Scuttlegoats Favorite Albums of 2025

Sex sells, but its not only the fact that the Rat Queen is nice to look at that makes Castle Rat work for me. Castle Rat, despite the optics, never seemed like a band to me that was trying to sell out and make some easy money by performing half naked. The band’s lore is simultaneously under and overwritten, clearly inspired by the pulpy fantasy of the '80s and is presented not only with joyful irony, but appreciation for pulp and crap. I've seen Castle Rat live since writing up the first record and must say that the Rat Queen isn't a born performer, often “underacting” a tad on stage. This is not some focus grouped gimmick rock a la Ghost, this is a the surprisingly dorky chick you're hitting on that somehow roped you into a weekend of LARPing — and despite the gimmick, it feels honest, like something she just wanted to do.

Avant-garde used to mean something different. Now it's a style and a collection of tropes. While Hexrot utilize some of the tropes, I also think they do wonders in innovating, exploring, and allowing themselves to give room for their own artistic obsessions in a way that not many bands have done this year, if at all. Hexrot present a fluid, wavering framework in which all elements are in constant dialogue with each other at all times, none serving purely as supporting elements but to further a monumental, cohesive sound. Particularly, I am in love with the harsh electronic textures and the constantly shifting drum work that even at its most spastic and erratic never drops the groove. You can easily identify Hexrot as avantgarde, but I'd be hard pressed to find other acts that sound exactly like it. Superb.

Material and Space. It's these two terms that I've come to think about about a lot when thinking about how albums are constructed. Black metal will give you lots of space; atmospheres, reverbs, textures but give you frighteningly low amounts of what I'd consider material – ideas, riffs, rhythmic drive. Imperial Triumphant always feel a tad trapped between these two basic musical principles, and, for my taste, I would never want a band to sacrifice material in the pursuit of space. I like Imperial Triumphant the most when they serve up something concrete, when I can put my finger directly into the dissonant wounds of Big City Life. On Spirit of Ecstasy, Imperial Triumphant had explored space. Long, more drawn out improvisational sections of noise and textures are what I think of when I think of said album, and while I still felt compelled to list it, I prefer something like Goldstar much more — after all, a statement will just reverberate endlessly if it has too much space to occupy. Big City Life is tight, heavy, crunchy and dissonant. Goldstar does a great job at capturing that.

There is a lot of filthy, disgusting, slimey death metal out there nowadays. We all remember the purgatory that was late 2010s Incantation-core, where every death metal act seemingly tried to outdo the last one in how muddy, filthy and atmospheric it was. Plasmodulated are all that but somehow sound different, sticking out from the pack. The small amount of lazy research I did on the band unearthed the adjective “Uptuned” that the band used to refer to themselves. Apparently, the band doesn't “play as low tuned” as other acts, whatever that may mean. Sure, maybe Plasmodulated play in D-Standard, death metal bands in the late '80s used to do that all the time, no? (editors note: Yes, and if you're Slayer E-flat-standard) While I don't think this is the actual reason for Plasmodulated's perceived difference, I think it does something to how the band approaches songwriting. Plasmodulated, other than many other acts, think about how to sound filthy, disgusting, and vile, because they're forced to be aware about it. Plasmodulated is not tone porn, unlike many other similar acts. Each pinch harmonic, each odd melodic choice has to sit right to ooze the right feeling of... oozing, I suppose. Plasmodulated is a band that, unlike others, seems to have put the work in.

I was a huge fan of the 'Bogg's debut EP “Pornographic Seizures”, which had a uniquely sludge and gleefully deranged sound that not much death metal was bringing to the table at the time. Since then, I was never as impressed by their output as I wanted to be – crucially, the band never managed to warrant the length of a full-length record, often leaning on a few memorable outliers in quality and picking up some chuggy slam attitude (that I admittedly enjoyed) to pad out the sound. On Hideous Aftermath, the 'Bogg is back to sounding more deranged, without fully giving up some of their temporary BDM-leanings, picking up some dissonance and texture along the way. Honestly, there is so much variation and so many ideas on Hideous Aftermath, you'd be forgiven if you forgot that this is indeed pure troglodyte shit.

Weald & Woe could easily be viewed as an Obsequiae rip-off and I'll be honest — they kind of are. Or they were, at least, because bit by bit, Weald & Woe have carved out an identity of their own. Weald & Woe are less interested in the atmospheres and won't demand you invest time into medieval harp arrangements. Where Obsequiae transport you into ruins of medieval architecture and aspire to give you visions of a time once past, Weald & Woe take you to the ren faire, give you some good mead and bread on a stick. This is fun, banging music and slowly but surely, a small death metal and melodeath influence is making itself heard. Weald & Woe aren't as aspirational as Obsequiae, but damn do they go down smoothly. I don't need a specific headspace to be listening to them. This isn't Crusader Kings level of investment — although I did listen to it once or twice in my pursuit to have a homosexual affair with the Pope (in-game).

It is late december and the year feels figured out. But what's this?! IT'S LYCHGATE WITH A STEEL CHAIR! Usually, I'd disqualify a release that comes so late in the year and move it to consideration for the next one, as I couldn't spend much time with the album, but I´ll assure you: since this released I must have heard it more than ten times. On Precipice, Lychgate push their sound to new heights of atmosphere, psychedelia and progressive writing, the organ textures becoming more and more dense and complicated on a harmonic level. Most bands attempting a style like this turn it into an “atmospheric” and “avant-garde” sludge, where the dense, chaotic soundscapes are given to the listener to decipher, making it questionable if a vision is there to begin with. Lychgate, however, never forget that they're a metal band, serving up tasty material and, dare I say, riffs in every song. This could have easily earned the AOTY spot had I heard it a few months ago.

Ah there it is. The dreaded middle-brow. I've gone on rants before, many of them in fact, about where I want the brow to sit, where I want the tongue to be planted. But I simply can't deny it: Impureza make gimmicky, middl-brow death metal that is almost criminally committed to its theme. And they do it damn well. To my defense though: The flamenco elements of Impureza feel more authentic than most. This isn't just vaguely Spanish guitar noodling. This doesn't feel like the implementation of the gimmick was oneGoogle search and another week of practicing scale runs away. This feels, to a degree, like Impureza actually care about flamenco. I don't know of the backgrounds of these musicians — they'reFrench, apparently? Yet, it feels right at home with anything coming from the Iberian peninsula and the material flows so damn well — every transition sits, the pacing of the songs is superb. This might be musical tourism, this might be the equivalent of a death metal vacation, but I do enjoy sipping a margarita at the pool while these lads are playing.

Backwoodz Studioz is slowly becoming my go to label for grimey, spooky, alternative hip hop. The label led by Billy Woods, whom I have featured in writeups more than once, has repeatedly put out rap albums that are the equivalent of finding an underproduced black metal tape in a derelict cabin in the woods. By their standards, All Portrait, No Chorus is almost a prestige release, bringing together two talented voices. Yet, it maintains the labels trademark mashed, chopped and mushy beats over which Doseone rants, rambles and diatribes like a cartoon villain. Angry, mischievous, and with creativity to spare, despite its early release, its the one rap release that really stuck with me.

I have been watching Miss McLlorin Savant's career with great interest ever since her 2022 record Ghost Song had wormed its way up to my year end lists coveted number two spot. Frankly, McLlorin Savant seems like one of the most unique voices in jazz nowadays — literally, since this is unexpectedly vocal jazz that at times leans into art pop, something that usually gives me the creeps for how often it’s desperately trying to be quirky and different while retaining marketability. Oh Snap leans even further into the art pop direction, but has not quite reached the tipping point for me where I couldn´t enjoy the immense control, creativity and emotion that McLlorin Savant puts into every line without ever going too hard on something for its own sake. She knows how to construct songs that contain emotional impact to boot while also speed-running through a breadth of different vocal technique, seemingly possessing mastery of all of them.

There is not a lot ofjazzgrind, and the jazzgrind there is can't really be considered a movement more than the isolated artistic obsession of a few deranged individuals. There is a lot of harsh jazz out there and there is a lot of semi-improvised, nonsensical noise that some might be inclined to label as jazzgrind, for language fails to attach other labels to it. Byonoisegenerator like chaos, but they like to be in control of it. And at the same time, they completely eschew the trappings of academia. A lot of jazzgrind might be interested in the total and absolute subversion of academic language. Byonoisegenerator embrace it, warp it. And they'll blast your goddamn face doing it, rarely stepping off the gas in their tongue-in-cheek pursuit of jazzgrinding annihilation.

2025 was supposed to be the year of Dripping. Yet – it wasn't. The release of the Archaic Scriptures of Epistemology EP was half-assed, and overall disappointing, consisting of re-recordings, shoddy live tracks, and an underwhelming new track. When I wrote my Vacant Moley review, I wasn't yet aware that, in fact, Moley would be the real Dripping we got. Ed Morris, who also plays for Dripping, really carried all the wacky, drugged out experimentation of Dripping over into Vacant Moley, updating it for the modern age. I gave a cautious score at the time, potentially to leave room for what I expected to be an even better release in Dripping's actual output. But if you want warped, absurd, electronically inspired brutal slam in the vein of Dripping, this is the place to get it.

I have not read Infinite Jest. I have not played Ultrakill. My father tried me to get to play tennis once, but it ended in yelling and a sprained wrist. Yet, I find myself returning to an album made by Ultrakill composer Hakita, which is conceptually based around themes and topics from David Foster Wallace’s classic modernist novel. Frankly, I do not need to be able to pick up on any connection to enjoy this eclectic, eccentric concoction of breakbeats, oddball sampling, and structural oddities. Tennis, Everyone? is constructed in an odd way. Every track loops cleanly with itself and so does the whole album. If I may add to the intratextual confusion for a second, the cover heavily reminds of Masaaki Yuasa’s anime adaptation of Tomihiko Morimi’s novel “The Tatami Galaxy”, where in one episode, tennis plays a pivotal part. In which way this informed the album cover or in which way the Tatami Galaxy itself takes inspiration from Infinite Jest, I cannot say. After all, I haven't read Infinite Jest. Neither have I played Ultrakill. And I only tried tennis once.

I will kindly ask you to refer to my thesis about “Space” and “Material” which you will find under my Imperial Triumphant review above. For most acts, it seems like whenever they want to lean more into one of the two, they have to give up committing to the other to an equal degree. However, it seems like Dormant Ordeal always manage to walk the tightrope where their songwriting never loses heft, impact, and material in the pursuit of texture and space. Each Dormant Ordeal song feels like a carpet of tasteful harmonic textures, but at the same time constantly presents new melodic and rhythmic ideas. Dormant Ordeal's music has a steady flow to it and the music feels vivid and full of artistic breath. While you won't find any individual standout tracks on Tooth and Nail, it is an easy album to return to, wrapping yourself up in a cozy wavering blanket of dissonance, rhythm, and tone.

Let There Be Dark is an unassuming album at first. The cover consists mostly of the logo and blank space, and frankly, might match the first impression of the music, which might seem workmanlike. Tower is a band that knows what restraint can add to a piece of music like this. Traditional Metal as a genre does not always benefit from piling on flourishes, but knowing when to add them and when not to. Tower, as a band, are immensely talented and Let there Be Dark consists of songs that are memorable, catchy and more complicated than they at first appear.Let There Be Dark is dramatic, intense, energetic in ways that unfold the more time I spend with the album. Traditional Metal can not win you over with the spectacle. If you go to hard in intensity, speed or complexity, it will not longer be traditional metal. Its about eking out little advantages where you can, finding the small, next to unnoticeable ways that make simple songs not only work, but that push them over the edge. Vocalist Sarabeth Linden is the closest here to being indulgent, but even she knows when she can get away with and when she can't. I love traditional metal, but I hate what it has become — a kind of broken nostalgia, viewed through rose-tinted glasses where the mere execution of a trope is a virtue of itself. I see bands like that get hyped all the time. Tower succeeds where all of these acts fail for me. And that is why Let There Be Dark is my album of the year.