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50. Oak – Shimmer

My favorite on Oak’s latest, this is a piece that has time to evolve and grow while it moves through different layers of sound; the slow-burning instrumental in the second half is truly beautiful and mesmerizing.

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49. Dream A View – Rush of Waves

Steeped in 80s nostalgia, Dream A View gave us an incredibly cool instrumental track with bubbling energy and sweet keys. It gets better every time I listen.

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48. Whispers of Granite – Ocean Maker

This is a low-key epic track full of spacious melodies and slow-brewing sounds. Marek Arnold’s astonishing saxophone really seals the deal. 

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47. Smalltape – Tesselate

The closer on Tangram, this piece is reserved at first, but soon climbs into something that feels like the end of a story, that feels climactic with its excellent guitar solo and sweeping keyboard melodies, It’s beautiful.

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46. Omnium Gatherum

– Road Closed Ahead

This is the lumbering, riffy closer on the new Omnium Gatherum album, and there’s just something grooving and heavy about it that I love to death.

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45. Gazpacho – We Are Strangers

This song is burned into my brain. Gazpacho has plenty of hooks, but this one is so simple and so good. Such a great track.

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44. Kauan – Embrace/Repel

While the album plays something like a single composition, this piece really stands out for me. I love its mountainous, hovering riffs and the terrifically searing synth solo that brings everything full circle.

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43. Edenya – Like a Falling Leaf

Part of a sequence of truly beautiful tracks, this floating piece is a pure and unadulterated instrumental that is exquisite and unforgettable. 

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42. Seal – All I Know Is Now

It’d been a while since we heard from Seal, and this bluesy track is everything I wanted it to be. Seal is still an amazing vocalist and composer.

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41. Bjørn Riis – Panic Attack

This is one of the best songs I’ve heard from Bjørn in some time. It’s an 11-minute song that is considerably dark and thoughtful with moments of punctuated edge; I love the shadowy interlude that leads us into the raging instrumental near the end.

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40. Epica – Aspiral

I’ll be honest and say I sort of fell out of love with Epica’s new album in the second half of 2025—I’m not sure why. But the title track is still amazing. It is mostly centered upon Simone’s vocals, though it isn’t exactly a ballad, and it slowly adds layers of guitars and choirs and a bit of spoken word to become something very special. This closer is haunting and darkly theatrical in all the right ways, and I can’t get enough.

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39. Orion – Bleeding Hearts

Ben is great at writing closers. This ends Into Darkness with beautiful and hovering light, and though it has some rocking segments, the overall atmosphere is melodic, even celestial. I really like the electronic elements that play a significant role, too.

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38. Rose Riebl – Falling

There is something addictive about this cautious and subtly catchy piece. Rose shows us her voice for the first time here, and it is simply a terrific song.

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37. Time’s Forgotten – Sidewalk Hero

This is simply a great tune. The Time’s Forgotten single has such a strong guitar melody, plus what I consider Priscilla’s most emotional vocals on the album; the song rocks but has heart.

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36. Firmament – Angels in Vermillion

This might be the catchiest song of the year. Firmament is a local band to my hometown, and this song has such an addictive riff and hook.

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35. Blut Aus Nord

– The End Becomes Grace

Darkness and shadows, ambience giving way to heavy blackness. The closer on Blut Aus Nord’s latest is truly gracious and mighty.

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34. SOM – Chemicals

I love how this song has multiple layers of accents and melodies, starting at first with a hazy riff and proceeding through a foggy transition into a climax with subtle vocal rhythms. It will worm itself into your brain.

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33. Radiant Thought – Transcending

I like the album overall, but this single from one-man project Radiant Thought has a seriously catchy chorus, and the drumming from Leprous’ Baard Kolstad is impeccable.

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32. Cea Serin –

When the Wretched

and the Brave Align

With shades of Tiamat, this piece is pretty aggressive, even while subtle melodies linger in the background. I love the emotional voiceover and the brash riffs and layered vocals. The song burns through various terrific instrumentals, and I love how the chorus comes back around now and then with its strangely addictive hook. 

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31. Feather Mountain – Prayer Wall

This piece is filled with searing light through spiraling synth melodies, yet also an exploration of texture in contrasting innocent and harsh vocals so closely together. The second half is a cinematic, rising heartbeat that never fails to send electricity down my spine.

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30. Derrick Stembridge

– Algorithm of the Soul

Utter warmth is the name of the game in this gorgeous electronic track. The song has a vivid beat that slowly adds layer after layer of melody; I love how it flirts with both subtlety and clarity, spiced with intrigue.

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29. Chimpan A – Invisible People

A truly sing-able song from Chimpan A’s gem of an album, this is a powerful and yet incredibly addictive track with terrific spoken word, electronic color, and deep emotions.

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28. Winter Gardens – Anthropocene

From their short and spunky EP, Winter Gardens offered a song that I straight-up craved. This piece has such comforting synth, but it soon rockets into an echoing, soaring guitar rhythm that I could listen to forever.

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27. Esoterica – Alive

Some of the other tunes on this album are catchier, but this song is the one that continues to hold my gaze. Something about the desperately human vocal performance and the toweringly cinematic climax gives me goosebumps.

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26. Nad Sylvan – Monte Carlo Priceless

On his classy, 60s-inspired latest, Nad gave us plenty of attitude. This single, though, is personal, warm, and groovy. I love it.

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25. Obiymy Doschu – Don’t Give Up

Possible one of the most emotional songs of the year, this enlightening and rapturous piece features breathtaking violins, an incredibly catchy and powerful chorus, and a galloping instrumental that all work together to inject hope into our hearts. Everything, from the angular guitar solo to the repetition of “never giving up” to the cautious ending, makes this song special. There is no doubt what it means and how it makes me feel.

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24. Kwoon – Jayne

I think this song best encapsulates what I love about Kwoon’s latest. The album has plenty of gorgeous segments, but I particularly love this song and how the spinetingling strings and classy ambience soon give way to a winding, guitar-heavy climax that is truly thrilling.

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23. Cammie Beverly – Another Room

Cammie gave us many different shades of emotion on her debut solo, but this song seized my mind time and again last year. I love the warm electronica, and also the slightly fuzzy feeling and bright harmonies.

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22. Auri – Shieldmaiden

Few tracks obsessed me as much as this Auri single in 2025. I adore the twisting, ascending hook that Johanna performs perfectly, and as the song progresses, strings and cinema pour into the melody, making it grow and evolve and emote. It is rich and terrifically beautiful. 

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21. Amorphis – Tempest

While I didn’t particularly love the whole album, “Tempest” was a true standout.  It is so full of melody and light, not to mention sweet guitar and synth solos.

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20. Moron Police – Okinawa Sky

While there are moments on Pachinko that tower over this tune, there is something about the rich, reserved style, the 80s warmth, and the beautiful hook that make me point to this song as the representative of the record overall.

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19. Soda Blonde – People Pleaser

Soda Blonde know their way around a hook, and this single from their recent EP is no different. This song is beautifully performed, but it’s the slight grit in the vocals, the relatable emotions, and the huge hook that made me fall for it.

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18. Sleep Token – Even in Arcadia

Sleep Token returned with something a little different last year, and while there are plenty of great tracks on the record, the title track is the one that gets me. This song is more pensive and ambient, more focused on vocals than on eccentricity. I love how it floats, as if through time and space.

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17. Hermyth – The High Priestess

This 11-minute closer from the new Hermyth album is mostly instrumental; it revels in soaring and shoegazing guitar moments, and finds power in accepting reality as it is. I love how the song transitions into an ambient, yet somehow still direct piece that drifts in space like the poetry of the galaxies, like the song of the stars. It feels alien and still innately human as the guitars and synth collide, and I find that I never want it to end.

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16. Esthesis – Out of Step

Esthesis’ latest is rich in terrific songs, but the title track is staying with me the most. It has such a meaty groove from the first second, and the guitars join that rhythm, almost reminding me of Pure Reason Revolution’s wicked style. Throw in some cinematic and abstract segments, and the song is anything but normal, but still manages to rock.

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15. Cosmograf – Seraphim Reels

This piece on Cosmograf’s latest feels somewhat like a 2000s Porcupine Tree song, only with an injection of saxophone. I absolutely adore how Peter Jones is featured throughout; Robin’s voice is perhaps the most vulnerable and expressive that it’s ever been. It’s a quieter track, yes, but Peter lays down a thrilling, gritty sax solo that blows me away every time. I love how Robin’s guitar takes its lead, ending the track in a deeply satisfying way.

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14. Lunatic Soul – Hands Made of Lead

For a 1.5 hour album, there isn’t a weak track on the latest Lunatic Soul journey. But this particular track haunts me still. I love the candid vocals, the emotional horizons built right into the melodies, and the pealing saxophone. It’s different but familiar for the Lunatic Soul sound.

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13. Katatonia – Lilac

Another Katatonia album, another single I love far more than any other track on the album. I love the riffy portions, the weird chorus, and the reserved portion in the second half. It is so damn good.

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12. SubLunar – A Sun Blur

This song closes a fantastic record from Poland’s SubLunar. This ten-minute piece leans into the band’s shoegaze aspects; the first half of it feels dark and pensive, but the last half is a soaring, soothing, cosmic wind of guitars and electronic accents and melody. The sheer emotion it portrays makes you want to hear it again and again.

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11. Antinoë – Flock

Travel through ambient shades with this powerful single from The Fold. The hushed vocals, mysterious ambience, and strangely catchy chorus lead us through a misty haze that begs us to linger.

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10. Lux Terminus – Natsukashii

The closer on the Lux Terminus sophomore effort is truly a colorful gem. It feels like experiencing life for the first time, like exploding out of your shell and meeting the world head-on. The subtle punctuating chants in the background, the reeling synth lines, the mighty melodies; all of this makes for a final piece that is incredibly memorable and powerfully moving. I don’t know why, but it leaves me in tears.

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9. Ihlo – Legacy

I had a thing for title tracks last year, especially on albums with multiple amazing songs. Ihlo’s Legacy is a fabulous album, but the title track is my favorite. It has a gorgeous synth overlay that starts as subtle but eventually surges into the spotlight. The circular melody leads the song into an explosive portion of emotional vocals and heavy riffs that feels simply intoxicating. I love how the song ends with about a minute of abstract electronic shadows.

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8. Paradise Lost

– Lay A Wreath Upon the World

Paradise Lost’s latest is a rock-solid affair, but this song is the one that I can’t stop listening to.  It changes things up right in the middle of the album by offering a flowing river of female vocal harmonies and great ambience. It has the dark guitars to contrast all of this, too.

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7. Imminent Sonic Destruction

– The Game

ISD outdid themselves with Floodgate, but it’s the vocal harmonies and powerful guitars on this song that I absolutely adore. I love the soulful keys and ways the vocals buttress each other into higher emotional spaces, and when they lay down the riffs near the end, things gets serious.

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6. An Abstract Illusion

– Frost Flower

“Frost Flower” is like a shining beacon on a hill surrounded by beautiful darkness. This song is full of strings and keyboard melodies and atmosphere, and the metallic elements end up being the accents, rather than the foundation. I love the hovering purple ambience, the icy beauty of it all. It has moments of epic chaos, but acoustic guitars and glorious melodies reign.

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5. Remina – Vanta Ray

Featuring a duet by Heike Langhans and Tony Dunn, this song surprised me by becoming my favorite on Remina’s latest. Tony and Heike sound amazing together, building energy and power together so the thundering drums and dark drive can sweep us away. It’s absolutely mesmerizing and the chorus makes me want to sing!

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4. Messa – The Dress

What a dark beauty this song is! It has such a spacious and carefully enunciated first part with some truly interesting lyrics; I love the soaring chorus and the unbelievably cool bluesy interlude, replete with jazzy brass, bassy shadows, and noodly guitar. The song slowly rises from that interlude into a towering climax that is absolutely perfect, guitar solo and vocals and all.

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3. Blackwater Holylight

– Wandering Lost

Blackwater Holylight created what is technically my most-listened-to song of 2025. I’ve heard it countless times. It is a seven-minute rhythmic journey through cosmic paths; I love how it slowly increases in intensity, building upon itself in hazy beauty. It’s deeply addictive.

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2. Primrose Path – Propensity

When I think of 2025 tracks that have sheer gravity in their sound, this is the first one I envision. Primrose Path gave us an incredible debut, and this song displays everything I love about them. It has the monster riffs, the towering vocals, the cinematic rush of weight and force. This absolute beast flirts with danger and darkness, swirling in the mind’s periphery with excellent drumming, until at last it explodes with enormously heavy riffs contrasted against Lindsay’s otherworldly vocals—I love the way the last seconds are spent doubling-down on the heaviness. 

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1. Evergrey – Oxygen

So, yes, I’m definitely an Evergrey fanboy, and their 2025 single (it’s not clear if it will be on a future album) featuring new drummer Simen Sandnes. “Oxygen” is a fantastic example of why I love their modern sound so much. From the huge riffs to the quietly introspective vocals to the ridiculously addictive chorus, the song fires on all cylinders as it transitions through shades and textures, forces and whispers. What a damn fine track!

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