2025 Best of Metal: #11 Lo-Pan-Get Well Soon

Release date: 1/28/2025
Origin: Columbus, Ohio, USA
Personnel: Jeff Martin-vox, Chris Thompson-guitar, Skot Thompson-bass, Jesse Bartz-drums

Damn solid stoner metal album from the American heartland. The guitar sound on this one is downright infectious. Vocals from Jeff Martin sounds like he’s channeling a bit of Maynard from Tool, albeit in a much louder manner. This one is definitely for fans of Fu Manchu, Mutoid Man, Red Fang, etc.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
11. Lo-Pan-Get Well Soon
12. Hooded Menace-Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
13. Byzantine-Harbingers
14. Wretched-Decay
15. Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #12 Hooded Menace-Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration

Release date: October 3, 2025
Origin: Joensuu and Helsinki, Finland
Personnel: Harri Kuokkanen-vox, Lasse Pyykko-guitar/bass/keys, Pekka Koselo-drums

Yeah, man. I had to look up those big words as well to figure out what the hell the title meant. Hooded Menace is a death/doom metal band out of Finland. Their musical sound is very much in line with the Candlemass/Cathedral/Paradise Lost euro-doom scene more than the Scandinavian death metal sound. Overall, very slow and melodic sound with death vocals. A weird note on this one was the choice of covering Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer” and turning it into a doom song. And it works surprisingly well. This album was on my constant rotation list since it came out.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
12. Hooded Menace-Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
13. Byzantine-Harbingers
14. Wretched-Decay
15. Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #13 Byzantine-Harbingers

Release date: April 12, 2025
Origin: Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
Personnel: Chris Ojeda-vox/guitar, Brian Henderson-guitar, Ryan Postlewait-bass, Matt Bowles-drums

Chris Ojeda and Byzantine just keep on plugging away in the underground. It really feels wrong that these guys haven’t managed to break through more than they have. Maybe it’s the West Virginia thing. I don’t know, but they just keep on putting out solid album after solid album. Harbingers is just full of crunchy and groovy riffs. Solid, solid band.

4.5 flips flops out of 5

The list so far:
13. Byzantine-Harbingers
14. Wretched-Decay
15. Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #14 Wretched-Decay

Release date: August 6, 2025
Origin: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Personnel: Billy Powers-vox, Steven Funderburk-guitar, Andrew Grevey-bass, Marshall Wierczorek-drums

Wretched comes back after an 11 year absence with Decay. This is a pretty ambitious death metal album that kind of feels like two separate albums. Part one of the album is pretty aggressive guitar driven death metal. Part 2 is in the middle of the album which consists of two instrumental tracks. The first is a mellow ambient trance track that leads into a 16 minute epic journey. The instrumental tracks are right smack dab in the middle of the album and almost acts as a palate cleanser before picking up with the death metal again to finish out the album. Kind of a weird album, but I dig it.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
14. Wretched-Decay
15. Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #15 Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia

Release date: September 5, 2025
Origin: Kristiansand, Norway
Personnel: Kjetil Nordhus-vox, Terje Vik Schei-guitar, Bjorn Harstad-guitar, Stein Roger Sordal-bass, Endre Kirkesola-keys, Jonathan A. Perez-drums

Man, what a lush goddamn album. These guys have morphed from straight ahead death metal band into this gloriously nerdy proggy gothic band. They’ve gotten so proggy that this is album number one in what is to be a grand trilogy of a concept. It’s a really good start and I’m looking forward to hearing the twists and turns on the albums to come. The vocals on this one are just so very clean and emotive and mesh perfectly with the grand sound being crafted underneath.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
15. Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #16 Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me

Release date: February 14, 2025
Origin: Austin, TX, USA
Personnel: Aryn Jonathan Black-vox, Asa Allen Savage-guitar, Adrian Arostone-guitar, Garth Condit-bass, Ryan Henderson-drums

Psychedelic metal from my hometown. I’m all in. Honestly, I thought this band was dead. They had made some pretty decent inroads 10 years back with Acid Roulette and the future seemed pretty rosy for them. However, they had a string of band member upheaval and not much was heard out of the band except for some one-off shows around town. It looks like lead vocalist, Aryn Jonathan Black, got back together with some of the original members of Scorpion Child and they were finally able to craft their third album. And it was well worth the wait. The new album has the old vibe of Scorpion Child with some new aspects. It definitely has a weary feeling to it overall. It’s as if the time and toll to make this album kind of seeped into the songwriting process.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #17 Benediction-Ravage of Empires

Release date: April 4, 2025
Origin: Birmingham, England
Personnel: Dave Ingram-vox, Peter Rewinsky-guitar, Darren Brookes-guitar, Nik Sampson-bass, Giovanni Durst-drums

Another old school band that is still full of piss and vinegar. Pretty standard straight-ahead death metal here. Very much for fans of fellow Brits Bolt Thrower or Memorium. Not a whole lot to say on this one. Just put it on and be prepared to have your ears slaughtered.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #18 Testament-Para Bellum

Release date: October 10, 2025
Origin: Oakland, California, USA
Personnel: Chuck Billy-vox, Eric Peterson-guitar, Alex Skolnick-guitar, Steve DiGiorgio-bass, Chris Dovas-drums

Damn near 40 years since they released their debut album and Testament is still cranking out ferocious thrash metal. This album sounds like a band with something to prove rather than from one of the established pioneers of the Bay Area thrash scene. There are a couple of moments on here that come close to veering into black metal. I’m guessing Eric Peterson just decided to channel his Dragonlord black metal side project into his writing for Testament. Overall, pretty standard Testament fare on here. New drummer Chris Dovas fits in nicely. The only thing really keeping this one from being higher on the list is for the lyric in High Noon. “High Noon!! Death Soon!!!” is kind of cringe.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #19 In Mourning-The Immortal

Release date: August 29, 2025
Origin: Vansbro, Sweden
Personnel: Tobias Netzell-vox/guitar, Bjorn Pettersson-guitar/vox, Tim Nedergard-guitar, Cornelius Althammer-drums

Pretty standard Swedish melodic death metal with this one. In Mourning is kind of one of those solid bands that just keeps plugging away and has amassed a very respectable discography over the years. With The Immortal, I feel like they may have released their finest album to date. Nice mixture of death and clean vocals. Also a nice mixture of heavy and melodic parts. Lots of emotion running throughout. A nice winter album.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

The list so far:
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

2025 Best of Metal: #20 Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens

Release date: April 4, 2025
Origin: Denver, Colorado, USA
Personnel: Ezra Haynes-vox, Greg Burgess-guitar, Michael Stancel-guitar, Brandon “Booboo” Michael-bass, Jeff Saltzman-drums

Technical death metal can be hit and miss. There’s a tendency for some of these bands to get caught up in the technical aspects of the genre at the expense of the songs themselves. A lot of time things can devolve into a musical wankery exercise rather than crafting solid songs. Allegaeon has been guilty of veering too far into the wankery in the past. This current album walks a fine line. The proceedings at the front end of the album are pure frenetic riffing. Greg Burgess and Michael Stancel are a super tandem of extremely technical guitar players. Some of the early songs are honestly hard to keep up with. However, the last half of the album (especially the last four songs) really elevate The Ossuary Lens into the realm of being a solid album. This album also saw the return of longtime vocalist Ezra Haynes. I was always a fan of his vocal style and goofy stage antics. So, that was a welcome return. Another nice addition is that Stancel has begun adding clean vocals to the proceedings and he simply has a lovely voice. Nice solid album.

4 flip flops out of 5