Of all the lists I write, I think this one has quite rapidly become my favorite.  Any excuse to cram more excellent music in my day is always needed and appreciated, but in looking through all the year end lists that come one, both at home here at 9C Inc. and abroad, I always find myself inundated with so many things that either completely missed my radar or were things on my to-do list that I just never got around to.  The point is, music is eternal, and even though we’re not all that far into 2025, there are already a ton of releases coming out that might make 2024 look like a distant memory.  If you’re looking for one last shot in the arm (or, shame shame, if you still haven’t finalized your 2024 list yet), consider these albums (and one EP as always) an excellent use of your time.  Unlike last year, this list is going to be exclusively heavy music, simply because what a year for heavy music last year was.

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Crippling Alcoholism – With Love From a Padded Room

What…even /is/ Crippling Alcoholism?  The band, I mean.  This one showed up on a complete whim based on a random Spotify recommendation, and boy am I glad that I got to experience this album, “experience” being the only way I can think of to describe how to take in With Love From a Padded Room.  “Disturbing” is a word I have seen to categorize the vibes present; “miserable” is also an apt descriptor.  Equal parts heavy in a musical sense and heavy in terms of atmosphere, With Love From a Padded Room is an album that worms its way into your consciousness and takes over, much in the same way that Vide by Emptiness did when I first listened to that.  In fact, the similarities in dynamic exploration and texture between the two albums is pretty close, so if you’re looking to get sucked into With Love like I got sucked in, there’s your touchstone.  Regardless of how you feel at the end of it all, you’re going to remember this album for a long time to come.

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Civerous – Maze Envy

Oh, the never ending to-do list.  Maze Envy came out near the beginning of the year, and to a considerable amount of hype at that.  Still, as soon as I wrote down that I needed to listen to this album, it was gone from my mind until now, seeing that love continue into the end of list season.  And I must say, the hype is very much deserved.  This ain’t your average, bog-standard death metal album.  It hits right in the sweet spot of kinda technical, kinda progressive, but without the frills and fluff that could hold it down.  Maze Envy strikes a solid balance between ambience and aggression, and I think that’s why it shines so brightly.  There’s a lot of really interesting composition and guitar work going on, and it really does stand out from the pack of 20 Buck Spin releases by taking chances (string sections?  In my death metal?) that pay off very nicely.

If you want to learn more about Civerous and Maze Envy, we have a featured profile of the band *and* a review of the album by Vince!

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Replicant – Infinite Mortality

It is always at this time that I am obligated, professionally and personally, to thank Anton for both directly and indirectly hooking me up with some truly excellent music all these years now, and Infinite Mortality is another reason why I, and you, should always been reading Anton’s year end lists and reviews.  Dissonant with a Capital D, this is one of the most brutal and unforgiving metal releases of this past year, while still being terribly hard to categorize in one box or another.  Listening to it is an exercise in endurance, but one that pays off in spades.  Since he was so kind as to quote me in his year end list, and since he’s a MUCH better writer than I am, I’ll do the same: “In essence, Infinite Mortality is a torchbearer of an album that coalesces the rich diversity found under the umbrella of death metal and the best parts of its myriad sub-genres into something unequivocally irresistible and impactful.”

For more of Anton’s thoughts on Infinite Mortality, check out the full review at this link.

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Dödsrit – Nocturnal Will

If there’s one thing you can do to make sure I avoid listening to a black metal album, it’s take away most of the crust and post-black elements from the music.  Still, I trust Colin implicitly, so if he says this album is good, well…I have to give it a shot.  Credit where credit is due, this is a really great slice of melodic black metal.  It’s downright catchy in a lot of spots, with a lot of upbeat energy and solid hooks that keep the music moving at a brisk pace.  And as much as I disagree with dialing the crust sections back, the moments where the d-beat kicks in are my absolute favorite moments on the album because they are all the more impactful, being fewer and farther in between.  However, it can’t be understated how good these melodies are.  Colin stated his soul left his body at moments on Nocturnal Will, and I can definitely see why.  Soaring doesn’t even begin to cover it.  If anything, this is going to push me to go back and listen to more of the punky stuff from Dödsrit’s back catalogue, because I am now officially sold.

Yes, you read that right: Colin wrote a review of this album, and it does Nocturnal Will more justice than I did just now.  Read all about it here.

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Wormwitch – Wormwitch

Oh my god I can’t believe I forgot to listen to a new Wormwitch album from last year.  Shame on me.  And what an album it is.  Does it break the mold of anything Wormwitch have done in the past?  Absolutely not, but I kinda don’t need it to.  To me, Wormwitch does feel heavier on the “black” part of their blackthrash formula, but for the most part, you get a solid, consistent record from a band that is nothing if not consistent.  And I’ve been on the record before about how blackthrash is like pizza to me: even if it’s bad, how bad is it really?  Still, this is another truly excellent offering from a band that has no misses in their discography, and if anything is leaning farther into the “savage, denim-clad mountain men coming down from on high to physically and psychically assault you” schtick they’ve been on.  And speaking of psychic assault: that bass tone?  Pants-shittingly grumbly in the best way possible.

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Paysage D’Hiver – Die Berge

The strength of Chris’ raving about this album alone put it on my radar, although if you haven’t at least heard of Paysage D’Hiver by now you probably need to get your ears checked.  The stalwart atmospheric black metal titans almost snuck a late-year release by me, but I’m finally getting around to it and boy was everything Chris said and more correct.  “Some of the bleakest, [most] unforgiving black metal you’ve ever heard”?  Check.  “Gorgeous swaths of sound that…still register as pure, unadulterated black metal”?  Check.  “A newfound sonic clarity that emphasizes every droplet of the black metal storm”?  Check.  If you can handle the, let’s be real, excessive runtime of over ninety minutes, you get a solid-as-solid gets slab of icy, frigid black metal that doesn’t simply ape the past: this is, again as Chris says, future-forward black metal, with an eye for pushing what makes this genre so great to the next level with flawless execution and boundless creativity.

If you want to see more of Chris’ thoughts on this and a few other albums that tickled him from November, check out that particular installment of his monthly “Nine Circles ov…The Month That Was” column.

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Ὁπλίτης – Παραμαινομένη

BECAUSE OF COURSE HE RELEASED AN ALBUM THIS YEAR.  Everyone’s favorite not-so-ancient-Greek-by-way-of-China blew up onto the scene with 3 FUCKING ALBUMS in 2023, so why should last year be any different?  And if you think you know what you’re going to get out of Παραμαινομένη, you’re wrong.  Always expect the unexpected when it comes to Ὁπλίτης, and in this case, the unexpected is…saxophone.  Lots of it, too, with some real free jazz energy splayed out over throat-tearing black-ish/grind-ish metal goodness.  Plus, there’s experimentation with epic poetry reading (à la a public performance of “The Iliad”), steel drums, keyboards and piano mixed in for good measure.  But most of all, like all of the other releases from this treasured enthusiast, Παραμαινομένη absolutely rips, and the use of the saxophone on every single track makes it more than just a one-time gimmick like you might see in other bands.  It’s, uh, an integral part of the project’s sound now, I guess?  Whatever, just keep it coming, buddy.

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Boundaries – Death is Little More

When an album is sold to me as being akin to Misery Signals, there’s no way I can ignore it.  Of course, we have Misery Signals back, but this is definitely a worthy placeholder until we get new material (AND IT BETTER BE SOON FELLAS).  In the meantime, Death is Little More is everything that an excellent metalcore release should be: aggressive but not in a whiny way, melodic and stirring, bowel-churning in its breakdowns and chock full of chunky, off-kilter riffs that just kiss the prog spectrum at times.  In particular, the breakdown callouts are hilarious in their simplicity (“I FUCKING HATE YOU”) but highly effective in their delivery.  In fact, all of Death is Little More is highly effective, even the clean singing, which I’m normally not that big of a fan of.  This was a sleeper hit for me, but it’s one that, in hindsight, I am seeing a lot of people throw some much deserved praise at.  Count me among them, then.

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Saidan – Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity

This is it: the one that got away.  It took exactly twenty seconds to go from “huh, I’ve never heard of this band but the album cover is cool” to “holy fuck I think this is the best album of the year.”  And I stand by that…I might have to go back and retroactively crown Visual Kill the champion.  I can’t even properly put into words how much this album struck me upon first listen.  “Electrifying” doesn’t even begin to cover it.  Saidan’s incredibly emotive mix of black metal and raucous punk rock is not exactly mold-breaking, but the execution is flawless, start to finish.  Shining brilliance in the songwriting comes through with every melody and every killer riff, and the guitar solos are outrageously good.  Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Splatterpvnk might have just skyrocketed up the list of my favorite guitarists going right now because of how effortless he makes everything seem.  Truly, this is a band to watch out for, and Visual Kill stands as a stark reminder of just how good black metal can be when it’s /this/ good.

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Entheos – An End to Everything

What a year for Navene Koperweis, eh?  Session drums on Moon Healer and now a stellar followup to Time Will Take Us All?  Entheos are on a pretty significant tear, and this EP is an excellent showcase of the momentum they have behind them.  Koperweis really showcases just how versatile of a musician he is, handling all the songwriting, drums and guitars, and with ease too.  Nobody would call Entheos’ music “easy”, but Koperweis barely breaks a sweat stampeding through techy, crushing riffs and shredding solos, all backed by the indisputable talent of Mr. Evan Brewer on bass guitar, whose signature stank is all over the album thanks to the superb production job.  Obviously, you can’t talk about Entheos without mentioning the chameleonic vocal talents of Chaney Crabb either.  The woman has Capital-R Range, and in the course of about twenty minutes you get to hear all of it, from retched shrieks to guttural bellows and ethereal clean singing.

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The original idea for this column was stolen directly from Chris, and I’ve been really glad this year that he has done more of the “The Month That Was” columns.  I’ve been trying to do less looking back in my personal life, but in the music and music journalism world, looking back is a wealth of fodder for content and personal growth.  There’s so many more albums that aren’t even on this list that I would have missed if someone didn’t metaphorically grab me one last time and say “hey, you really need to check this out.”  So that’s what I hope I can do for you, dear reader.  Sometimes an album finds you precisely when it needs to, even if it’s a little late for list season.

— Ian