Subway favorites in the first place. Tool-inspired rhythmic licks featuring hammer-on/pull-off figures form the basis of guitar passages, while flashes of psychedelic synths, tabla, and leads add warmth and color to the compositions. The album thrives on contrast; crushing grooves like “You Are the Sky…” coexist with longer introspective passages, and instrumental centerpiece “Origins” unfurls as a hypnotic showcase of evolving lead guitar that acts as the emotional linchpin of the album. Lyrically, World Maker sits at the intersection of grief and hope, exploring fathers and sons, loss and birth, with Psychonaut’s trademark sense of spiritual optimism. World Maker is an album from a prog band maturing gracefully, and it solidifies Psychonaut as one of the most consistently excellent progressive metal bands working today.
Recommended tracks: You Are The Sky…, …Everything Else Is Just The Weather, Origins, Stargazer
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
7. Messa – The Spin
Recommended for fans of: Windhand, Chelsea Wolfe, Pijn, Latitudes
Write-up by: Doug
Rarely has there been a year better suited to Messa‘s signature melancholy than 2025, fraught as it was with fears both personal and global. One of metal music’s strengths, though, is channeling negative thoughts and feelings into something productive and meaningful—no less dark and daunting, but a positive spin nonetheless. The Spin offers a visceral lesson in this difficult time on how to tread water even when the whole world seems to be drowning. Messa‘s moodiness comes in many flavors, building on top of the classic, heavily distorted guitars and slow tempo found in doom metal with a variety of tones and instrumentation—including synths, piano, and even a bluesy muted trumpet solo in “The Dress.” This latest album fuses different aspects of Messa‘s past work, combining the unrestrained emotion of their earlier albums with the precise consistency developed on 2022’s Close to produce their most mature sound yet. As the new year brings new troubles of its own, it may feel futile to cling to music as a source of succor, but when all else fails, at least we still have excellent tunes to jam out to.
Recommended tracks: Void Meridian, Immolation, The Dress, Thicker Blood
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
6. Between the Buried and Me – The Blue Nowhere
Recommended for fans of: Native Construct, Intronaut, Protest the Hero, Mr. Bungle
Write-up by: Ishmael
Prior to the release of their latest album, it was hard to see what else Between the Buried and Me could possibly do. What ground did they have left to cover? For a quarter century, the group have solidified themselves as the world’s premier progressive metalcore act; several of their albums—including Alaska, Colors, and The Parallax II: Future Sequence—are routinely listed among the best in the genre. But, like a chef adding a pinch of salt, and a dash of spice to what seems to the layman to be an already perfect dish, they’ve turned the dials ever so slightly on their classic formula and Ratatouilled themselves another masterpiece. BTBAM have always been a group happy to experiment with unusual flavour combinations, injecting jazz, country, and electronic influences into meat-and-potatoes metalcore since their early days. But, like famous TV chef Emeril Lagasse, The Blue Nowhere kicks it up a notch—BAM! Add some neoclassical to “Mirador Uncoil”? BAM! What about some flamenco in “Door #3”? BAM! Some rockabilly in “Absent Thereafter”? But of course. The Blue Nowhere blends more genres than any previous release by the band, pouring them over impeccable technical chops, garnished with minty fresh production. It’s a dish that satisfies old fans and new alike, a comfort food with a tangy twist. Apropos of nothing, I gained ten pounds over Christmas and am now, sadly, on a diet. Is it obvious?
Recommended tracks: Things We Tell Ourselves in the Dark, Absent Thereafter, Psychomanteum, The Blue Nowhere
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
5. Dissona – Receptor
Recommended for fans of: Devin Townsend, Celldweller, Sybreed, Leprous (Bilateral), Symphony X
Write-up by: Claire
The gravitational force of Receptor is immense. Much like the intoxicating, unknowable substance that overtakes its narrator, Receptor exerts an irresistible pull that drew in a number of my Subway colleagues and me. To give in is to experience a sonic event horizon where emotional gravity bends perspective and leaves the listener warped by luminous, space-borne synths, invigorated by grandiose symphonic surges and piston-driven grooves, and unmoored by David Dubenic’s mercurial vocal performance—shapeshifting dynamically from the feral snarls of “Red Mist” to the plaintive, inward collapse of “Chimeric”. Though nine long years separated Receptor from Dissona’s last full-length album, it was time well spent, as the band’s sound has tightened into a resplendent blend of the classical and the futuristic, unflinchingly larger-than-life yet coherent. Receptor’s artfully oblique lyrics only deepen the sense of immersion, leaving space for the listener to piece together their own internal mythology (such as my own headcanon that guest vocalist Fabienne Enri is absorbed by the “substance” after the album’s fourth track). Far and away my most-listened album of 2025, Receptor’s grip on me hasn’t weakened in the slightest. Let it call you in, and feel yourself be taken over.
Recommended tracks: Receptor, Incisor, Red Mist
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
4. Qrixkuor – The Womb of the World
Recommended for fans of: Immolation, Teitanblood, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Stravinsky
Write-up by: Andy
Much of death metal concerns itself with violence enacted upon the body; Qrixkuor are concerned with the harsh deterioration of the human consciousness. The Womb of the World is a disorienting voyage through the trenches of Tarterean death metal, murky and inscrutably atmospheric—ontologically hostile. Operating within the language of cavernous death metal, Qrixkuor equivocate time, melody, and narrative. The four grandiose pieces of music contained within The Womb of the World deconstruct death metal stereotypes. The riffs are tectonic in scope—shifting slowly in vast scales, grinding against one another, fracturing into sudden bouts of chromatic angst. Wailing guitar parts circle around like vultures as The Womb of the World’s live orchestration antagonizes the metal. Brass erupts as metal recedes; strings tie themselves into knots with the guitars; and wavering operatic vocals create faux harmonic centers the instruments refuse to acknowledge. Qrixkuor’s extremity lies in its maddening denial of resolution, of stability, of the listener’s agency. The Womb of the World is deliciously subversive and reaches cavernous death metal’s logical endpoint. There is nowhere for Qrixkuor to improve because their music has already spiraled into existential insanity.
Recommended tracks: Slithering Serendipity, The Womb of the World
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
3. Dessiderium – Keys to the Palace
Recommended for fans of: Ne Obliviscaris, Wintersun, Devin Townsend
Write-up by: Daniel
2025 has been a brutal year—and not just because of all the great death metal on the upper end of our list, here. While much of the genre conjures endless hellscapes of torment, despair, and mental collapse (don’t get me wrong though, I love that shit), Keys to the Palace is a death metal album that dares to hope at a time when many of us need it most. Loss and mourning are present in the lyrics, yes—but so are rebirth, renewal, and the promise of a new dawn. Most of all, the album’s blissful melodies will carry you to something akin to nirvana. “In the Midst of May” unlocks the first door with a beautifully heavy blur of fluttering strings, tickled ivories, and sliding riffs of springtime euphonia. That sense of wonder and grandeur never fades until the album itself ends on the title track’s technical barrage and euphoric falsettos. Keys to the Palace offers a warm, empathetic embrace to lovers of heavy progressive music without sacrificing any of the experimentation, ferocious power, or technical wizardry that makes us love it.
Recommended tracks: In the Midst of May, Dover Hendrix, A Dream That Wants Me Dead, Magenta
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
2. Moron Police – Pachinko
Recommended for fans of: The Dear Hunter, Thank You Scientist, Haken, Closure in Moscow, Bear Ghost
Write-up by: Chris
Congratulations to Moron Police for being the first band to overcome The Progressive Subway curse; a prog rock group gets into the year’s top three at last! A tribute to their friend and departed drummer Thore, the zany Norwegians contracted kit-pummeller Billy Rymer (The Dillinger Escape Plan) to help complete this madcap work about the radical contingency of life in a nihilistic world. Centring on a man who is reincarnated by the devil as a sentient Pachinko machine, Moron Police extend the metaphor of bouncing around aimlessly like a pinball into an absurdist text on creating meaning in a meaningless universe. As ever, their sound is an effervescent major key sojourn through zany keyboards, up-tempo beats, whimsical woodwinds, and some of the catchiest hooks you’ll ever hear. While conceptually wacky, the deeply human ideas underlying Pachinko make this a deeply emotional album that sinks into the soul. Moron Police swept many listeners off their feet this year with the ambition and maturity of this beautiful paean to love, adventure and expression; indeed, these songs are something you never can forget.
Recommended tracks: Nothing Breaks (A Port of Call), Alfredo and the Afterlife, Pachinko Pt.1, Giving up the Ghost
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
1. Changeling – Changeling
Recommended for fans of: Alkaloid, Obscura, Devin Townsend, Morbid Angel, Yes
Write-up by: Cory
Death, taxes, and a prog-death album of the year, as they say. If you’ve followed our individual lists or any of our previous year-end posts, Changeling’s self-titled debut being our collective AOTY is about as surprising as a chilly day in Siberia. But how could Changeling not top our list? We’re a bunch of insufferable prog nerds, after all, and this album is a massive, hour-long slab of what makes progressive music worth celebrating. Spearheaded by fretless-guitar phenom Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger (ex-Obscura), colored by the beastly vocals of Alkaloid’s Morean, and featuring an all-star cast of members and guests alike, Changeling exudes ambition before a single note has been played.
The needle drops, and an opening salvo of technical and overtly catchy, quick-hitting tracks sends the record soaring. The subsequent songs only become weightier, yet the album keeps ascending—powered rather than weighed down by the almost comical number of instruments and elements Fountainhead fits in his compositions. Changeling is a masterclass in working unbridled technicality and excess into truly excellent songwriting; grand ambition has met the requisite restraint. Nowhere is this more evident than the album-closing, one-two punch of “Abdication” and “Anathema.” Both of these epics take the progressive in progressive death metal to its logical extreme while being the most instantly memorable—and dare I say enjoyable—tracks on the album. It’s a finale for the ages: a final push to celestial heights and a definitive conclusion to another year here at The Subway.
Recommended tracks: World? What World?, Changeling Abdication, Anathema
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | original review
0 Comments