Richard HolmesFrom progressive epics to Southern jams, thrash slammers to doom odysseys, this year delivered a host of awe-inspiring records. Jaws hit the floor as legends returned and newcomers flipped the script. And we were there for it!
Here, we round up our choice cuts of the last 12 months, in Rushonrock’s 30 best rock and metal albums of 2025…
30. Kylver – The Gobi (self-released)
This was Kylver’s first studio album in nine years.
And it marked a spectacular return for the Newcastle act, one that should put them right back on the post-rock map.
Kylver’s journey into The Gobi was a mystical riff trip, a portal to faraway lands where death worms (the Allghoi khorkhoi) roam.
Titanic riffs, technicolour melodies, fearsome low end and psyched-out keys were brought together by intuitive musicianship, as the quartet birthed an album of endless possibilities.
The Gobi played in full at Desertfest? You know it makes sense… Rich Holmes
Read our exploration of The Gobi here.
29. Brent Cobb & The Fixin’ – Ain’t Rocked In A While (Ol’ Buddy Records/Thirty Tigers)
Cobb’s live band finally made it into the studio and The Fixin’ seized their opportunity in style.
Ain’t Rocked In A While bristled with authenticity, passion and pent up frustration as some of the finest musicians on the planet did what they do best.
We said: “If Cobb doesn’t quite ape his childhood favourites Sabbath, Metallica and AC/DC then there’s a heaviness here that hits home. Hard.”
Cobb arrived at this superior record via country, folk and Americana but this was his meatiest work yet.
The Ozzy-meets-38 Special tile track was truly brilliant. Simon Rushworth
Read the full review here.
28. Rwake – The Return of Magik (Relapse Records)
We had to wait 14 years for the follow-up to Rust. But Rwake seemingly put every fibre of their being into The Return of Magik, so we’ll forgive them.
The near 14-minute Distant Constellations and the Psychedelic Incarceration epitomised the band’s ambition: skulking to a ritualistic, hypnotic pulse, the song dripped with backwoods dread.
And on the title track, the Arkansas act’s bore-holing delivery took sludge metal into its densest territory.
Frankly, The Return of Magik, was terrifying. Which is why we loved it. RH
27. Orianthi – Some Kind Of Feeling (Woodward Avenue Records)
Flaming June reached boiling point when super cool six stringer Orianthi dropped the career high Some Kind Of Feeling.
The Prince-approved guitarist brought über producer Kevin Shirley (Journey, Joe Bonamassa, John Hiatt) on board to get the best out of her precocious talents.
And that bold move was a masterstroke as the pair combined to kick some serious ass.
The Rushonrock Record Of The Week review read: “Orianthi has it all: the looks, the hooks and A-list little black books.”
And with a little help from her friends the Greek/Australian fret burner introduced a new chapter in a compelling story: Heaven Right Here and First Time Blues were the best of a career defining bunch. SR
Read the full review here.
26. Vacuous – In His Blood (Relapse Records)
Formed by vocalist Jo Chen and guitarist Michael Brodsky in 2019, Vacuous have quickly established themselves as one of UK death metal’s hottest prospects.
Dreams Of Dysphoria bagged a spot on our Death Metal hit list of 2022 for “putting the fear back into death metal”. And clearly, the Relapse bosses were taking notice, as they signed the Londoners in ’24.
The stage was set for Vacuous to reach a new level.
And they did, with real confidence and unflinching purpose.
In His Blood was a complex, haunting masterpiece, enveloped in a spectral chill and full of murderous intent.
Stress Positions, Flesh Parade, Immersion… they were the true sounds of the London underground. RH
Vacuous photo (below) by Stanley Gravett.
Check out our Best Death Metal Albums of 2025 here.
25. Robert Jon & The Wreck – Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes (Journeyman Records)
Red Moon Rising was still floating our roots rock boat when news emerged that Robert Jon & The Wreck were ready to launch another long player!
Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes landed after six singles teased its very best work.
And as a body of work it maintained a rich seam of creative form from the irrepressible Robert Jon.
Little wonder we concluded: “Quality’s guaranteed. Kick-ass authenticity and an effortlessly cool songwriting craft underpin 10 songs that wrestle with the emotions and wring out every last drop of spine-tingling resonance.”
So which of the Wreck’s 10 new tunes really rocked? Try Sittin’ Pretty and Dark Angel. SR
Read the full review here.
24. Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth (Cruz Del Sur Music / Wizard Tower Records)
As it turned out, Immortal’s Requiem, Phantom Spell’s 2022 debut, was no flash in the pan.
Seven Sisters frontman Kyle McNeill was indeed, deadly serious about this solo project.
With a live band assembled, he hit Europe with a troupe of proggy minstrels in tow, and a clutch of magical new songs in the repertoire.
The Autumn Citadel, was built from a kaleidoscopic musical blueprint, Evil Hand mixed Maiden guitars with whirling, swirling keys, and there was even a spine-tingling version of Old Pendle, a Lancashire folk tune, among Heather & Hearth’s gems.
When it comes to creating wistful, mystic prog rock, McNeill is a sorcerer par excellence. RH
The full review of Heather & Hearth is here.
23. Halestorm – Everest (Atlantic Records)
Woe betide anyone who interprets this record as the sound of a band that’s somehow peaked.
That’s how we prefaced the Rushonrock Record Of The Week review of Everest after Lyzzy Hale and co. delivered this mountainous set of modern heavy rock.
As long-time supporters of the US band, expectations were high around the August release date of a hotly anticipated album.
Everest didn’t disappoint.
K-I-L-L-I-N-G sounded like L7 making sweet punk-fuelled thrash with Metallica and the heartfelt How Will You Remember Me could have been a mid-80s Kiss ballad.
Everest was 2025’s gift to anyone who’d lived through four decades or more of rock and metal. SR
Check out the full review of Everest here.
22. Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration (Season of Mist)
Since breathing new life into death doom back in the noughties, Hooded Menace haven’t stood still.
The Finns went from cult act to underground heroes, as their ectoplasmic riffs creeped around the globe.
By the time The Tritonus Bell pealed, the Finns had moved their rotten sound towards more accessible(ish) territory,
And four years later, the trio were making some of their catchiest music yet, with Pale Masquerade and Portrait Without a Face drawing on the twilight grandeur of Paradise Lost and Mercyful Fate.
Hell, they even turned into a skeletal Duran Duran on Save a Prayer: we’d just love to know what Simon Le Bon thinks… RH
21. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner Records)
Following 2021’s Infinite Granite, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that blastbeats and caustic vocals were in Deafheaven’s rearview mirror – and that there would be no going back for the band that birthed Sunbather and New Bermuda.
Lonely People With Power, therefore, surprised a few people.
The tidal shoegaze of the band’s recent work was very much evident, but the Californians’ aggressive edge and piercing delivery returned, making Magnolia and Revelator instant, earth scorching classics. And there was room for beauty (Heathen) and bliss (The Marvelous Orange Tree) too, on a record that felt like a rebirth for Deafheaven. RH
20. Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services (Relapse Records)
According to drummer Dave Rosenberg, Near-Death Travel Services was made through “sheer force of will”.
And we bet that recording your first album since 1995 was no easy task.
Deadguy, however, rose to that challenge… and then some.
There might have been more wrinkles and less hair since they birthed metalcore classic, Fixation on a Co-Worker, but these Jersey boys raged just as hard as their younger selves, gifting us acerbic anti-anthems like New Best Friend and Kill Fee, and showing a new generation just how it’s done.
Deadguy? They were alike and kicking in ’25. RH
19. Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade Records)
Messa decamped to a 500-year-old villa in Northern Italy to write The Spin.
Listening to the quartet’s fourth album, that doesn’t come as a surprise. This opus was dressed in sumptuous sonic elegance… and best imbibed with a glass of Valpolicella.
Here, Messa revelled in the worlds of goth rock and dark pop, as the band looked back to the 80s for inspiration – and even for their rare recording equipment.
The stars of the show? Singer Sara Bianchin and guitarist Alberto Piccolo, whose sensational contributions helped remarkable songs like At Races and Reveal to reach their full potential.
An imperious body of work, The Spin was Messa’s masterstroke. RH
18. Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations (Bad Omen Records)
2020’s III: Pentecost and 2023’s IV: Sacrament cemented Wytch Hazel’s status as a leader in the New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal.
However, unlike many of their contemporaries, the Lancastrians always drew more from Blue Öyster Cult, Wishbone Ash and Thin Lizzy, than Priest or Mercyful Fate.
And on V: Lamentations, that rich seam of proto-metal sparkled, with Colin Hendra’s glorious songcraft and soaring vocals turning Elements and The Demon Within into arena-conquering anthems.
Hendra admitted that V came from “a more introspective, doubting, darker place”. But in the end, it blazed with light. RH
Read the full lowdown on V: Lamentations here.
17. Seven Sisters – Shadow Of A Fallen Star Pt. 2 (Dissonance)
“Shadow Of A Fallen Star Pt. 2 is on another planet” we exclaimed, as Seven Sisters’ fourth album bagged our Record of the Week slot in late March.
Yes, this record was another interstellar performance from the London-based quartet, whose space-faring tales were brought to life by supreme musicianship.
Astral Prophecies, Solar Winds and Heart Of The Sun melded NWOBHM suss to progressive thrust, as the successor to Shadow Of A Fallen Star Pt. 1 traversed the cosmos.
Yet again, Kyle McNeill and co. proved they’re masters of their metalcraft.
Check out the full review of Shadow Of A Fallen Star Pt. 2 here.
16. Testament – Para Bellum (Nuclear Blast)
The best thrash metal record of the year provided a welcome shot in the arm for lovers of the riff-fuelled, lick-laden heavy stuff.
Five years since the punishing Titans Of Creation proved Chuck Billy could still mix it with metal’s big guns, Para Bellum managed to better – or batter – that beast of an album.
Billy and founding guitarist Eric Peterson know their way around a concept-driven classic and Testament’s latest offering provided sobering commentary on the seemingly unstoppable rise of smart technology.
It was a tough choice but the superior Havana Syndrome stuck in our thrash-addled brains as the best of the bunch. SR
Read the full review here.
15. Mark Morton – Without The Pain (Snakefarm)
Love a bit of Lamb Of God? Look away now.
Mark Morton broke free from the shackles of his metal masters to drop one of the Southern Rock, outlaw country albums of the year.
The Blackberry Smoke-meets-Black Stone Cherry vibe underpinning Without The Pain had us hooked from first listen.
And Morton proved himself surprisingly adept at busting preconceptions as he crafted a memorable set of heartfelt tunes nobody knew he had tucked away in his back pocket.
Forever In The Light and Nocturnal Sun were magnificent. SR
Get the full lowdown on Without The Pain here.
14. Mackenzie Carpenter – Hey Country Queen (The Valory Music Co.)
Rushonrock’s Best Country Album of 2025 proved the old adage that it’s never wise to judge a book by its cover.
Just like Morton (see above), the new darling of the Nashville scene surprised a few folk with the ambitious Hey Country Queen.
While it would have been easy for Carpenter to take the country pop route, she chose a rootsier, more expansive path.
And that bold decision paid off handsomely: Hey Country Queen was peppered with all-consuming, authentic country music that raised the bar.
Dreamy ballad The Other Side hit all the right notes but Carpenter proved she has the tools to shape a long-term career that’s built to last. SR
Read the full review here.
13. Crazy Lixx – Thrill Of The Bite (Frontiers)
The clear winner in the race to bag Rushonrock’s Melodic Rock Album Of 2025 was fuelled by old school, Sunset Strip-styled sleaze.
Thrill Of The Bite was a heartfelt tribute to hair metal’s heyday as Danny Rexon and co. wore their tattooed beat influences on their sleeves.
And four years after Street Lethal reminded the masses that Crazy Lixx were genuine contenders, this raucous return was an unstoppable, party-starting force.
We said: “Loud and proud lovers of all things late 80s pop rock, the men from Malmö were doing spandex-fuelled pastiche long before Steel Panther.”
But Crazy Lixx are doing it for real and Thrill Of The Bite put Panther in the shade.
Little Miss Dangerous was the standout track on an album bursting with retro-fuelled bangers. SR
Read the full review here.
12. Havukruunu – Tavastland (Svart Records)
Havukruunu founder Stefan Sorghammer described Tavastland, the band’s fourth full length, as “very accessible and neat”.
Our take? “Elemental, inspiring and utterly spellbinding” – with a core forged from ancient iron.
Certainly, mainstream metal’s gaze fell on the Finns’ blackened, Bathory-inspired hymns like never before.
But Havukruunu’s inner fire, which had made them black metal’s best kept secret over the 18 years, burned as bright as ever, as the thunderous Kun veri sekoittuu lumeen and Kuolematon Laulunhenki split the sky asunder. RH
Check out the full review of Tavastland here.
Havukruunu photo by Heidi Kosenius.
11. This House We Built – Get Out Of The Rain (Self-Released)
The pick of the NWOCR crop sounded better than we ever hoped it would.
Get Out Of The Rain saw the best band from Scarborough since Little Angels ascend to a dizzying new level.
And we were stoked to discover that the livewire energy that underpins a This House We Built live show was captured here in all its adrenaline-fuelled glory.
We described Get Out Of The Rain as ‘confident, kick-ass, compelling stuff that sits comfortably between late 80s hair metal and Shinedown’s arena-ready bombast’.
Sounds too good to be true?
Wrap your ears around this cocksure classic and it won’t take long before your renting regular head space for This House We Built.
The Leppard-like One By One and set close Drifter were two of our tracks of the year. SR
Read the full verdict on Get Out Of The Rain here.
So which records made our top ten rock and metal albums of 2025?
10. Turnstile – Never Enough (Roadrunner Records)
When Turnstile took to Glastonbury’s Other Stage in June, it was a landmark moment for hardcore.
Here was a band, born from Baltimore’s underground scene, laying it down at one of the world’s most famous festivals – an event not exactly renowned for platforming harder music.
Graduating from The John Peel Stage, which they’d played in 2022, Turnstile introduced Worthy Farm (and millions TV viewers) to a clutch of new cuts from Never Enough, including the ethereal title track, the urgent, grit and spit anthem Birds and the dreamy, 80s-inspired chill-out Seein’ Stars. They were greeted with rapture, as was the rest of their fourth album as it surged from speakers across the world this summer.
Never Enough? We couldn’t GET enough of this supreme record! RH
9. Luke Morley – Walking On Water (Left Hook Records)
When the title track from Morley’s latest solo offering landed a Red Hot Track Of The Week nod in February we had a feeling the full album would be good.
Good? My God. It was off the scale.
Live the new stuff was even better and one of the best nights of a packed 2025 was watching the Thunder man turned Quireboys collaborator hold a Sunderland Fire Station crowd in the palm of his multi-talented hand.
Walking On Water was a rockier take on 2023’s splendid Songs From The Blue Room and allowed Morley to bolster an already bulging back catalogue.
If Thunder’s permanent hiatus means more records like this we can just about cope.
This had the Luke – and sound – of an instant classic. SR
8. Slomatics – Atomicult (Majestic Mountain Records)
In a vast canon that encompasses eight full-lengths, plus 12 EPs and splits, Atomicult had some stiff competition.
But it was undoubtedly a career best for Slomatics.
The Belfast band’s recent evolutionary leap bore fruit, with songs like Auto-Skull and Physical Witching cloaked in a rich psychedelic haze, and vocalist Matt Harvey combining depth and delicacy on a series of towering performances.
Shaped by entrancing songcraft and bearing gravity-sucking riffs, Atomicult was a thrilling masterpiece of cosmic doom.
Check out the full verdict on Atomicult here.
7. One More Satellite – One More Satellite (Symphonic)
We would have given anything to be front row at last month’s One More Satellite live shows in Los Angeles.
Sadly we’d already blown the Rushonrock budget on a night out watching Black Eyed Sons in Newcastle.
But one day One More Satellite might – just might – make it over here.
We’re pressing County Durham’s one-time Union man Pete Shoulder to make it happen. For now, let’s revel in the sonic masterpiece that was our debut of 2025.
Back in July we said: “At times loud and proud and yet frequently stripped back and deeply introspective, this carefully curated 10-song collection is a source of retro-fuelled joy.”
Many spins later and One More Satellite still sounds unique, free-spirited and fun to be around.
Read the full verdict on the album here.
6. Blut aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons (Debemur Morti Productions)
A cosmic black metal odyssey, Ethereal Horizons was aptly named.
Transcendental opener Shadows Breathe First set the tone for Blut aus Nord’s 16th album, with its starborn fretwork and otherworldly vocals weaving across seven glorious minutes. And the song sucked you into a vivid, interstellar storm, crackling with celestial energies and almost overwhelming in its power.
Vindsval, Blut aus Nord’s creator, has brought us such beauty in the past – Hallucinogen being a prime example. Ethereal Horizons, though, was on another plane entirely. Deeply moving endlessly fascinating, this was the French act’s pièce de resistance. RH
5. Black Eyed Sons – Cowboys In Pinstriped Suits (Off Yer Rocka)
It’s almost a year since we came to the conclusion that sometimes – make that most of the time – it’s just best to let the music do the talking.
And that’s exactly what Black Eyed Sons did on the fabulously bullish antidote to months of often bitter post-Quireboys infighting.
During 2024’s darkest days the Guy Griffin-fronted rock and roll disruptors had called in favours, fired off scores of emails and got to work furiously mapping out the future.
The star-studded Cowboys In Pinstriped Suits was the reassuringly classy result and live a belter of a record came to life – as evidenced by December’s memorable gigs.
We said: “The dizzying title track’s a mix of Americana, soul and glam as Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott lends his Down N Outz buddies Griffin, Paul Guerin and Keith Weir a helping hand.”
Elsewhere members of Buckcherry, Blackberry Smoke and more contributed to one of the feelgood records of the year. SR
Read the full review here.
4. Alice Cooper – The Revenge Of Alice Cooper (earMUSIC)
The hype sticker on Rushonrock’s smoky pink swirl vinyl described The Revenge Of Alice Cooper as the Detroit rocker’s ‘natural successor to Billion Dollar Babies, Killer and Love It To Death’.
And you know what? A 14-track tour de force more than lived up to the hype.
Alice got the old band back together – Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and the late Glen Buxton all contributed to a late career classic – and rediscovered the secret to his shock rock youth.
Chock full of heavy blues and pantomime pop, a near perfect set never dipped.
Up All Night, Money Screams and I Ain’t Done Wrong were sonically sharp and lyrically cute. In other words, peak Coop.
Fast closing in on his 80th birthday, Vincent Damnon Furnier’s prolific alter ego proved age is just a number. SR
3. Paradise Lost – Ascension (Nuclear Blast)
By rights, there should be a statue of Paradise Lost in Halifax, their hometown. The band’s contribution to British heavy metal has been immense. They’re renowned exporters of Yorkshire miserablism, having inspired countless acts across the globe. Forget Oasis, these boys are a real UK rock institution.
But while some ‘heritage acts’ rely on past glories, Paradise Lost’s creative wellspring keeps flowing, as Ascension proved.
We called 2020’s Obsidian, an album where streams from PL’s past converged in spectacular fashion, ‘definitive’. Yet five years on, Ascencion more than matched that incredible record. The majestic writing and dramatic delivery were typified by performances on Tyrants Serenade and Lay A Wreath Upon The World, songs that will live long in the memory.
Ascension was yet another hallowed work, from the masters of Gothic metal. RH
2. Ghost – Skeletá (Loma Vista Recordings)
Six albums in and the naysayers suggested Tobias Forge had had his day.
Don’t believe a word of it.
Skeletá embodied the very best of Alice Cooper’s (see above) heir apparent as the pop metal band of the moment dropped another set of bona fide earworms.
Never off the Rushonrock turntable on release, we’ve revisited a remarkably assured body of work time and time again since April.
And Skeletá doesn’t disappoint.
Peacefield, Satanized and set closer Excelsis stand tall alongside anything Ghost has released during the last decade.
But Marks Of The Evil One really piqued our interest. Bring on album number seven. SR
1. Marcus King – Darling Blue (American Records/Republic Records)
King by name, king by nature – there was one artist who ruled the rock world in 2025. Darling Blue sounded white hot the moment opener On And On seeped into our consciousness and a unique album’s explosive highs were like a lightning bolt of life-affirming truth.
King might have made his name fusing blues, soul and Southern rock but this was much more than all of that.
Darling Blue was the singer songwriter’s most emotive work yet and demonstrated a burning desire to crack the big leagues.
There was Americana, funk and even brass as King tossed aside convention and went all in on letting his heart rule his head.
Carolina’s finest hit the sweet spot and stayed on target. Darling Blue was a dazzling effort.
Read the full review of our album of 2025 here.
Marcus King photo (top) by Alysse Gafkjen.