While my personal life couldn’t be better, I would be lying if I said that our country’s determined march toward authoritarianism hasn’t rattled me to the bone. At least once a week, I find myself anxiously ruminating about what is happening and where we’re headed as a country. Or, to use the parlance of our times, I’ve spiraled several times, and I’ve crashed out on at least one occasion. In the past, I’ve written about the emotionally and mentally healing powers of music, but I can’t recall the last time that I’ve felt this powerless.
Metal used to make me feel powerful. As an angsty teenager with overflowing emotions, I retrospectively recognize that I listened and played metal music for catharsis, but another reason why I was initially so attracted to metal is because it provided a means to experience power. Experiencing a metal concert was invigorating and performing in a metal band often felt like the equivalent of brandishing a weapon.
Nowadays, I don’t have the same experience while listening to metal, and I listen to metal for very different reasons. Furthermore, I’ve grown increasingly disillusioned with metal over the last year or two. Part of it simply comes down to the natural shifting and softening of my musical tastes. The newer bands and albums that may have appealed to me even a few years ago don’t appeal to me now, or at least to the same degree. Overall, I find myself listening to aggressive music less frequently, but especially certain strands of metal. I rarely listen to black and death metal these days, for example. That said, I still throw on all kinds of metal at the gym or when I’m otherwise in the mood for darker and more aggressive sounds, but it feels as though my overall music listening time is trending away from aggressive music in general.
Another reason I’ve become disillusioned with metal is what I perceive as the lack of forward progress in the genre. Having listened to metal for more than a quarter century, I feel like I’ve “heard it all” for the most part. There is very little novelty to me anymore. Although one can always find exceptions, and there are certainly plenty of bands pushing boundaries and avoiding the trap of creative stagnation, it seems like that adventurousness isn’t as valued now in metal culture as it was in my formative years. Even when bands are pushing boundaries by creating extremely technical music, it doesn’t pique my interest the same way that more straightforward songwriting does (although the two are certainly not mutually exclusive). For me, seeking out the most extreme music has been replaced by seeking out the most appealing (and yes, perhaps the most “accessible”) songwriting.
Finally, a lot of my distaste for modern metal comes down to clinical and sterile production value of certain subgenres. Not much else immediately takes me out of a listening experience than “live” drums that sound like a drum machine or programmed drums. I much prefer the rawer, analog-sounding recordings than over-quantized abominations.
I could go on, but I have detailed many of these complaints elsewhere (see the entries entitled “Can You Make it Weirder? My Ever-Growing Obsession with Weird Music” and “I Like Music That Sounds Like Shit”), and I am slowly writing an entry for the MI blog appropriately titled “The Reckoning of a Curmudgeony 40-Year-Old Metalhead.”
With all that in mind, I’ve decided to slightly adjust the parameters of my top 10 below. Rather than limit what I’m writing to the realm of metal or even metalcore, I’m going to cover some albums that are still “heavy,” but they may be in the realms of rock, post-hardcore, or other genres not traditionally thought to fall under the umbrella of metal.
Despite all of my whining about the modern state of heavy music and heavy music in general, I would be remiss if I didn’t identify one source of heavy music that has been consistent and nothing short of exceptional in its output. That source is Kansas City-based label The Ghost Is Clear Records, which I wrote about for Heavy Blog is Heavy‘s best of 2025 so far extravaganza several months ago. Some of my favorite heavy music over the last few years, including several releases below, constitute what I think of as some of the most interesting, diverse, and forward-thinking heavy music releases as of late, which is the same way that I felt about Hydrahead Records in my formative years. MOLT, halfmass, Blue Youth, baan, and other names below are associated with The Ghost ls Clear Records either by way of being on their official roster or through distribution deals. So, there is some heavy music out there that still piques my interest, and The Ghost Is Clear Records has had a lot to do with that lately!
Top 10 Heavy(ish) Albums
10. Cratophane – Exode
One niche subgenre that I have been diving into quite a bit over the last few years is zeuhl. This esoteric style was originally coined by French forward-thinking prog weirdos Magma to describe their own music, but it was eventually ascribed to other prog rock bands who didn’t fit the more accessible mold of mainstream prog bands like Rush or Yes. Results may vary, but the zeuhl tag usually implies the following at a minimum:
- A nearly metal approach to heaviness, often primarily achieved by a hefty bass tone that thumps and pounds and is quite forward in the mix
- Less of a focus on melody and hooks, and more of a focus on dense, often confrontational, dissonance and polyrhythmic complexity. If there is melody, it is often crooked and warped using exotic scales outside of the diatonic key
- Usually much darker in mood than most prog rock
- If there are lyrics, the lyrics are often absurd or surreal rather than based in sincere fantasy or science fiction narratives, as so much prog rock and metal is
Given that Cratophane is signed with weird metal curators at I, Voidhanger Records and is from the country from which zeuhl originated, I shouldn’t be too surprised. But after a fellow staff writer at Heavy Blog is Heavy shared Exode with us, I was struck by how the trio’s version of zeuhl combines the above characteristics in addition to injecting it with more post-rock, psychedelic rock, and noise rock elements. While album is entirely instrumental, the band is said to have been influenced by science fictions comics. One author that is specifically mentioned is Moebius, who wrote Incal — a graphic novel that I read earlier this year that inspired The Fifth Element — and that sense of science fiction is prevalent in how much of the album sounds.
Cratophane may not have the same level of technical proficiency as other modern zeuhl bands like Ni, PoiL, Chromb!, or Ultra Zook, but Exode demonstrates once again how bands can pull from a variety of influences for a fresh take on a genre without relying on instrumental gymnastics.
9. Toru – Velours Dévorant
Toru‘s Velours Dévorant was an early 2025 favorite of mine, having been released just within the first two weeks of the new year. What struck me most was the band’s mixture of improvised noise, ominous drone, and dark prog rock/metal. In many ways, opening tracks “VHS” and “Voiles” sound like the loosely structured, noisy elements of Sonic Youth with the dissonant prog metal leanings of Dysrhythmia.
So much of what can be considered to be avant-garde metal I find to be too pretentious or bombastic in their approach — simply overblown with grandiosity. What Toru have successfully done is avoided that pretension and, instead, dug a deep hole into the dark recesses of our collective consciousness.
8. Hangman’s Chair – Saddiction
I only recently realized that Hangman’s Chair is on indefinite hiatus after putting out yet another stellar album. The three-album run of Banlieue triste (2018), A Loner (2022), and Saddiction was remarkably consistent in quality even while the band barely progressed their sound over that period of time. This coming from someone who rarely listens to anything that could be construed as gothic metal, but one reason that Hangman’s Chair was an exception is that they always had a knack for removing the melodrama and kitsch that pervades so much of the genre. What Hangman’s Chair does so well is extract those characteristics and replaces it with gravitas through both the music and lyrics. Rather than stories of vampiric romance, Hangman’s Chair explored themes of drug abuse, depression, and loneliness. Rather than operatic vocals and cheesy synths, Hangman’s Chair strips their music down to the bare essentials of their watery down-tuned dirges.
Saddiction showcases what is likely guitarist and vocalist Cédric Toufouti’s strongest vocal performance to date. Toufouti’s Ozzy-like howls and harmonies are more forward in the mix than they have been on the band’s previous releases and add a sense of longing and desperation on tracks such as album highlight “Neglect.” As a result of that combined with slightly more accessible songs, there is a sense the band was aiming for broader audience on Saddiction. While that may not come to fruition given the band’s hiatus, those of us in the know can continue to revel in the exquisite misery of Hangman Chair‘s brilliant run.
7. Baan – Neumann
While I was looking forward to Pelican‘s reunion album, there is a band that has outdone them in the same year that Pelican made their comeback. In fact, that very band released their album just one day before Pelican‘s Flickering Resonance was released. That band is the Korean post-metal act Baan, and that album is Neumann. Don’t get me wrong — Flickering Resonance is an excellent return to form — but Neumann takes everything that Pelican‘s early work is known for and upped the ante. Neumann most closely recalls the sonic density and wistful moods of Pelican‘s full-length debut, Australasia. But Baan doesn’t use space the same way that Pelican does. There are few segments in the album with clean guitars awash in reverb and delay. Instead, Baan takes the heaviest aspects of Pelican‘s sound (I am specifically reminded of the main riff from “Nightendday”) and stretches them across Neumann’s hour-long running time. Even then, the compositions on Neumann are much more demanding and complex than most of Pelican‘s discography. For example, the midsection of “The Reversal of Man” features a quickly shifting bridge of sorts performed at an accelerated pace before the composition goes full caveman with a fuzzy stoner riff.
On their Bandcamp page, the band addresses the fact that they are attempting to meld doom metal (but trying to keep it exciting), screamo (but attempting not to be overly emotional), hardcore (but not trying to being macho), and shoegaze (but trying “not to suck”). As you might expect, with attempting to amalgamate such disparate styles, there is a sense that the compositions on Neumann are overloaded with ideas. Most tracks are over six minutes in length and could actually use some more space, more repetition, and generally leaner and more focused songwriting. But it’s clear that this young band has a lot of promise as well as plenty more opportunities to fine tune their sound on future recordings. Despite that and the obvious debt they owe Pelican, there are very few bands that are currently attempting this sound nor are there many who are doing it as well as Baan is.
6. Decultivate – Decultivate
There were several noteworthy grindcore albums this year. Some have been recognized for their experimentalism while others have been lauded for their astounding technical prowess. But the one that most undeservedly sat under the radar at the intersection of artful lyricism, distinct songwriting, and memorable riffs is Decultivate. The scrappy, d-beat-influenced Czech band has released EPs and splits since 2017, but their self-titled debut exceeds all of their previous releases by orders of magnitude. As I mentioned in my review of the album for Heavy Blog is Heavy, the quality of both the songwriting and production of the band’s previous releases have left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, Decultivate‘s production is crystal clear yet not sterile like so many metal releases. The production has an analog, live-in-studio immediacy that still succeeds in highlighting the precise performances of the individual musicians. The songwriting succeeds whereas a lot of grindcore fails: through a variety of compositional choices, including variations in meter and rhythm, each song is distinct from the next. Beyond the production and songwriting, the lyrics are some of the most poetic that I’ve read in heavy music, especially within the realm of grindcore. The lyrics are often abstract, but they point to themes of social isolation, broken relationships, and existential malaise.
This is now my third time writing about Decultivate, so there is not a lot left to say — just that it is confounding how this brilliant album has flown under the radar for so many.
5. Town Portal – Grindwork
I first discovered Town Portal in 2019 with their release Of Violence. In addition to the band’s math rock-driven foundation, that album integrated the post-rock of bands such as Pelican with the post-hardcore guitar stylings of bands like Shiner, mentioned elsewhere in this list. After having listened to that album, I went back through the band’s discography and listened to The Occident (2015) and Chronopoly (2012). Even in their earliest days, Town Portal‘s approach significantly differed from most of their peers.
What sets Town Portal apart from so many of their mathy contemporaries is their more subtle take on the genre’s inherent complexity. Despite the band’s intricate meters and rhythms, it doesn’t take away from Town Portal’s sense of groove. Tracks such as “Chronoceros” from their debut make it clear that the band has been heavily influenced by Meshuggah in this regard. While this was still a feature of Of Violence, the slightly more restrained and spacious approach to their complex music that the band explored seemed like a creative breakthrough.
Despite coming a full six years after that release, Grindwork is the logical next step after Of Violence. Opener “Heart’s Content” is arguably one of the most straightforward songs they have ever written. Rather than focus on developing complex rhythmical interplay between the guitar, bass, and drums, it sounds as if the band is focusing on taking the listener on an effortless journey. Yet one that takes the listener through mountains of crushing heaviness and valleys of near silence. This keen sense of movement and dynamics is even stronger on Grindwork than it was on Of Violence, and one can only marvel at how well it suits Town Portal‘s sound.
4. Pile – Sunshine and Balance Beams
Despite being covered by NPR and other mainstream news sources over their nearly 20 years as a band, Pile has never gained the wider recognition they deserve. The subjects of principal songwriter Rick Maguire’s lyrics frequently revolve around the struggles of being a musician. But all of that hasn’t mattered in the slightest to the band’s dedicated cult following. What has caused a stir among their fanbase is the fact that Pile has adopted a softer approach to their musical compositions over the last several years. After their ambient/improvisational In the Corners of a Sphere-Filled Room (2021) and Maguire’s solo rendition of Pile songs on Songs Known Together, Alone (2021), the band released a restrained, nearly post-rock, collection of songs on All Fiction (2023). While many of their fanbase seemed to hesitantly embrace the band’s newfound understated qualities, others were pining for the noisiness of the bands formative years. Luckily for the latter, Pile seems to have returned, if even temporarily, to their raucous foundational sound but with the additional tricks they’ve learned over the last few years. What results is Pile‘s best album in years.
3. Bursting – BURSTING
As I mentioned in my review of BURSTING for Heavy Blog is Heavy‘s Rotten to the Core column for our middle-of-the-year roundup, I have a predilection for post-hardcore bands like Shiner (found elsewhere in this list) and J. Robbins‘ many projects (Jawbox, Burning Airlines, Channels, etc.) that delicately balance between melody and dissonance. Bursting is a band that openly identifies those artists as influences and successfully strike that same balance.
Despite being in other bands with ferocious punk energy (Stress Positions) and thick-as-molasses heaviness (Thou), the members of Bursting rely heavily upon the use of unpredictable instrumental and vocal melodies that are oddly catchy even if they are not always neatly tied to the diatonic key of the song. While guitarists Ben Rudolph and Kortland Chase pick through sustained arpeggios, drummer Tyler Coburn adds a counterweight in his energetic playing. Chase’s full-throated vocals and vocal melodies are more reminiscent of Craig Weden’s (Shudder to Think) dramatism or Ryan Olcott’s (12 Rods) head voice than post-hardcore barkers like Ian Mackaye (Fugazi) or Walter Schreifels (Quicksand).
Bursting are not necessarily doing anything radically new compared with that of their influences, but when post-hardcore bands reach the equilibrium between melody and dissonance, I’m all ears.
2. Halfmass – Ten-Gallon Heart
In my review of Ten-Gallon Heart on Heavy Blog is Heavy, I noted that, whereas albums such as The Shape of Punk to Come by Refused are genre-eclectic, they are not necessarily genre-agnostic. Even when Refused engaged in the laidback ska of “Liberation Frequency” or the 90s IDM of “Bruitist Pome #5,” they still sounded unapologetically like themselves. And this is largely a result of the band having a sound with a firm foundation in hardcore. As soon as you think they are straying too far from that foundation, they bring you right back with an explosion of distorted power chords and rhythmic muscularity. On the other hand, Ten-Gallon Heart is largely genre-agnostic. The songs vary wildly from track to track, with the hushed acoustic Americana tones at the beginning of “Glare” being more reminiscent of a band like Wilco, whereas the very next track, “Pillow Talk,” gives nods toward the industrial-inflected noise rock of Model/Actriz and the post-modern “ULTRAPOP” of The Armed. This track sequencing is audio whiplash in the best sense, mimicking the adrenaline-fueled thrill of weaving in and out of traffic on an improvised route with nary an idea of what the next hairpin turn will bring.
What’s more, Halfmass pulls off each genre exploration fluently with minute changes in instrumentation and arrangement that reflect each genre. The Floydian section of “Consequence” adopts the analog warmth, Wurlitzer, and muted drums of The Dark Side of the Moon whereas the titular track revels in digital manipulation, piercing guitars, and undulating industrial noise.
While Ten-Gallon Heart lacks a stylistic locus like The Shape of Punk to Come, which is ultimately my only criticism of the album, it is still the most adventurous album I’ve heard all year, and possibly the most adventurous album I’ve heard this decade thus far. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Halfmass is made up of audio engineering students and Ten-Gallon Heart is their final portfolio. If so, it’s a portfolio that their professor will surely use as the exemplar to share with future students.
1. Shiner – BELIEVEYOUME
Shiner have been my second-favorite band for just over 20 years now, but I have been slowly admitting to myself that they may have usurped my favorite, HUM. This is in part because Shiner’s music has been the most important influence on my own band, so I have dedicated a lot more time listening to them and analyzing their songwriting over the last three years. But another reason why they might have usurped HUM is based on the strength of BELIEVEYOUME. Both bands released comeback albums in 2020. Even though HUM’s Inlet didn’t quite live up to their now-legendary 90s albums You’d Prefer an Astronaut or Downward is Heavenward, it nonetheless was my favorite album from that year. Shadenfreude, on the other hand, felt uneven. It felt as if the band was trying to recalibrate and determine what they should sound like 15 years after announcing their hiatus. That answer can be found on BELIEVEYOUME.
While Shiner’s songwriting has grown leaner since the math rock-influenced Lula Divinia and the prog-influenced The Egg, there are still elements of both. But they are often packaged in a more accessible verse-chorus-verse alternative/hard rock format more akin to their 2000 album Starless. The atmospheric, delay-drenched melodies of vocalist and rhythm guitarist’s Allen Epley’s space rock band The Life and Times shines throughout the album, but the unpredictable chord progressions and more sinister sounds that Shiner is known for add a noteworthy counterbalance.
What Shiner has demonstrated over the course of the career, through their flirtations with math rock, prog rock, and plain old rock’n’roll, is how to mature as a band without abandoning the characteristics that make their sound so unique and beloved among fans. What Shiner demonstrates so well on BELIEVEYOUME is how the individual members of a post-hardcore act can age while doing the same.
Top 10 Non-Heavy Albums (unranked)
- Lafayette – Unsolved Miracles (space/prog rock)
- Tate McRae – So Close to What (pop)
- Barker – Stochastic Drift
- Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon (power pop/shoegaze)
- Belted Sweater – Belted Sweater (synth post-punk)
- Dijon – Baby (alternative R&B)
- Gumby’s Junk – Business & Pleasure (experimental/progressive post-punk)
- Quadeca – Vanisher, Horizon Scraper (folktronica/chamber pop)
- Doom Gong – MEGAGONG (psych/jazz rock)
- Waldo’s Gift – Malcolm’s Law (instrumental jazz/prog rock)
Metal
Guilt Dispenser (powerviolence)
Smearing (grindcore)
DIM – Dark Age Decadence (experimental black metal/dungeon synth)
Aätra – The Nine Billion Heads of God (transcendental/ecstatic bm)
Slaughterday – Terrified (grindcore)
Suffering Hour – Impelling Rebirth (black/death metal)
Abraham – IDSUNGWÜSSÄ (experimental sludge/doom)
Museum of Light – Diviner (post-metal/sludge)
Fange – Purulences (industrial metal)
Gorycz – Zasypia
Рожь – Знание (doom metal)
Drumcorps – For Everything (electronic hardcore)
Oromet – The Sinking Isle (funeral doom)
Dead Heat – Process of Elimination (crossover)
Monograf – Occultation (post-rock/doom/progressive/folk)
Cratophane – Exode (experimental/psychedelic hard prog)
Kauan – Wayhome (post-metal)
Hannah Frances – Nestled in Tangles (experimental folk)
Sunken – Lykke (atmospheric black metal)
Vials of Wrath – Remnants for Remembrance (post-black metal)
Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence (death metal)
Through A Glass, Darkly – SPERAMVS MELIORA/RESVRGET CINERIBVS
Fallujah – Xenotaph (progressive death metal)
Wounds of Recollection – I Found the Love I was Looking For (post-black metal)
Haexler – Talkshow (powerviolence)
Kaschalot – Anemoia
Returning – Numinous (post-black metal)
We Are Impala – Les Efímeres (post/stoner/psych)
Melvins – Thunderball (stoner rock)
Mares of Thrace – The Loss (sludge/doom metal)
Chaos Inception – Vengeance Evangel (death)
Human Leather – Here Comes The Mind, There Goes The Body (sludge/noise rock)
lorrrel – 4 songs (screamo)
Unprocessed – Angel (prog metal/metalcore)
Drumcorps – For Everything (metalcore/breakcore/hardcore)
Panopticon – Laurentian Blue (folk/black metal)
Aduanten – Apocryphal Verse (melodic death metal)
Object Unto Earth – The Grim Village (prog rock/post-hardcore)
Inhuman Nature – Greater than Death (crossover)
Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Innern (post-black metal)
Paranoid – MMXXII (d-beat/crust)
Othiel – WORLDS FASTEST CAR (screamo)
Scimitar – Scimitarium I (occult/black)
Genune – Infinite Presence (post-black metal)
Birth and Loss – Birth and Loss (grindcore)
Yellow Eyes – Confusion Gate (black metal)
Barren Path – Grieving (deathgrind)
Zatokrev – …Bring Mirrors to the Surface (sludge/post-metal)
Pale Cremation – Communion (experimental bm)
Psudoku – Psudoktrination (grindcore)
Ainsoph – Affection & Vengeance (post-black metal)
Soulkeeper – Join Us in Creating Excellence (electronic metalcore/noisecore)
Asunojokei – Think of You (post-black metal)
Victim of Fire (melodic metalcore/death metal)
Gelwaz – Gelwaz (lo-fi hypnotic bm) (2024)
Brown Angel – Promisemaker (noise rock/post-metal)
Wren – Black Rain Falls (sludge/post-metal)
Age of Fear – Born in Darkness (crusty d-beat)
Humiliate – Earthly Bounds (metalcore)
Havukruunu – Tavastland (pagan folk/black metal)
To Be Gentle – I Am a Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience (blackened screamo)
Kosuke Hashida – Justifiable Homicide (grindcore)
Endless Swarm – The Body Hammer (powerviolence/grindcore)
Svffer (blackened/crusty grind core)
Sum of R – Spectral (experimental doom/drone)
Pelican – Flickering Resonance (post-metal)
The Reticent – please (prog metal)
Doomsday – Never Known Peace (crossover)
Tanpopo Crisis – Meridian (post-black metal)
wthAura – Keep Going (djenty)
Living Creature – Total Majesty of Depression (lo-fi black metal)
Magogaio/Sadness – Magogaio/Sadness (post-black metal split)
Snooze – I KNOW HOW YOU WILL DIE (prog metal/djent)
Zeegang – Van niets uit deze wereld (atmospheric black metal)
FUCKED – Reassuring the Abundance of Misery (grindcore)
Trudger – Void Quest (tech sludge)
Coffret de Bijoux – intablej’ u ana (post-black metal)
Cave Sermon – Fragile Wings (post-metal/black/death)
Iron Lung – Adapting // Crawling (powerviolence)
Chepang – Jhyappa (grindcore)
Deaf Club – We Demand a Permanent State of Happiness (noisecore/hardcore)
Fortress of the Pearl – Agony and Ecstasy (black metal/ambient/DS)
Lucerne Hammer – Vermilion Pyre (lo-fi black metal)
Silver Knife – Silver Knife (atmospheric black metal)
Indie/Emo/Shoegaze/etc.
Anamanaguchi – Anyway (indie/emo)
Stereosity – New Life Will Grow (emo/math rock)
Total Wife – come back down (shoegaze)
Inventory – Sunday Tonne (indie/slowcore)
Twelfth – i’m not, i’m just (shoegaze/emo)
Jerkcurb – Night Fishing on a Calm Lake (experimental/chamber indie)
Twisted Teens – EU EP (country punk)
Young Couple – yc (experimental alt rock/shoegaze)
Thanks! I Hate It – Scatterbrain (emo)
Pool Kids – Easier Said Than Done (emo/math rock)
Sharp Pins – Radio DDR (lo-fi garage rock)
Hélène Barbier – Panorama (indie/post-punk)
Algernon Cadwallader – Trying Not to Have a Thought (math rock/emo)
Far Caspian – Autofiction (indie/slowcore)
Faerybabyy – Jabbermouth (indie goth pop)
Deadharrie – Blue Coffin (lo-fi indie/slowcore)
No Joy – Bugland (shoegaze)
Jerkcurb – Night Fishing on a Calm Lake
Water From Your Eyes – It’s A Beautiful Place (post-punk/indie rock)
Junk Drawer – Days of Heaven (post-punk)
Great Grandpa – Patience, Moonbeam (experimental indie folk)
Mamalarky – Hex Key (jazzy indie)
Quadrenol – Together (indietronica/indie folk)
forever ☆ – Second Gen Dream (shoegaze/breakbeat/jungle)
Seashine – Seashine (shoegaze)
Good Flying Birds (lo-fi jangle pop/garage rock)
Worldpeace DMT (avant-garde/experimental/alternative)
Preoccupations – Ill at ease (post-punk)
Seashire – Seashine (shoegaze)
Snõõper (post-punk)
Population II – Maintenant Jamais (psych indie rock)
Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock
Zeta – Was It Medicine To You? (post-hardcore)
Ganser – Animal Hospital (noise rock/post-punk)
Sentries – Gem of the West (noise rock/post-punk/post-rock)
The Austerity Program – Bible Songs 2 (noise rock)
Dogo Suicide – TRISTESSE LUCRATIVE (post-punk/noise rock)
Shrive – Leach (sludge/noise rock)
YHWH Nailgun – 45 Pounds (noise/experimental rock)
Parachute Day – Seasonal Expression (instrumental math rock/emo)
Honningbarna – Soft Spot (noise rock/post-punk)
Guck – Gucked Up (noise rock)
Stupid World – Stupid World (melodic hardcore)
University – McCartney, it will be ok (emo/noise rock)
Computer – Station on the Hill (noise/industrial rock)
Nape Neck – The Shallowest End (mathy post-punk)
Young Widows – Power Sucker (post-punk/noise rock)
Earth Ball – Outside Overall (psychedelic noise rock)
Hetta – Acetate (noisecore/hardcore)
Touchdown Jesus – It’s All Feast or Famine (noise rock/post-hardcore)
tethered – tethered (noise rock/hardcore)
//LESS – Crawl in the Blur (noise rock/post-hardcore)
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy – HEAVY (noise rock/sludge)
Mercy Ties (sludgy post-hardcore/noise rock)
The Armed – THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED (noise rock/hardcore)
Chandelier – Chandelier (noise rock)
Ex-Agent – New Assumptions… (noise rock/art rock/post-punk)
The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Dreams of Being Dust (post-hardcore)
Maruja – Pain to Power (experimental noise rock/post-punk)
This Is Wreckage – Transaction/Service (noise rock/post-punk)
Prissy Whip – R.I.P. MF (noise rock/post-hardcore)
Caution Children – Appropriate Music (post-hardcore/screamo)
Irk – The Seeing House (noise rock)
Jackal Twins – Cuzco (post-hardcore/prog/math rock)
TDK (noise rock/post-hardcore/experimental)
The Orchestra (For Now) – Plan 75/Plan 76 (prog/noise rock)
MOLT – MOLT (noise rock/post-hardcore)
Huremic – Seeking Darkness (post-rock/noise rock/experimental)
Kaput – I (noisy post-punk)
Blue Youth – Defeatist (noise rock)
IAN – Come on Everybody, Let’s Do Nothing! (post-metal/sludge)
Water Margin – Gleaming Cursed (noise rock/post-hardcore)
Weird Machine – Normal Music II (noise rock)
Yowie – Taking Umbrage (noise/math rock)
God Alone – The Beep Test (post-hardcore/mathcore/dance punk)
Bee Hive Ski Race – Unlimited Violence Apologia (emo/post-hardcore)
Skimp – Very Much So and How (post-rock/post-hardcore/emo)
Fleshwater – 2000: In Search of the Endless Sky (heavygaze, nu-metal)
Pile – Sunshine And Balance Beams (post-hardcore/noise rock)
Hoaxes – Hoaxes (alt rock/space rock/post-hardcore)
SPARES – SPARES (post-hardcore)
Stress Positions – Human Zoo (noise rock)
Trigger Cut – A History of Junk (noise rock)
Prayer Group – Strawberry (noise rock)
Bloodsports – Anything Can Be a Hammer (noise rock)
Model/Actriz – Pirouette (noise rock/industrial)
Vacant Home – Can You Show Me Who I Am? (melodic hardcore)
FACS – Wish Defense (post-punk)
No Peeling – No Peeling (post-punk)
Hesse Kassel – La Brea (experimental post-rock)
Minor Conflict – Parallels (experimental post-punk)
Meatwound – Macho (noise rock)
Flesh Narc – Yokers (Experimental/noise rock)
Hubert Selby Jr. Infants – BINGO (alt rock/noise rock)
Gigabull – Just the TRS/Megahurtz/Osquirelloscope (proggy post-hardcore)
Electronic
U.E. (Ulla) – Hometown Girl (ambient)
Baths – Guts (electro acoustic avant-pop)
Coatshek – Sound Bath (ambient techno)
Arp – Drifts (ambient)
Angel Hunt – Globelight (ambient)
City Girl – I don’t know why I feel ok right now (lo-fi beats)
BlankFor.ms – After The Town Was Swept Away (experimental/ambient)
Eustress & mos fet – Patsy (ambient/dub)
Memotone – smallest things (experimental/ambient)
René Najera – Painted Life (ambient/dub/house)
Sebastiano Carghini – Ramble (ambient)
Marv – Keyboard Suite II (ambient)
Verses GT – Verses GT (dub house)
Gryphon Rue – I Keep My Diamond Necklace in a Pond of Sparkling Water (ambient)
emer – fog (dub/ambient)
Slow Riffs – Simulacra (ambient/dub)
Naked Flames – wall i was (dub techno/house)
Khadija Al Hanafi – !OK! (footwork)
ff8282 – a thin membrane between her hands (ambient)
ff8282 – MONOPRIX femme (experimental/idm)
Le Motel – Odd Numbers/Số Lẻ (ambient)
Carrier – Rhythm Immortal (drone/minimal dub)
metra.vestlud – Ashes that Made the Shape of My Dreams (ambient)
metra.vestlud – aqua channel (ambient/vaporwave)
Hieroglyphic Being – Dance Music 4 Bad People (lo-fi house)
Lia Kohl/Zander Raymond – In Transit (ambient)
XENIA REAPER – Gambling (ambient)
Areliz Ramos – B side (ambient)
Kassian – Channels (tech house)
Pizza Hotline – LEVEL SELECT (breakbeat)
Pavel Milyakov & Lucas Dupuy – HEAL (ambient)
DJ Immaterial – Post-Op (trip-hop)
Spool – Spool (ambient)
HNNY – Close (deep house)
Phexioenesystems – Empty Space Symbols (ambient)
JQ & Richard Pike – Tessera (ambient dub)
Eev Frances – Sometimes I Forget to Breathe (dub techno/ambient)
Mechatok – Wide Awake (pop house)
shine grooves – Sequences for Fluttering (ambient/deep house)
Norfik – The Spectral Tapes (breakbeat/ambient)
Conna Haraway – Shifted (dub house)
Flamingosis – Sunlight Daydream (future funk)
Cahl Sel – Traces (ambient/techhouse)
Sebastiano Carghini – Ramble (downtempo/ambient)
Anthony Naples – Scanners (minimal techno)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Thoughts On The Future (experimental/ambient)
irini – lost in dreams (dub techno/deep house/trance/ambient/drum’n’bass)
Sephirot – Fargazing (ambient dub techno)
Pavel Milyakov + Lucas Dupuy – HEAL (ambient)
African-American Sound Recordings – Runway Cremations (ambient)
gyrofield – Suspension of Belief (experimental/garage)
Purelink – Faith (ambient)
Raven – GNOSIS (ambient)
Sega Bodega – I Created the Universe so that Life Could Create a Complex Language, Just to Say How Much I Love You (ambient)
K-Lone – sorry i thought you were someone else (house)
Wrecked Lightship – Drained Strands (ambient)
M. Geddes Gengras – QUICK-MELT (ambient)
Other
Richard Dawson – End of the Middle (experimental folk)
Phoebe Rings – Aseurai (psychedelic pop)
Goat – Without References/Cindy Van Acker (experimental)
Richard Houghten – Gatherings (psychedelic folk)
Loaded Honey – Love Made Trees (soul)
Jim Ghedi – Wasteland (experimental folk)
Rosalía – LUX (art pop)
Yawning Man – Pavement Ends (stoner rock)
Guerilla Toss – You’re Weird Now (psych/noise rock)
Oslo Tapes – Låst Comet (psych/shoegaze/post-rock)
Naxatras – V (psychedelic rock)
FKA Twigs – EUSEXIA Afterglow (alt R&B)
Night Tapes – assisted memories (dream pop)
National Diet – The King in Yellow (experimental prog/art rock/zeuhl)
Babau – The Sludge of the Land (experimental/ambient)
Pneu – Get Old or Die Tryin (brutal prog)
Dania – Listless (ambient R&B)
AoOo – Aooo (j-rock)
Lost Lotteries – Continuous Growth (post-rock/prog)
Resavoir/Matt Lowery – Horizon (jazz/soul)
Ursula Sereghy – Cordial (experimental)
Ichiko Aoba – Luminescent Creatures (ambient/experimental)
Zeke Bleu – Before Bleu (alternative/lo-fi R&B)
Hayden Pedigo – I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away (acoustic)
Sutekh Hexen – Primeval (neo-folk/dark ambient)
Flawed Mangoes – Anomaly III (experimental/shoegaze)
Lars Fredrik Frøislie – Quattro Racconti (Scandinavian prog)
Orsak:Oslo (psych/kraut/post-rock)
PING – Songs from the Nebula (avant-garde prog)
Los Pirañas – Un Oportunidad más de triunfar en la vida (experimental Colombian)
Bambara – Birthmarks (post-punk)
Slow Crush – Thirst (heavy gaze)
Grails – Miracle Music (post-rock/soundtrack)
Lathe of Heaven – Aurora (goth/post-punk)
Cocojoey – STARS (hyperpop)
Men I Trust – Equus Caballus (indie pop)
Jules Reidy – Ghost/Spirit (avant-pop/drone/ambient)
Oren Ambarchi – Ghosted III (experimental)
N KRAMER – Pastoral Blend (experimental)
Dominic Sanderson – Blazing Revelations (prog rock)
Lola Young – I’m Only F**king Myself (pop)
L’Eclair – CLOUD DRIFTER (krautrock/house)
Jane Remover – Revengeseekerz (alt hip hop/digicore)
Biig Piig – 11:11 (pop)
Shmulikraut – Guts Voyage (weird prog)
Acopia – Blush Response (dream/ambient pop)
Yves Jarvis – All Cylinders (neo-soul, neo-psych)
Move 78 – In The Age of Data (nu jazz)
afternoon bike ride – afternoon bike ride (ambient/jazz/experimental)
Obongjayar – Paradise Now (Afrobeat/alternative R&B)
The Midnight – Syndicate (synth pop)
Annahstasia – Tether (folk/jazz)
Nazar – Demilitarize (experimental R&B)
Krokofant – 6 (jazz rock)
Dun-Dun Band – Pita Parka, Pt. II: Nim Egduf (jazz/experimental)
The Tea Club – Chasm (prog)
Ouzo Bazooka – Kapaim (psych rock)
Sudan Archives – BPM (alternative R&B)
Steve Hauschildt – Aeropsia (electronic)
Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange – Inspire/Radicalise (nu jazz/soul/funk)
The Dwarfs of East Agouza – Tropic of Taurus: Dwarfs of East Agouza in Shenzen/Sasquatch Landslide (experimental)
BJ Smith – Beatnik (jazz/folk)
Real Lies – We Will Annihilate Our Enemies (alternative dance)
Weather Station – Humanhood (folk rock)
Kaela – Supraliminal (ambient/electronic pop)
LITE – The Beyond (math rock)
Melvin Gibbs – Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 (experimental jazz)
Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange – INSPIRE // RADICALISE (jazz)
SANAM – Sametou Sawtan (experimental post-rock/folk)
Disinblud – Disinblud (experimental)
Tropical Fuck Storm – Fairyland Codex (experimental/psych rock)
Jeff Tobias – One Hundredfold Now in This Age (experimental)
Yazz Ahmed – A Paradies in the Hold (spiritual jazz)
Lust for Youth/Croation Armor – All Worlds
Kinski – Stumbledown Terrace (psych/alt rock)
Mike Boo (experimental/dub/turntablism)
TV Girl/George Clanton – Fauxllenium (vaporwave) (2024)
Quest Master – Obscure Power
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Gift Songs (drone/ambient)
Staraya derevnya – Garden Window Escape (experimental)
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (avant-pop)
Amulets – Not Around But Through(post-rock/ambient)
SML – How You Been (experimental jazz)
crushed – no scope (dream pop)
Demise of Love – Demise of Love (experimental/electronic pop)
Blue Lake – The Animal (folk)
YURT – IV – Rippling Mirrors of the Other (experimental/prog rock)
Erika de Casier – Lifetime (R&B)
Tulpa – Plum Pinball (prog/experimental/noise rock)
James K – Friend (dream pop/trip hop/ambient)
Herbert & Momoko – Clay (ambient pop)
LANY – Soft (pop)
Korine – A Flame In The Dark (synth pop)
Lionmilk – WHEN THE FLOWERS BLOOM (psychedelic/experimental pop)
Old Saw – The Wringing Cloth (countrygaze/ambient)
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – CURSE/IC-02 Bogotá (psych rock)
Los Thuthanaka – Los Thuthanaka (experimental)
Scorched Mind – Embracing the Dying Sun (metalcore/grind)
Pink Pantheress – Fancy That (pop/garage)
СОЮЗ – KROK (indie jazz)
Jennifer Walton – Daughters (experimental)
Snowpoet – Heartstrings (jazz pop)
Dustin Wong – Gloria (experimental)
Saint Entienne – International (synth/electronic pop)
Kokoroko – Tuff Times Never Last (jazz/funk)
James Elkington – Pastel de Nada (acoustic)
Ouri – Daisy Cutter (experimental R&B)
Greg Uhlmann/Josh Johnson/Sam Wilkes – Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes (experimental/ambient jazz)
Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (experimental)
Futuropaco – Fortezza Di Vetro, Vol. II (psych/prog rock)
Lucy Liyou – Every Video Without Your Face, Every Sound Without Your Name (ambient/experimental)
Gelli Haha – Switcheroo (experimental pop)
Emma Jean Thackery – Weirdo (jazz)
Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders – Synchronous Orbit (psych rock/jam band)
Barney Keen – Harbinger (indie pop/folk)
Bānhūs – Reverberations Of The Crystallum Hegemony (experimental/psychedelic)
Mason Lindahl – Joshua/Same Day Walking (acoustic)
Salami Rose Joe Louis – Lorings (electronic)
Joe Westerlund – Curiosities from the Shift (psychedelic/experimental)
Σtella – Adagio (alternative pop)
Motorpsycho – Motorpsycho (psychedelic rock)
Sam Gendel & Nate Mercereau – digi-squires (experimental)
Andy Pitcher – dot (experimental)
Yves Jarvis – All Cylinders (Jazz)
Adrian Sherwood – The Collapse of Everything (dub)
Natural Information Society- Momentum (instrumental/post-rock/experimental)
Natural Information Society & Bitchin’ Bajas – Totality (post-rock/experimental)
Bitchin’ Bajas – Inland Sees (experimental)
Deerhoof – Noble and Godlike in Ruin (experimental rock)
Hotel Pools/Brothertiger – Paradigms (vaporwave, electronic pop)
Yuka Nagase – Mofu Mohu (experimental jazz rock)
Maria Somerville – Luster (ambient/drone)
Bill Orcutt – How To Rescue Things (instrumental/experimental) (2024)
Orcutt Shelley Miller – Orcutt Shelley Miller (instrumental/experimental)
Inturist – Tourism (experimental)
Bootblacks – Paradise (gothic post-punk)
Pan American – New World, Lonely Ride/Interior of an Edifice Under the Sea (boot gaze)
Kali Trio – The Playful Abstract (electronic jazz/ambient)
Lost Crowns – The Heart is in the Body (experimental folk)
Tortoise – Touch (experimental/post-rock)
Anchoress – Sugarsong (gothic post-rock)
Causa Sui – In Flux (psychedelic rock/instrumental)
Quade – The Foel Tower (post-rock/folk/drone)
We Lost The Sea – A Single Flower (post-rock)
Tinashe – QUANTUM BABY (R&B)
Oklou – choke enough (ambient/experimental pop)
Bandler Ching – Mercurial (jazz fusion)
Scree – August (experimental/jazz)
TOPS – Bury the Key (AOR/slacker indie)
Andre’ Drage – Wolves (jazz fusion)
Andrew Aged – crown (alternative R&B)
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills – That Wasn’t a Dream (folk/jazz)
savesomeone – tightrope (Gen Z pop)
Nourished by Time – The Passionate Ones (post-R&B)
Mondo Lava – Utero Dei (psychedelic/experimental)
Automatism – Sörmland (post-rock/krautrock)
Magic Fig – Valerian Tea (psych pop)
Ptolemea – KALI (neo-folk/electro-acoustic)
Arc de Soleil – Lumin Rain (psychedelic rock)
h. pruz – Red sky at morning (experimental folk)
Orions Belte – Pur Jus (psychedelic rock)
Mei Semones – Animaru (indie jazz/pop)
Kutiman – Dreams in Aspamia (jazz/funk)
Emma Harner – Taking My Side (folk)
Jonny Nash – Once Was Ours Forever (ambient/experimental)
M. Sage – Tender/Wading (ambient/jazz)
IE – Reverse Earth (experimental)
weed420 – amor de encava (experimental)