Shoe-gaze continues it's comeback, as it continues to branch out into dream pop and post-rock so both of those are included in this list, it just makes for an easier title rather than the Top 10, Shoe gaze, dream pop, drugged out indie rock, and hipster post-rock albums of 2025, which is a lot. These are not the coolest, but the best, fuck what other blogs say,. After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of 2025.The very fact these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list; and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway here are the top 10 Shoe gaze albums of 2025.
10-Soft Sun- "Eternal Sunshine"
Gary Arce from Yawning Man started this band a couple of years ago, while he uses similar tones as he does in Yawning Man here, there is a more melodic shoegaze vibe, which is more song-focused. Thanks to the vocals of bassist Pia Isaksen, there is a fragile atmospheric drift that weaves sleepy melodies in the spaces left by the floating guitar parts.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/11/softsun-eternal-sunshine.html
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9-Slow Crush -"Thirst"
The heavy shoegazers are back, and this time around, there are more emotional layers to the hovering croon of bassist Isa Holliday's dream-laden delivery. This album sounds great as it balances out the dynamics you want from this kind of 90s-inspired affair. They give her voice plenty of room to haunt the songs, as the drums and bass keep a driving backbone of fuzzed-out heft coming at you. This is the Belgian band's third trip into the studio, and they have mastered this, even throwing in things like a saxophone to create another layer of sound.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/slow-crush-thirst.html
8-they are gutting a body of water - "LOTTO"
They open the album with a renewed commitment to sonic heaviness. It captures the genre's two greatest dynamics . The album experiments with the formula and employs effective dynamics while typically caring about the songs. A more balanced less obtuse album from this band.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/12/they-are-gutting-body-of-water-lotto.html
7-Mogwai-"Bad Fire"
11 albums into their career, this Scottish band has a clear focus on their sonic journey. Vocals appear right from the first song, though they are more of a smooth texture that sits into the swirl of sound. I think there is some growth in terms of songwriting and how vocals are used here. After your first ten album you have to do something different to keep things fresh, which is what they are doing here.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/01/mogwai-bad-fire.html
6-male// gaze - 'Too Late Now"
Extreme pop is not a thing? That is what this band of spaced-out hipsters seems to think. The album goes from easy listening with cinematic dream pop thrown in, the way the strings soar out of control like amped up Phil Spector to more experimental forms of shoegaze. The drummer helps it all click. everything to click. To their credit, I appreciate their commitment to dynamics and going all out on the big choruses., with some screaming buried in the background.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/10/malegaze-too-late-now.html
5-Esses- "Pain at the Altar of Jest"
This Portland-based band plays a stormy version of goth-infused rock that carries some heft that sometimes feels like a cross between Switchblade Symphony and Swans. The hypnotic throb of the tribal drumming and taunt guitars provides the web over which Kelly Correl's voice crawls. There is plenty of dynamic ebb and flow, with witchy vibes swirling around the cauldron of brooding.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/07/esses-pain-at-altar-of-jest.html
4-Swans- "Birthing"
Listening to this album through headphones is recommended. This album is an event. \ it is not their best work, but it remembers to employ similar moods that bring them closer to the more classic sounds of the Jarboe era. They step in a somewhat darker direction while placing emphasis on a spiritually resonating drone.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/swans-birthing.html
A second album from this Finnish project is a surprise for the darkness of fall to spread over. Her voice continues to glide overly beautifully bleak passages, which is not far removed from where we left off with "Whisper and Wane".There is more grunge influence and a 90s feel overall at times on this one, it is neck and neck with the more doom feeling January release.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/11/november-is-doom-shedfromthebody.html
2-Hot Line TNT- " Raspberry Moon"
They have gone in a more Stone Roses direction for this one. In doing so, this means more melody. The vocals got more love in the studio and are crooned with less apathy. On the other hand, this album jangles more and has less punk rock left in its veins. The atmosphere is thicker and often more melancholic. They are in many ways the same band, but attacking things from a different direction. This means bringing a little more rock balls to the songs at times ,as the vocals carry a more surreal plea to their croon. The guitars have several interesting layers, and the overall production on this album is fantastic.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/hotline-tnt-raspberry-moon.html
1-Ethel Cain- "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You"
Not only the best shoe-gaze / post-rock album of the year , but perhaps the best album of the year. I don't think she set out to make a shoe-gaze album, which is what makes it so effective, the ethereal atmosphere just organically came about thanks to the hypnotic drones that also incorporate pop and country music into the mix. Unlike Wednesday who takes jarring turn between the two genres, on this album you can't tell where one ends and the other begin as they are woven with such sonic beauty. As stated these albums are ranked according to how much I actually listened to them, and I listened to this album more than any other this year.
I talk more about this album on our Top 5 Shoe-gaze album episode here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iupLD4b-1zo
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/ethel-cain-willoughby-tucker-ill-always.html
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