The Top 10 Worst Albums of 2025

It is that time again. Here we take a look at the worst albums of the year. They come from varied polarities of the rock spectrum, with none of the offenders coming right from the pop machine, some are trying to be goth and metal, some are jsut bad at what they do, and others are dabbling in an experiment gone wrong.  One of the things that made rap great in the 80s and '90s was rappers calling each other out for being whack. It provided a form of quality control. Now people have grown too sensitive for that kind of hard truth.

 Some would argue this is all subjective, but music is something that can be defined in technical terms, as well as artistic, and how it holds up over time. Chances are, if it is hard is get through one listen,

10-Creeper-"Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death"

The British goth wannabes Creeper have learned from many of the mistakes that plagued the previous album, though some of the anthemic glam rock feel is there.if you like H.I.M. and Meatloaf, then this is your new favorite band I only like one half of that equation, and you already know which one. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/10/gothtober-creeper-sanguivore-ii.html

9-Primitive Man-"Observance." 

The problem with this album is that it is focused on scathing sounds and drifting into post-rock moods with them, rather than memorable songs; some of this is due to the vocals being used as a frequency rather than more purposefully. Even at their most experimental, they are still working off a formula. 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/11/november-is-doom-primitive-man.html

8-Dead and Dripping -"Nefarious Scintillations." 

Even though this is all the work of one man, Evan Daniele. Perhaps his ego should have been checked at the door as he is a better guitarist than he is a vocalist or drummer, and bringing in session guys would have benefited him. Cool ideas were killed by shitty production and forced me to struggle through the album. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/12/dead-and-dripping-nefarious.html

 7-ESCHATON- "Techtalitarian" 

 It is kind of like when the guitarist won't stop soloing at band practice, as you are trying to iron out parts. The song finds them playing even faster, and things sound thin and rushed rather than heavy, as dizzying speed alone is just fast, not heavy. You would think that people into progressive music would have learned the value of less is more from jazz, but no, here we are. They continue to fly off in the hyper-fast fret-burning direction with little regard for heaviness; it could be Dragonforce if it were not for the growling. Truth be told, when you have guys who have played in Necrophagist and Arsis, we should be expecting more, no matter how technical they are,

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/death-is-june-eschaton-techtalitarian.html

6-Revenge - "Violation.Strife.Abominate"

Things are more frantic and feral this time around, but not as heavy, thanks to the thin guitar tone that carries a reckless buzzing to the otherwise punk frenzy going down here. I don't remember the drums sounding this bad last time. The production might not grate on the nerves of their fans, who are the only ones who will appreciate this album. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/02/black-metal-history-month-revenge.html

5-Ethel Cain- ''Perverts." 

You can't say I play favorites, as this is the first time an artist who scored our number one album of the year is also on the worst album list. This is an ambient album she released before "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You." This finds her at odds with the concept of sound vs song on the title track, leading you off into a wasted twelve minutes of ambient noise. It is sparse and tentative, far from her most memorable songs. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/ethel-cain-perverts.html

4-Halestorm- "Everest" 

The bulk of the album is bland jock jams, though They brought in a cog from the Nashiville Country machine in Natalie Hemby for the big ballad, which makes for a song you might expect from Miranda Lambert.  This is a well-produced album that rolled off the assembly line to cater to a very gullible demographic,  as good as a pre-fabricated rock album can get.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/halestorm-everest.html

3-Lorna Shore - "I Feel the Everblack Festering Inside Me."

 They went into the studio and made the album expected of them, dialing the symphonic elements up enough to make it feel like they are not just dialing it in. It is enough of a change to talk about in interviews, and some kids are just dumb enough to be wow'ed by the guitar solos and overproduced layers of pig squeals to not ask further questions of this band or even know what questions they should be asking.. Is this done in a professional manner that sounds polished and massive? Yes, but these guys have a ton of money invested in what they do, so of course, they are making a professional-sounding album. But it's boring,

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/lorna-shore-i-feel-everblack-festering.html

 

2-Baby Metal-"Metal Forth." 

The novelty of this album lies in the fact that the J-Pop group features a guest artist on each track. The only reason I decided to give this album a listen is because Poppy and Spiritbox are on it. Both artists flirt with the boundaries of what is metal and pop; just because an album has distorted guitars and some screaming on it does not make the album metal. Metal is an aggressive feeling of darkness that cannot be found on any track. In fact, I am embarrassed for anyone who appeared on this album. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/just-how-metal-is-babymetals-metal.html

1-Ghost - "Skeleta" 

Another album that earned a 5, they scored a 3 for the previous album, so it's an improvement.I think the fact that they make a turn further into pop with each album even has the music press, which was previously critical of the industry, not saying anything if they can't say something nice. But I will tell you how it is, at its worst some dreadful ballads make Styx sound heavy. So it's not worth owning, and was hard for me to make it through, but maginally better than their average album. The highlights are the riffs that sound like Dokken and Ratt, though those are far a few between. It ranked worse than anime schoolgirls because at least with that, you go into it knowing it will be terrible; this relies so heavily on a marketing image they have idiots invested in it, adding insult to injury when you listen to it. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/04/ghost-skeleta.html

pst643

Lorna Shore : "I Feel the Everblack Festering Inside Me"

 I gave Lorna Shore's 2022 album an 8, as I noted they were good at what they do, but it did not resonate with me. A few minutes into this one, and I can hear where it is heading in a similar direction. The arrangement to the opening track is more chaotic, but they have a big, sometimes orchestral sound that gives the feel of a metalcore band trying to cosplay as Dimmu Borgir. Will Ramos throws his voice around in a manner that can be a bit annoying. I think the lower death metal voice is more his forte, but these guys are building off a brand. 

It is produced in a manner that sounds heavy, and is played in a manner that sounds heavy, but so far, it does not feel heavy. I think the pristine production has sterilized some of the heaviness out of this album, as it is without a doubt overproduced. The blackened elements of their sound feel like it's something they like but is not a part of who they are as people. I do appreciate that "Oblivion" has more atmosphere as it balances this song out. I think most of their songs are twice as long as they should be, and as songwriters, they need to learn how to trim their own fat. 

"In Darkness" finds the orchestral elements taking a larger role, while they throw chaotic temper tantrums behind it, eventually leading to variations of a breakdown. The formula they use is on a sliding scale, still intact. It is very cinematic, but almost to a Disney level. This is even taken a step further on "Unbreakable," which is more calculated and accessible for this brand of metalcore. Though symphonic metal core is a stupid concept, as the symphonic element negates the hard-core part of the metal-core equation. Though the band wil surely insist they are beyond labels and sub-genres. 'Glenwood" makes it clear what the problem is. The melody created but the sweeping guitar lines and symphonies is trying to be epic, and it's not dark enough so it ends up sounding like a metal band trying to make music for a Disney Princess parade. 

"Lionheart" is more about the Disney bullshit, where " Death Can Take Me" dials that back a bit , but in doing so leaves them sounding more like your average metalcore band, though the more melodic elements this time around remind me more of Behemoth. I would rather just listen to Behemoth, as there are fewer pig noises.  But it is an improvement for the Disney thing. "War Machine"  has some more deliberate breakdowns like riffs that are heavy neough to understand why people like these guys. They are back to being Temu Borgir, on "A Nameless Hymn", which, if you did not know better, might fool you into thinking this was some next-level shift, but it's almost a total ripoff, like their producer asked AI to write the song for them. Despite the pace picking up to a more At the Gates speed in places, the last song is numbingly boring. 

They went into the studio and made the album expected of them, dialing the symphonic elements up enough to make it feel like they are not just dialing it in. It is enough of a change to talk about in interviews, and some kids are just dumb enough to be wow'ed by the guitar solos and overproduced layers of pig squeals to not ask further questions of this band or even know what questions they should be asking.. Is this done in a professional manner that sounds polished and massive? Yes, but these guys have a ton of money invested in what they do, so of course, they are making a professional-sounding album. But it's boring, and really makes perfect sense they would pander to the press and depend on bands like Babymetal and Sleep Token as they are really just cogs in the machine , and this is business as usual, so I will give this a 6. If you want to hear what good deathcore is, give the new Internal  Bleeding a listen instead; it does not have any of the Disney trappings and crushes this album.

Thanks for reading, give a listen to the song below and  please "like" and share on social media to give music a voice 

https://www.facebook.com/abysmalhymns

Check out our Podcast here ... https://www.youtube.com/@abysmalhymns666

pst- 447

Lorna Shore: "Pain Remains"

 I typically do not share the same musical tastes when it comes to metal as the editors of Metal Sucks. But they were raving about this new Lorna Shore so much that I decided to check it out. I went into this knowing they are a metal core band. The thing with extreme metal bands, which I find myself having to repeat almost every time I review one of them is that fact that it is easy to be impressed by the sheer weight of heaviness when you first hear it if it is done right, but after that sting of the ears wears off, is it just going to be more of the same?  The band has been through a string of vocalists, with Will Ramos, now stepping up to the mic for this full length after the previous growler got cancelled. The opening track as as impressive as most heavy bands are when they hit you with the full intensity of what they do. This band does with machine like precision shifting from riff to riff with a symphonic ambiance around them almost like a metal core Dimmu Borgir. 

The metal core and the connotations those kinds of vocals typically have is what wears on me as soon as the second song. The gurgling and pig squealing the main source of my displeasure. It is rarely ever met with the power of a death metal vocalist or the emotion of a black metal one. Any melodic touches this album choose to incorporate helps make the blinding speed fests like "Cursed to Die" do their job more effectively. It might be put together well in the studio in terms of the songs captured, but the feeling of a bleeding soul that makes metal feel like it's rage and darkness and is real, sometimes takes a backseat in order to capture the more mammoth sound at time. By the time we are at "Soulless Existence" the vocals have begun to bore me. The guitar playing is the album's strength, but I do not think it can carry the album on its own. The more deliberate moments work better than when they are more blazing fast. They are good at what they do what they do is just becoming a one trick pony.  

The rule here that "cool riffs alone does not a good song make" hits bands like this hard, as the vocals are not contributing a great deal. Instead, everything is running off precise technically refined playing. "Apotheosis" provides a pretty glaring example of this. They like to dress things up as black metal and the vocals are better and the higher pitched gremlin snarl, but I do not get any vibes of menace or darkness from them. It begins to become a case of ...OK I hear what you are doing here, but Dimmu Borgir does this better so why do I need to listen to this. If fact the more gurgled tortured pigs sounds the less of a reason, I have to want to listen to this. When it gets to the "Pain Remains" trilogy which consists of the final three songs, things begin to run together and sound the same as the tightly chug forward in a blur with predictable break downs. If you like guitar solos, they have some impressive ones, mixed into those songs, but that only goes so far. I will round this down to an 8, because they are good at what they do , what they do is not something that resonates with me.