Comic horror straight from the void.
Tales of long-forgotten battlefields.
And reflections of a world tearing itself apart.
The best black metal albums of 2025 delivered all of this and more, as acts from across the globe showed their mettle.
Here’s Rushonrock’s top 10…
10. Terzij De Horde – Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone (Church Road Records)
Terzij De Horde bend black metal to their will.
Blastbeats, blistering tremolo picking, necro dynamics… they form a potent elixir which drips from the Dutch band’s work.
Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone was no exception.
Discarding All Adornments, a composition graced by Cinder Well’s Amelia Baker, delicately played with themes of rebirth, while Justice Is Not Enough To Leave The House Of Modernity plunged you into a kaleidoscopic vortex, in a manner akin to Belgian noise mystics Wiegedood, and Raise Them Towards The Sun seared the ionosphere.
You could yourself in the tumult, obsess on its subtleties, or mainline the record’s intoxicating energy.
But you couldn’t ignore it.
Check out the full review here.
Terzij De Horde photo (above, bottom right) by Void Revelations.
9. Abduction – Existentialismus (Spinefarm/Candlelight Records)
Abduction were astounding at Fortress Festival ’25 – and were greeted in Scarborough by a heaving throng of devotees. That adoration spoke volumes about where this band come from… and where they’re heading.
Originally a studio project from mysterious frontman A|V, they’ve blossomed into a thrilling live force, dominating stages across the UK. They also have a clutch of superb albums and EPs in their armoury, which now includes Existentialismus – A|V’s most ambitious work to date.
The hypnotic Razors of Occam, where choral vocals collided with razorblade fretwork, was just one example of the heights Abduction have reached. Blau ist die Farbe der Ewigkeit, an apocalyptic torrent that spoke of “the slow death of an empire” was another: its chilling refrains cut right to the bone.
Need further proof of the UKBM scene’s growing strength? Start with Existentialismus.
8. Trivax – The Great Satan (Osmose Productions)
Black metal is supposed to be dangerous, right?
But while some bands play with confrontational art, Trivax are deadly serious.
Tehran-born founder Shayan would likely be imprisoned in his home country for The Great Satan: the cover portrays Ruhollah Khomeini as the devil, and Operation Ramadan is a harrowing depiction of Iranian military conduct during the Iran-Iraq war. He doesn’t pull any punches.
Musically, this opus represented a career best for Trivax, with the UK-based trio matching their raging lyrics with a ferocious, blackened assault, propelled by pure passion and built around scorched earth dynamics.
As To Liberation And Beyond fanned the flames and Here Comes The Flood felt truly apocalyptic, as it crashed down on top of us.
Yes, The Great Satan was one hell of a statement.
7. Yellow Eyes – Confusion Gate (Gilead Media)
Experimentalists Yellow Eyes excelled on their eerie seventh opus.
It swirled with surged, as the New Yorkers refused to let us settle, not for a minute – Confusion Gate’s sonic architecture was twisted into unnatural angles, yet it all made perfect sense, as the quintet smashed through boundaries and summoned an emotional intensity few could match.
Ancient chimes rang out from Brush A Frozen Horse, a psychedelic epic which served as a startling opener to Confusion Gate.
Astral melodies glowed on The Thought Of Death. The earth churned through The Scent of Black Mud. And the title track? A magnificent sliver of atmospheric black metal, drenched in sorrow.
6. Panopticon – Songs of Hiraeth (Bindrune Recordings)
Ok, so technically Songs of Hiraeth is a compilation, consisting of remixes and remasters of Panopticon rarities.
But we’re making space for it here nonetheless.
Because this is black metal gold.
Inspired by mainman Austin Lunn’s travels in the North of the USA and Northern Europe, and originally written between 2009 and 2011, Songs of Hiraeth is a window into a past era.
And it’s an era that birthed moments of cathartic bliss such as From Bergen To Jotunheimen, produced entrancing paeans to nature (White Mountain View) and even saw Lunn embrace classic metal fretwork (Haunted America II).
This was a treasure chest, which simply begged to be opened.
5. Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Innern (Season of Mist)
Der Weg Einer Freiheit’s mastery of cinematic, all enveloping black metal is complete.
Innem proved it.
Over the course of six albums, the German progressive collective have evolved into some of the genre’s finest sculptors, an act who could rival Enslaved for creative flair and musical intelligence.
Opener Marter – an exercise in sensory saturation – set the scene.
Xibalba plunged great depths of sorrow and rage.
Eos was a heart-stopping death spiral into the abyss.
And Forlorn saw Der Weg Einer Freiheit drift into a dreamstate.
Intriguing and inspiring, Innem could be this band’s definitive work.
Der Weg Einer Freiheit photo (top right) by Mario Schmitt.
4. Imha Tarikat – Confessing Darkness (Prophecy Productions)
Imha Tarikat fly under the radar, but it shouldn’t be that way.
The Germans’ unique, elemental sound had flourished over three albums: Kara Ihlas; Sternenberster; and Hearts Unchained – At War with a Passionless World, which hit our Best Black Metal Albums of 2022 list – “a tempest of anger, frustration, despair… and ultimately, catharsis” was how we described it.
Confessing Darkness, in some ways, was even more direct than its predecessor. Imha Tarikat’s rich, organic sound remained, as did the Germans’ thrilling percussive dynamics (just check out Chamber Of Sin). But the volcanic heat of Horns In The Smoke and Wicked Shrine was almost overwhelming, as Imha Tarikat scorched heaven and earth with spectral blastwaves.
There was room for a real curveball however, as a surging BM version of Thin Lizzy’s The Sun Goes Down brought the record to an unnerving close.
3. Lamp of Murmuur – The Dreaming Prince of Ecstasy (Wolves of Hades)
Lamp of Murmuur’s musical form has been ever shifting. Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism gave us entrancing Gothic BM; Submission and Slavery toyed with death rock as much as second wave; Saturnian Bloodstorm felt like Immortal’s rabid rebirth; and on The Dreaming Prince of Ecstasy there were new riches to savour, as the US act’s exquisite black metal swept into 2025.
Indeed, the strands of LoM’s past converged on an astonishing record – and one that showed founder M’s creativity remains unbound. The Dreaming Prince of Ecstasy parts I, II and III, for instance, could have been an album in itself, as symphonic BM, post-punk and twisted dark metal flowed across more than 20 glorious minutes.
Forest of Hallucinations was another highlight. Yes, it was rooted in Emperor and Dimmu Borgir’s early work, but it bore a charred soul of its own – LoM’s indefinable essence – which permeated this opus.
Grandeur and grace, savagery and spite, they all loomed large, as The Dreaming Prince of Ecstasy reigned in blood.
2. Havukruunu – Tavastland (Svart Records)
Borne from tales of a 13th century revolt, Tavastland was “elemental, inspiring and utterly spellbinding” according to our verdict in February ‘25.
There was only one problem: Havukruunu’s fourth album was a touch more accessible than their earlier chapters, so those in the know didn’t have the Finns to themselves anymore.
Mainstream metal started to take notice, despite songwriter Stefan Sorghammer’s efforts to create “uneasy listening”.
But hey, the whole world has the right to hear the thunderous, sky-splitting Kuolematon Laulunhenki or the battle-scarred Kun veri sekoittuu lumeen, and feel their primal power.
And Havukruunu didn’t abandon what made them so evocative in the first place.
Not at all.
Just like its predecessors, Tavastland‘s core was formed from ancient iron: the riffs arced like lightning and those choral vocals soared to the highest mountain peaks.
Check out the full review of Tavastland here.
Havukruunu photo (top left) by Heidi Kosenius.
1. Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons (Debemur Morti Productions)
A dream made flesh, a vision born into vivid reality, Ethereal Horizons stretched the boundaries of black metal – yet it felt deeply rooted in its sonic foundations.
And it was another triumph for Blut Aus Nord founder Vindsval, who masterminded a work of breathtaking beauty and heart stopping drama.
Sixteen albums in, you’d perhaps forgive the Frenchman if his output had gone stale, but Ethereal Horizons sparkled with creative vitality, and took us on a cosmic odyssey like no other.
Opener Shadows Breathe First was a majestic first offering.
And by the time The End Becomes Grave faded out, reality had been undone.
Enjoyed our Best Black Metal Albums of 2025? Check out Rushonrock’s Best Death Metal Albums of 2025 here.