This year, fans from all musical genres and subcultures have been treated to many great, decade-defining albums, some that have pushed genres to new places, some that have established names and bands into the cultural zeitgeist and some that have set the musical world alight.
After a terrific 2024, where Sabrina Carpenter scintillated the mainstream pop scene with her cheeky and sugary record “Short N’ Sweet” , where Kendrick Lamar closed the book on his rivalry with Drake with another introspective piece in “GNX” and where the Cure returned with “Songs of a Lost World” , where Robert Smith sounds the band off with themes of grief and mortality, 2025 gave us a library of new sonically rich, fun and profound albums to mark this year off.
To start, post-rock and indie darling ensemble Black Country, New Road, gifted us with their third studio album, “Forever, Howlong” , a magically gifted record rich with intricately crafted instrumentals and purposeful lyrics about the growing pains of friendship, love and the journey of maturing. The first album the band has released since the departure of frontman, Isaac Wood, the band carries the weight still of everything they produced prior, only this time, allowing themselves to seek new perspectives, and it is shown in their new lead in Georgia Ellery and the rest of the band in Tyler Hyde & May Kershaw. Undoubtedly, the album is carried by female voices at the helm of the band, a new and welcome direction. Georgia Ellery takes the front and centre of the album, charming us with a more light-hearted direction compared to her previous bandmate in Isaac.
Songs like “Besties” , the most popular track on the record, introduces us to a whimsical world where harpsichords and a saxophone, so classic to the band’s identity, already play alongside a celebratory melody. Georgia sings about a close friend with whom she feels so connected and comfortable, almost hinting at romantic intentions with them and as a start to the album, it is a perfect start to a new journey with the group post-Isaac. Other great tracks and highlights include “Salem Sisters” , a poetic and swooning story about the pressure of seeking joy and love in the British summertime, where vocals from May Kershaw reign in the focus on female performances as mentioned previously. However, my favourite song on the entire album is one of its closers, “Nancy Tries To Take The Night” , a 6-minute track which builds to a powerful ending about Nancy, a woman seeking purpose and happiness in a scary and dangerous world unfair to her, accompanied by some of the band’s most incredible instrumental performances to date. Forever, Howlong is a magical album and a fresh start for one of the UK’s most promising post-rock bands.
In the latter half of the summer, alternative metal idols, Deftones, returned with “private music” , their latest work since 2020’s “Ohms” , and in my opinion, this is a far better work where I would go as far as to say this is their best work since “Diamond Eyes” . When the band released the first single for this album, “my mind is a mountain” , fans were buzzing for another heavy, hazy and howling album, and frontman Chino Moreno shows that his vocals have aged like fine wine with beautiful harmonics between his voice and the band’s tight and raging instrumentals. The first thing you notice about private music is how layered it is with religious lyrics and imagery. In my personal highlight of the album, “milk of the madonna” , Chino locks in with a loud and powerful track built with one of my favourite riffs of the year within its chorus. With lyrics like “bloody rain floods these streets, came falling to the earth” & “holy ghost, I’m on fire!” signalling the end times in the book of Revelations.
The album is paced professionally well, every song flows and transitions into each other with ease, starting heavy and ending heavier, with each track having its own depth of emotional imagery and grungy melodies, with Chino howling his heart out with the closer in “departing the body” , singing about the end times and finding comfort in the chaos. The song is highly vulnerable, but so is the rest of the record; it truly lives up to its title in being private music. In an interview from NME, Moreno talks about how “It feels like something very secret, special and elite that only you’re let into” , inviting us into an exposed mindspace from the band, and it pays off exceptionally well in one of the band’s best works and some of the best metal of the year.
One of my most anticipated projects I was eagerly awaiting this year comes from Swedish lo-fi shoegaze artist, Weatherday, a musician who I have been deeply impressed with since the release of their 2019 record, “Come In” , an album already popular amongst online music fan spaces and the underground scene. After a 6-year wait, Sputnik released their second full-length album in “Hornet Disaster” . At over an hour, it’s a step up from their previous LP. Still, by no means, the record is one of the best listens I have had this year, with an impressively paced project with songs that all feel a part of the same experience and with an hour-plus run, you are set for a ride complete with powerful emo lyrics and harmonically constructed noise pop. Once I had finished listening, the only thought in my mind was jealousy in the most complimentary way. Sputnik has developed a unique sound which only I dream of creating, a feeling that I wish I could translate artistically as well as they did. The album is ethereal instrumentally, with distinctively crafted guitar riffs and melodies that are diamonds in the rough within the emo scene, combining sounds within electronic and shoegaze.
Some of my standouts include “Angel” , a short yet explosive track, signed with all the keynotes of what makes a great Weatherday song, with unguarded and sensitive lyrics, complementary samples and catchy electronic guitar playing, which I believe, for new listeners of Weatherday, will make anyone a new fan. Another brilliant track from Hornet Disaster is “Blood Online” , a loud and progressive track where Sputnik talks about their daily life, dealing with personal and mental battles from the moment they awake, highlighting a classic emo theme of depression and a battle to overcome. The song is blunt, but so is the rest of the album; it is a swarm of the mental anguish those with depression and anxiety deal with, and it is applaudable. Weatherday kept me waiting, and man, I am glad I was patient because Hornet Disaster is a testament to Gen Z life.
Finally, this would not be complete without discussing, in my opinion, the best album of the year, a return that fans have been praying for years, and that is “Let God Sort Em’ Out” from legends and heroes of East Coast Hip-Hop, Malice & Pusha T, also known as Clipse. Clipse needs no introduction in terms of their immense influence on the modern-day hip-hop scene in the United States, with many artists citing them as heroes in the game. Malice, in an interview in 2014 with SXSW, 5 years out from their last record together, said that the duo was finished and there would never be a new Clipse album. Fast forward to 2024, the world was shocked when Clipse dropped a brand new track titled “Birds Don’t Sing” , the first single from a freshly announced album titled “Let God Sort Em’ Out” , releasing in 2025 and to be produced by Pharrell Williams.
“This Is Culturally Inappropriate” is a quote that rings throughout the record, the duo is fully back in their element and have created something too good to be true. Williams on production with the boys back in the booth have spit out some of the best hip-hop from this decade. Supported by a variety of A-List features from Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator & John Legend, as well as Pharrell Williams himself, Clipse in this record have never felt more timeless where both Malice & especially Pusha T have come up with some of my favourite lyrical flows ever in hip-hop. One of my stand out tracks which demonstrates this is the track “P.O.V. ” where Pusha T flexes his empire he’s built while he gloats at others falling with one of my favourite lyrics including “All I see are 60 day stars, and 20 year thousandaires, not enough shopping, a whole lotta browsingaires” . As mentioned, Tyler The Creator features in this record and in this song where Tyler gets to dance with his idols and carries himself, showing he is in the same ballpark as Clipse. The track closes with Malice switching up with a new beat and it is seamless and this effort is shown in the entire LP. In another stand out track, “So Far Ahead” , the boys dance with God and their riches, showing gratefulness and a contrasting ego showing pride in their work supported by a hardcore backing beat which switches up with a gloriously high chorus from Pharrell, projecting his inner gospel preacher. God is a common thread and theme in this album, the closer with “By The Grace Of God” gives us a well deserved finale for the duo for now, we were truly blessed. Undoubtedly, my favourite album of the year.
These were of course my favourite of the year but 2025 has granted us a myriad of strong and memorable albums to celebrate and listen to this year. These include Tyler, The Creators testament to dance, “Don’t Tap The Glass” , PinkPantheress short and bouncy, “Fancy That” , John Michael & Anthony James’ powerful and impactful “Ego Trip” , McKinley Dixon’ latest work showing he is the ace of jazz rap today, “Magic, Alive!” & Joey Valence & Brae’s “Hyperyouth” , an album I was fortunate enough this year to hear live in person not too long ago showing that the duos infectiously fun and hyper energy is no gimmick.
Here is to an even greater 2026!
