Greetings, Decibel readers!
Ah yes, another year draws to a close. The time has come to take stock of what the year has meant to us, what we’ve learned, what we’ve experienced, and all the crucial life lessons to carry into the future.
But never mind all that, let’s talk about death metal!
As usual, I want to make the disclaimer that this is not meant as a comprehensive list of the very best death metal albums of 2025, but just five that meant the most to me. I think of it as the five death metal albums that come to mind right away when I think back on the year. You’ll notice that most of these veer away from pure, non-hyphenated death metal, and that tends to be a product of my own taste. And, well, I didn’t want to create a separate Doom Metal 2025 article, so I decided to just toss Eternal Darkness and Evoken onto this list. Deal with it.
Ough!!!
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Abraded – Ethereal Emanations From Chthonic Caries
First off, I love the band’s choice of Mihály Zichy’s “The Triumph of the Genius of Destruction” as the album cover, as it perfectly captures the chaotic and unhinged quality of the music. Abraded‘s blend of death metal might and grindcore insanity makes for a uniquely energizing listen that’s actually FUN. There’s so much boring death metal out there that relies on predictable patterns and formulae, so it’s refreshing to hear a band shake things up keep you guessing. Massive praise to Redefining Darkness for helping the band make this 2017 recording come back from the dead in 2025. Also, I strongly self-identify with the song title, “Compensatory Contrarianism” lol.
Stream: Apple Music
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Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution
Great music made by great people. Ancient Death has diverted from the death-doom path of their earlier work toward a path shrouded in progressive shadows and experimental valleys. In other words, the band is chopping, cutting, and rearranging their sound to try and find something that can make listeners say “Ah, this sounds like Ancient Death!” The sound explores but never bores, and it’s even better to watch the band light up this material live. I last saw them play at a local movie theater! Get the popcorn ready for this album.
Stream: Apple Music
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Drawn and Quartered – Lord of Two Horns
Drawn and Quartered have been at this for many years and have a lot of great material to show for it. Somehow … they just keep getting better and better. Lord of Two Horns is a towering work of cavernous death metal excellence. From the exhilarating drum volley that starts “Black Castle Butcher,” to the menacing riffs on “Zealous Depopulation,” to the unrelenting brutality of “Into the Mouth of the Dead,” this album just delivers again and again. The riffing style strongly echoes The One Who Lurks, as the notes are arranged in a way that combines the ominous power of the lower guitar strings with the off-putting qualities of the higher strings. I’ll say it again, whether it’s in the guise of Drawn and Quartered or their blackened alter ego of Plague Bearer, these guys can do no wrong for me. Now, if they’d only come and play the east coast!
Stream: Apple Music
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Eternal Darkness – Eternal Darkness
As I said in our year-end issue, we were so back … but then it was so over again. But what matters is that we got an amazing work that captures everything that death-doom can be with Eternal Darkness. There’s a certain grim satisfaction in the sheer melancholy served up on the crushing opener “The Beyond,” the fist-pounding “Funeral,” and the thought-provoking “When Life Ends.”
Stream: Apple Music
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Evoken – Mendacium
I’ll happily take up any excuse to talk about Evoken, especially when it involves this album. There’s something very fitting about the band reverting to its original logo here, as the album captures bits and pieces from everything they’ve done up to this point and brings it all together in glorious fashion. And as I’ve said before, Mendacium shows the band at its most energetic and brutal, using their doom side as more of an atmospheric coat of paint for the death metal machine to operate at maximum intensity — there’s some black metal sneaks in here and there as well, if you listen closely. By the way, it was very cool of the band to cast Chloe Rose from Killer Kin in the music video for “None” (I also take every excuse I can to boost a Connecticut-based band).
Stream: Apple Music
