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Here we go, the second year that I have expanded from a top 10 to a Top 20 albums of the year. This is the first part, counting down from album 20 to 11. These are the albums I listened to most. When you take into consideration the fact that I listened to over 900 albums this year, it's impressive for these albums to have endured the influx of new music that hit my inbox every morning and made me want to hear them again and again. Yes, this is the culmination of all the other lists done up to this point for other blogs and was refined down to this master list of all genres.; So here ya go...
20-Deadguy-"Near-Death Travel Services."
30 years after Victory Records hardcore band Deadguy cemented their legendary status with their album "Fixation on Coworker ". The band is not just back to reaffirm their relevance; this album has the benefit of 2025 production value, so it sounds far better than the more metallic guitar sound they debuted with. This makes for an album that is heavier with the guitars, creating a more organic wall of sound. They hit you with a more fully realized onslaught. The vocals did retain their command, which has always been similar to Henry Rollins in their confrontational tone. Coming back stronger is what hardcore is about, and this album is the epitome.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/deadguy-near-death-travel-services.html
19-Alice Cooper -The Revenge of Alice Cooper."
The first album with the original Alice Cooper band since "Muscle of Love". Bob Ezrin is also producing it. Does it perfectly capture the fire enough that it picks up where they left off on "Muscle of Love"? Almost, it is pretty energetic for a band in their mid-70s who have not played together since the 70s. not at the level of his most classic work, but way better than other rockers close to his age are doing, it's closer to "Muscle of Love" than it is "Love it to Death" s it's not what I expected, but still congruent with what these guys used to do.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/07/alice-cooper-revenge-of-alice-cooper.html
18-Internal Bleeding- "Settle All Scores."
For this band to have been around since the 90s, they are inspired and were ahead of their time. Kids now call this Slam, but it's really just hardcore-influenced death metal. It's fair to say these guys are also big fans of Cannibal Corpse. After all, Cannibal Corpse, formed in Buffalo, three years before these guys. This is the first album to feature Sacrafical Slaughter vocalist Steve Worley, who sports a very commanding grunt and gurgle. His lyrics are growled in such a manner that, despite their brutality, you can still make them out. They shift into more traditonal metal riffs that provide enough dynamics to make most metal heads happy.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/internal-bleeding-settle-all-scores.html
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17-Blut Aus Nord - "Ethereal Horizons."
The French Black Metal band's 16th album shows Blut Aus Nord never makes the same album twice, and they are embracing every side of the genre here while cloaking them all in their signature atmosphere. It is like listening to a smoke machine envelop a band rather than just seeing it on stage. Atmospheric black metal is being pushed in new directions, while the pained moaning of the clean vocals cuts through the thickness of sound, bringing' Mercyful Fate's earliest incarnations of black metal to mind. There is the needed cauldron of blast beats and tremolo-picked guitars needed to identify their blackened intent, but not sounding like everyone else in the process
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/10/blut-aus-nord-ethereal-horizons.html
16-Scorpion Milk- "Slime of the Times
Mat Mcnerney from Beastmilk is taking things in a more apocalyptic direction with this album. Joining him is the drummer from the Viagra Boys and Nate Newton from Converge on bass. The elements that differed from what I expected, due to the rough punk edges, grew on me, and it became an album I could just keep playing all afternoon.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/scorpion-milk-slime-of-times.html
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15-Callous Daoboys - "I Don't Want to See You In Heaven."
You are thrown into their bizarre progressive take on metalcore. While the screamed vocals are more dominant, Carson Pace's voice continues to grow. His poppy-sung vocals carry the need hooks to contrast the chaos. If there is any justice in the universe, these guys should be at least as big as Knocked Loose, just on the merits of songwriting.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-callous-daoboy-i-dont-want-to-see.html
14-Lord Huron- "The Cosmic Selector Vol 1."
This is the 5th album from this melancholy folk rock band, which employs a reflective atmosphere in its sound that feels honest in its soul-baring introspection. They're playing a more modern take on Americana, as the vocals gain more confidence in their narrative, thanks to the shuffling groove provided by the drums that keep them moving as country influences slide in. Pull out the bong for this album.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/07/lord-huron-cosmic-selector-vol-1.html
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/author-punisher-nocturnal-birding.html
12-Viagra Boys - "viagr aboys"
The Swedish punk band wastes no time making this work them up into more of a frenzy despite the more melodic elements in the chaos that touch on a similar avant-garde pop style as Xiu Xiu. They keep their hooky sarcasm cracking off lyrical observations in sharp humor that fuels the disco beats and punk sneer alike. The topics that are subject to their lyrical scorn veer from the news to health care, with some country twang, and recalling some of the alt-rock classics of the '90s. Above all, it's all a non-conforming attitude that keeps this old school punk rock with the emphasis on rock.
tps://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/04/viagra-boys-viagr-aboys.html
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