Having already started the End of the Year List season with the Top 10 Post-Punk Albums of 2025, it's time to move in a darker direction with the Top 10 Goth Albums of 2025. If this seems premature, record labels have already sent me most of what this year has to offer. After I sort through sorting through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of the year. 2025. Perhaps it was marginally better than the previous year, though, given the current climate of the world, we are progressing on a downward spiral, making dark music more important as a soundtrack for this. The very fact that 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, and you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list, and I 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 Goth albums of 2025.
10-Ash Code-"Synthome"
These guys have returned after 8 years for a very legit stab at darkwave, that carries the creepy elegance other acts lack, along with a backbone of tense driving songs. There are a few different vocal colors in the first two songs along ranging from a higher, more emotive plea to the hushed urgency is a suitable comeback album that the rest of the genre could stand to take notes from.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/10/gothtober-ash-code-synthome.html
-9-Die Sexual- "Desire"
This three-song EP comes from this Los Angeles-based duo, who are getting some buzz for their big techno-infused brand of dark wave, though their hyper sexualized branding does not hurt in getting you attention. Rather than trying to recreate a sound from the past. This is also reflected in the production that is modern and larger than life, like it should be pumping in an after-hours club where the latex and cocaine flow in equal proportion.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/07/die-sexual-desire.html
8-Bella Eterna -"Fire"
The project brings Spanish producer JG Outsider together with vocalist Gerd Van Geel of the Belgian band the Arch, to create an interesting take on dark wave that incorporates elements of post punk with the more traditional club beats of the genre. The most shadowy aspect I have encountered in the genre is its less dramatic expression of melancholy. Geel's vocals are not croaking out a vampiric baritone, but his voice carries a vulnerable tremble in his introspective upper register. I like that it is true to the genre without defaulting to the expected tropes.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/10/gothtober-bella-eterna-fire.html
7-Corlyx -"Purple Pain"
Boldly delivering a double album, they have more than enough songs to showcase their strength of embracing both the past of traditional dark wave and still not shying away from paying tribute to this era, with new sounds, like vibrant synth-wave keyboard lines, and pop-inflected hooks. Overall, her growth as a singer is evident in these songs. She is certainly now in the upper tiers of female vocalists in modern goth. This is an ambitious outpouring of songs that shows their melding of all the varied sub-genres of goth into something familiar without becoming a tribute band, as their own unique vision is the lifeblood of these odes to darkness, in all of its shades and seasons
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/02/corlyx-purple-pain.html
6-IN COVERT- "Bleak Machinery"
Right from the start, this album is draped in reverb to create a thick atmosphere , blending the rough edges of industrial pulses with death-rock's elegant romance with depression turned outward. It's not the first time we have heard this kind of thing from Los Angeles, but they are good at what they are doing and bringing a more metal-minded aggression to it. The vocals go into an emotive scream rather than the harshness of a hardcore band, and find their way into pulsing beats that could be danced to, though the dense sonics might perplex your average 'goth nite' patron.
5-Peter Murphy - "Silver Shade"
At 67, Murphy looks older than he sounds. Some of these songs would not have been out of place on his 89 classic "Deep". It carries the new wave bounce, though not as dark as Bauhaus; it is true to the era. Perhaps he is paying a great deal of service to his fan base, which is wise. His pipes stay fluid even when going up into the wavering vibrato of his upper register. It's impressive that he found his way back to this place and delivered in this manner, way more impressive than Billy Idol's new one.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/peter-murphy-silver-shade.html
4-Bootblacks -"Paradise"
Brooklyn-based band BOOTBLACKS is dancing in a more dark wave direction with their new album "Paradise", with songs driven by synth pulses. The reverb-slathered guitar sits back in the mix, content haunting the backdrop. Which works for me. This is one of the best albums this year to delve into this intersection of dark-wave and more 80s-aligned dark pop sounds. Their brand of brooding is backlit with neon to showcase another facet of dark music.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/bootblacks-paradise.html
3-Altar De Fey- "Under a Waxing Moon"
. A great deal of credit goes to the passionate lamentations of Jake Hout are the trembling heart of the album, as the guitar weaves the sonic cobwebs for Hout's stellar croon to crawl upon. "They balance the hypnotic elegance that gives death rock its creepy grace with a more post-punk tension.Poseurs who just want to play dress up and dance at the club might not catch onto what is going on here, as there are actual instruments, plugged into drawing from a canvas that celebrates actual darkness and not just the pagentry of it. Their knack for compelling songwriting continues to not only endure but aging like wine with each release, perfecting what they do a little more,
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/altar-de-fey-under-waxing-moon.html
2-Street Sex - "Full Color Eclipse"
The biggest difference between what they are doing here and as Street Sects, lies in the new wave approach to synths, and there is none of the harsh screaming vocals. I would not say they sound like Depeche Mode, but sonically it's more in the direction of "Music For the Masses" than it is "Too Dark Park". I do like some of the experimentation with how the vocals are produced, and this is heavier than New Wave, due to the emotional intensity that has more in common with "Pretty Hate Machine".
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/street-sex-full-color-eclipse.html
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1-Heartworms - "Glutton For Punishment"
Why is this album taking the top spot, you ask? There are organic qualities blended with a chamber-pop sound that brings Dresden Dolls to mind in equal doses as Rasputina .. Helmed by Jojo Orme, this project is mroe organic and capable of rocking out than your average darkwave band, with songs like "Jacked' falling on the more post-punk side of the equation. The guitars are capable of delivering the needed jagged tension. The album spends a great deal of time juggling the more electronic elements against a jangle of guitar that leans left of center into a moodier indie rock.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/10/gothtober-heartworms-glutton-for.html
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