the Top 10 Extreme Metal Albums of 2025

 

Extreme metal encompasses many sub-genres, all of which shun mainstream aspirations with their commitment to intensity, but that is not to say that these albums are the heaviest ever, as all of the albums listed in our Top 10 Extreme Metal Albums of 2025 list are very song-oriented, some even have melody. Perhaps this year, even more so than in the past. The bands here did not fit neatly into other genre lists because they blended other harsh genres, such as black metal or hardcore, into these warped versions of grindcore or screamo.  They are all very dark and lash out with their own forms of sonic fury, but they are the albums that proved best at it.  

After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 20 albums of 2025 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 Extreme Metal albums of 2025

10-Crossed -"Realismo Ausente." 

The tense syncopation creates a bleak vibe when combined with the screamed vocals are undecipherable, making the fact that they are from Spain a moot point. They blast at you with the menace of feral punk, while displaying their ability to let chords ring out and create a more nuanced atmosphere. They established a more GISM-like mood to their brand of chaotic hardcore. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/12/crossed-realismo-ausente.html

 

9-Küntsquäd -"Satans Cock" 

This Australian death metal band has a raw, unhinged style that takes the sonic intensity of crust and combines it with a more taunt death metal chug that does not try to trample you. The pitch-shifted vocals of Paula are a bestial texture, though the song titles take things to extremes with "Gential Dismemberment Bot." The lyrics are incomprehensible, with the overall songwriting managing to compensate for the vocals just being a static frequency.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/06/death-is-june-kuntsquad-satans-cock.html

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8-Noctambulist - " Noctambulist: "Noctambulist II: De Droom"

This band's last album was the number-one Black Metal album of 2021.  This means expectations are high, and they are proving here that there are more than enough weapons in their arsenal to meet these expectations headfirst. Not shying from taking apart the conventions of black metal to reshape them to their own liking, with a brighter, more organic guitar tone.  At times, even carrying an indie rock jangle almost feels more like screamo than black metal. This still works for me as I appreciate their ability to jerk themselves away from conventions. 

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

 

7-Shock Narcotic -" My Flesh is Afraid, But I am Not." 

Grindcore has now been brought to arenas thanks to Pantera picking bands like King Parrot and these guys on the road with them. They cram a great deal of riffage into two minutes, sometimes allowing for more chaos than other moments. At times, there is a groove; at others, things carry more of a death metal aggression.  This is going to be on the heavier and more confrontational end of your average metal head's tastes. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/07/shock-narcotic-my-flesh-is-afraid-but-i.html

 

6-PISSGRAVE-"Malignant Worthlessness." 

These guys have to be the most extreme band on Profound Lore. This completes a trilogy they started back in 2015, but the lyrics are snarled in such a way that they are like cutting your years with broken glass, so there is no way to make them out, just a fine layer of hatred draped over the intense thrashing blast. There is more songwriting employed here than in the one-minute spasm of screaming grind-core dishes out, though that would be the genre most fitting unless you want to call this grind thrash.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/12/pissgrave-malignant-worthlessness.html

5-Drugs of Faith-"Asymmetrical." 

When it comes to grindcore, the genre splits off into two directions: one that is more punk and one that is more metal, these guys are on the punk end of the equation.  The band has been around for over 20 years and features former members of Agoraphobic Nosebleed and  Enemy Soil. Their first release in 6 years finds them in a more rock-oriented songwriting mode. it could have come from a crusty punk band out of the '80s. The vocals are shouted with articulation that gets the lyrics across and in your face. The guitar tones are pretty plug-in and crank it up, with none of the low-end metal gain. This keeps even the more aggressive moments rooted in punk.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/01/drugs-of-faith-asymmetrical.html

4-Low Before the Breeze- "A Hole Beneath The Home We Shared."

 This band from Atlanta is going in an experimental grindcore direction that finds the chaos tempered with atmosphere. That does not mean it's an easy listen, as it took me going back and giving it a second or third pass through before some of the songs clicked with me. At times possessed by spastic madness, as feed back squeals out over a collage of sampled sonics. It's very dissonant and moody, though more introspective in an odd way than dark. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/04/low-before-breeze-hole-beneath-home-we.html

3-Full of Hell-"Broken Sword, Rotten Shield."

This EP is a memorial of sorts that explores loss through the lens of a fantasy metaphor to obscure the processing of their feeling regarding a dog's death. At times, it might be seen as one of their most refined and perhaps accessible songs yet. That said, even when they play nice, they are heavier than. There is a more metal approach that delves into little of their more grindcore spasms, and at other times they carry a hardcore stomp to the riffs.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/full-of-hell-broken-sword-rotten-shield.html

2-Bludgeoned By Deformity-" Epoch Of Immorality."

Helmed by the lead gurgler of Sanguissugabogg, this is one of the most brutal death metal slabs you are going to hear in some time, well, until his day job puts something out.  Less gore, grind grooving than the Suggabogg, they do stomp down on things pretty hard. I went into this expecting to be hit by something more blasting and perhaps more technical than, well, you know who, but it's on the more pleasing end of extreme brutal death metal. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/bludgeoned-by-deformity-epoch-of.html

1-Internal Bleeding- "Settle All Scores." 

For this band to have been around since the 90s, y are inspired and were ahead of their time.  Kids now call this Slam, but it's really just hardcore-influenced death metal. Iit'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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Black Metal History Month - Noctambulist: "Noctambulist II: De Droom"

 

This band's last album was the number-one Black Metal album of 2021.  This means expectations are high for them. They prove on the opening track they have more than enough weapons in their arsenal now to take these expectations on head first. Not shying from taking apart the conventions of black metal to re-shape them to their own liking, there is a brighter more organic sound to the guitars. "Arderlater" is a departure from black carrying an indie rock jangle that gets shifted towards the coming explosion of snarling dynamics. It almost feels more like screamo than black metal. This still works for me as I appreciate their ability to jerk themselves away from conventions. 

This album was written with the entire band fleshing out ideas, so that carries over in this more organic flowing sound. "Godvormig Gat" gets caught up in the kind of stormy blast beats that mark most Black Metal bands. It does make it a little darker than the previous songs. The guitar tones leading into "Lichteter" almost sound more like the Smiths. This makes the cascading shimmer of the guitar that follows it have more in common with "Sunbather' era Deafheaven than not. They continue to use brighter cleaner guitar tones on "Gevoelsmens". More melancholy does creep into this one, as the blasting tempest consumes all sounds surrounding it, and the vocals fall deeper into the mix. The triumphant halftime section touches on themes more common in black-gaze. 

The drumming on this album is impressive. The overall sound is less unique than what I recall from the last album, but in some ways, they have clearly grown as songwriters, as things flow in a very natural way, with post-rock sections seeming like the logical progression rather than a jarring shift. "Vinex" is a very bright blasting that gives way to more melodic chords to ring from it. They take this song in some really interesting places that make me alright without it having to be as dark and depressing as what I normally want from black metal. Things get more serious on the last song finds the album climaxing to a place with greater menace. It does get brighter and overall this album does not sound like these guys are from the Netherlands, this is music I have gotten accustomed to hearing from California, but they are still very effective at what they are doing. I will give this one a 9, meaning it comes close to measuring up to their last album which I also gave a 9 when I first reviewed but by the end of 2021 thought of it as a 9.5, so this album could grow on me as well. 

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The Top 10 Black Metal Albums of 2021

In today's world we need the hateful nature of black metal more than ever. Here is the best of the current crop. As with years past I sort through the genre lists before making the overall top ten of the year list. I know many of you are ready for 2021 to be over with. Hate to break it to you but nothing is getting better next year. 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. You can bitch and complain about your favorite band not being on the list.  I listen to five new albums a day so yes, I heard your favorite album and was not impressed. No, I do not care what you think about it. I do hope you can find your next favorite on this list and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out audio on these guys. Anyways here are the top 10 Black Metal albums of 2021

10-Vried- "Wild North West" 

Their sound continued to evolve into the hookier almost rock-oriented sound they have now. Even clean singing crops up on the first song. Yes, there are blast beats and tremolo picked guitars so this is still very much black metal. It is my favorite kind of black metal as it is the kind that cares about song writing

Abysmal Hymns: Vried : " Wild North West"

9-Grima - " Rotten Garden"

 This German duo does atmospheric black metal right with a big powerful sound.  They are not shoe gazing but capture a similar sonic shimmer. The vocals are well layered with both low growls and higher more blackened shrieks. They do not live on blast beasts alone.

Abysmal Hymns: Black Metal History Month - Grima : "Rotten Garden"

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8-Ancient Wisdom - " a Celebration in Honor of Death" 

I see the words blackened doom on everything except when the band is actually playing a doom black metal hybrid like this project from Sweden is. Much like Burzum, this one-man band is helmed by Vargher from Naglfar The keyboards and atmosphere work really well here and this is a great example of you can have both a sound dialed in and still; care about writing a song. Yes, this kind of carries a drone to it and is more akin to a soundtrack track than pop hit, but that is ok

Abysmal Hymns: Ancient Wisdom : "A Celebration In Honor Of Death

 7-Sertraline : "The street light was all we needed"

This highly atmospheric band from New York has combined a bunch of EPS and is presenting them in this format. I am counting this as a 2021 album because these were all unknown until this point. They have plenty of grit and darkness set against the more sweeping sonics. The vocals are a lower snarl. They are dedicated to making very dynamic music and not the kind of black metal that settles for blast beats alone

Abysmal Hymns: Black Metal History Month -Sertraline : "The street light was all we needed"

 6-the Ruins of Beverast - "the Thule Grimoires" 

 In 2021 if you are going to do black metal then this is the way to do it. You can tell it is in fact black metal, but it is not so tied down to conforming to a certain time period that it is stagnant. In fact it is full of dark new sounds that really add to the songs

Abysmal Hymns: the Ruins of Beverast : " the Thule Grimoires"

 

5-the Flight of Sleipnir- "Eventide" 

Their 7th album finds them very confident in what they do. They have a knack for slowing things down while the vocals stay very caustic. It gives this a cold sound that black metal, needs which is why I tend to listen to it more in fall and winter. There is a great deal of very nuanced playing on this album. Some of the guitar work really goes above and beyond. Some black metal tends to take on an almost punk feel in the way the guitar is handled, so they are really bringing playing that stands up against any metal band to the table 

Abysmal Hymns: THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR : " Eventide"

4-Wolves in the throne room- "Primordial Arcana"  

Their new album is beautifully true to who they are and have been as a band with black metal as the core of epic atmosphere and sweeping guitars. The vocals are scowled much in the same manner they were when I first heard them, for a band that has taken us many other places over the years I respect that. I am open for them to do whatever, that is within reason and stays true to the core of their nature worshipping mountain selves. They once again deliver.

Abysmal Hymns: Wolves in the Throne Room : "Primordial Arcana"

 

3-Plaguewielder - "Covenant Death" 

This album really grew on me. They have grown as both a band and songwriters now finding themselves in a realm of sonic darkness not unlike the place that Tombs invokes.  The rage and metallic battering ram they hit you with is not dulled by the creepy atmosphere the album is coated it. 

Abysmal Hymns: Plaguewielder : " Covenant Death"

2-Peste Noire- "Le retour de pastoureaux" 

This gang of French maniacs continues to spit in the face of expectations. At times abandoning black metal to be more progressive, but in a very crude and confrontational manner. They have punk attitude Now they have more of a punk thing going on but bring you back to the more refined anger of metal when you think they are going to bring in acoustic guitars and forget who they are. Creatively ambitious this was almost my number one pick, but their crude primal organic leanings might be emotive, but not a massive of a sound as the band who took the number one spot.  

Abysmal Hymns: Peste Noire : " Le retour des pastoureaux"

 

1- Noctambulist - " Eiegieen" 

This band from the Netherlands caught me by surprise hey can summon a scathing buzz of black metal, but are not limited to just that proving themselves more than capable of expanding the sonic horizons. They could fall into the black gaze sub-genre but are darker than most with more aggression in their song writing, they know when to let things simmer and when to roar back to life. This atmosphere contributes to the sparkling melodies that are layered in here. The album sounds great and is recorded in a manner that makes the most of their vision which is why they beat out Peste Noir for the top spot.

Abysmal Hymns: Black Metal History Month -Noctambulist -"Eiegieen"

Black Metal History Month -Noctambulist -"Eiegieen"

 

This band from the Netherlands caught me by surprise. The first actual song on this album starts off with a scathing buzz of black metal, but they expand their horizons sonically from there. Do they share some common ground with Deafheaven sonically? Yes. These guys however are darker. They are very concise songwriters without going up to much room to simmer in their atmosphere. Their atmosphere contributes to the sparkling melodies that are layered in here. This creates a range of emotion beyond the screams of the vocals which are much nastier than Deafheaven's more monotone snarl. Now we can move on from the Deafheaven comparison as halfway into "Klatergoud" they have proven themselves as a force that is all their own more influenced perhaps by Weakling.

The second actual song since we are not counting the intro thing, drops the dynamic way down. If there was a black metal power ballad this would be it. It does build back up into a powerful post-rock-like punch two minutes in. The vocals do not relent. They are fucking pissed. We are nearing the five-minute mark by the time they lay into the blast beats and they do not hang on them long. They are used jsut the right amount on this album. The shoe gaze side comes out more on " Vagevuur". Two minutes in there is a riff that sounds almost hopeful. the bass line keeps the darker root, and they do not forget they are a metal band reminding you of the punches they throw in. They manage to keep the perfect blend of moods and dynamics throughout. I am never bored. 

There is a lighter tone set going into "Vreugd". It is more mid-paced. The vocals are the heaviest thing at the onset of the song. The drums begin to pick up steam next. The bass player is pretty impressive for black metal, not a genre known for bass players. At 13 minutes the last song is the most sprawling and also the one with the widest range of dynamics. It centers on atmosphere with metal building more toward the end, some cool sounds and riffs but the first few songs hooked me in more. Overall this is a pretty impressive album. I will give it a 9. If you want atmospheric gaze posty metal with a sonic spin of its own this is for you.