Lift Your Horns

01/17/2026

Swedish prog-metallers Soen are in fine form with their seventh studio album, "Reliance", out this week.

The absolute heart-wrencher of a song linked here is the last single/video released earlier this week ahead of the album drop; the fairly-sparse-but-still-lush instrumental arrangement here lets vocalist Joel Ekelöf's brilliant melodic sense really shine.

This band continues to astound me at every turn, and this album once again is a "no skips" collection with not a weak track to be found. After just one day, I can say this is a contender for my top album of the year. 🖤🤘

SOEN - 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 🖤 From our new album 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 out this Friday. Pre-order now: https://lnk.to/SoenReliance “...

01/13/2026

I know, no new posts from this page in a few months. My mind has been elsewhere. Will that change in 2026? Let's find out together! Or something... In any case, here is my Top 50 Albums of 2025 list.

What? It's only almost halfway through January! I really needed a little extra time with a few releases. I had it narrowed down to these fifty around a week ago, but the ranking... oh, the ranking is the hardest part, and if I do it again next week the order would almost certainly change, but this is what I'm going with. Stellar music all the way 'round. Note that 24 and 25 are really a two-way tie and I felt compelled to include both.

You might notice at least a couple of outliers that are "off-brand" for this page, but I have very eclectic tastes, and that's bound to be reflected in a list this long. I'm also a firm believer that everyone should check out things that are outside their usual wheelhouse from time to time.

Anyway, on with the list!

1. Ihlo - Legacy
2. Amorphis - Borderland
3. Everon - Shells
4. Feather Mountain - A Liminal Step
5. The Halo Effect - March of the Unheard
6. Dream Theater - Parasomnia
7. Bloodred Hourglass - We Should Be Buried Like This
8. Katatonia - Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State
9. Omnium Gatherum - May The Bridges We Burn Light the Way
10. Orbit Culture - Death Above Life
11. Dynazty - Game of Faces
12. Lacuna Coil - Sleepless Empire
13. Lux Terminus - Cinder
14. REMINA - The Silver Sea
15. Darktribe - Forgotten Reveries
16. Valhalore - Beyond the Stars
17. Spock's Beard - The Archaeoptimist
18. Leverage - Gravity
19. Scardust - Souls
20. In the Woods... - Otra
21. Blackbriar - A Thousand Little Deaths
22. Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea
23. Jason Bieler And The Baron Von Bielski Orchestra - The Baroness Sessions
24. Lord Of The Lost - Opvs Noir Vol. 1
25. Lord of the Lost - Opvs Noir Vol. 2
26. Defecto - Echoes of Isolation
27. Avatar - Don't Go In The Forest
28. A-Z - A2Z²
29. Faun - Hex
30. Green Carnation - A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
31. Before the Dawn - Cold Flare Eternal
32. Allegaeon - The Ossuary Lens
33. Dawn of Solace - Affliction Vortex
34. Chris Harms - 1980
35. Avatarium - Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead
36. Epica - Aspiral
37. Rioghan - Kept
38. Helloween - Giants and Monsters
39. Eluveitie - Anv
40. Edge of Paradise - Prophecy
41. MONO INC. - Darkness
42. Bloodbound - Field of Swords
43. Horizon Ignited - Tides
44. Lights of Skadi - A Cinematic Experience
45. Kate Rusby - When They All Looked Up
46. The Reticent - Please
47. Mantric Momentum - Alienized
48. Lunatic Soul - The World Under Unsun
49. Mors Principium Est - Darkness Invisible
50. Nailed to Obscurity - Generation of the Void

08/19/2025

Another great new single from Amorphis ahead of the album "Borderland", due for a September 26 release. Loving this stuff and can't wait to hear the rest! 🤘🖤

Taken from the album "Borderland" (September 26th, 2025)🎧 Stream/get it here: https://amorphis.rpm.link/borderlandYT"The working title for 'Dancing Shadow' ...

07/23/2025

I have a lot of words about today's news, but none of them seem adequate. Thanks for the music, Ozzman.

Rest in Peace to The Prince of Darkness. Rest in Peace Ozzy 😞

07/16/2025

Killer new single and video from Amorphis released this past Friday! Heavy, groovy, and deliciously textured, "Bones" comes ahead of the band's forthcoming 15th studio album, "Borderland", due out September 26th.

Taken from the album "Borderland" (September 26th, 2025)🎧 Stream, get it here: https://amorphis.rpm.link/borderlandYT"As a starting point, I wanted to prov...

01/19/2025

Here's a new single/video from Finland's Dawn of Solace! Richly textured and deliciously atmospheric, "Invitation" is fine, dark ear candy that promises another tasty album in the forthcoming "Affliction Vortex", due February 14. 🤘🖤

DAWN OF SOLACE Unleash Crushing New Single "Invitation" From Upcoming Album "Affliction Vortex"! Pre-order Vinyl, CD and merch here: https://music.nobledemon...

01/17/2025

Something new from In the Woods... this week. "A Misrepresentation of I" teases the band's upcoming seventh album. There's a stylistic shift of direction here that is sure to bring out the typical negative comments from the toxic "fans" who are resistant to change. But I say kudos to the band for going whatever way seems right to them. This is powerful, melodic, has a great hook... I'm really digging this track and look forward to the rest of "Otra" which is set for an April 11 release. 🤘🖤

http://lnk.spkr.media/inthewoods-otraVideo by ØYA FILM"Our first single from our upcoming studio album, «Otra», takes you on a melodic journey through though...

01/11/2025

Today the second album from "supergroup" The Halo Effect has been released - along with this new music video for the album's fifth track "What We Become" - and it is fantastic! "March of the Unheard" is an excellent followup to 2022's "Days of the Lost", with not a weak track to be found; early standouts include the title track and the aforementioned "What We Become". The band sounds modern and relevant while simultaneously paying homage to the classic Gothenburg melodeath sound they helped to create. This is no throwback; there's an exuberant vitality here that's impossible to ignore.

I said more than once last year that everything Mikael Stanne touches seems to turn to gold and I stand by that. Along with Jesper Strömblad, Niclas Engelin, Peter Iwers, and Daniel Svensson, this is a group of veteran metal masters leveraging their experience to forge bold new paths. Outstanding work! 🤘🖤

Official music video for the new single 'What We Become', from the album 'March Of The Unheard' out now! Order your copy: https://thehaloeff...

01/10/2025

Killer new single from goth metal stalwarts Lacuna Coil ahead of their upcoming tenth studio album "Sleepless Empire" which is due February 14. 🤘🖤

Lacuna Coil – Gravity (Official Music Video)Taken from the album “Sleepless Empire”, out February 14th, 2025, via Century Media Records Pre-Order/Stream here...

01/09/2025

Banger of a new track from Cyhra out today, teasing their yet-to-be-titled fourth album! 🤘

"Sometimes, life tests our limits, but when we choose to rise, to dream, and to believe, we find the strength to be unstoppable. Because deep down, we all ha...

01/05/2025

My Top 50 Albums of 2024. Yes, on the 5th of January - see the note after the list.*
The cover art collection is split into two images because 5-by-5 grids are easy to work with. Anyway, here's the list:

1. IOTUNN - Kinship
2. Caligula's Horse - Charcoal Grace
3. Autumns Eyes - Grimoire of Oak & Shadow
4. Cemetery Skyline - Nordic Gothic
5. VOLA - Friend of a Phantom
6. Dominum - The Dead Don't Die
7. ORDEN OGAN - The Order of Fear
8. Dark Tranquillity - Endtime Signals
9. Evergrey - Theories of Emptiness
10. Unto Others - Never, Neverland
11. ANCIIENTS - Beyond the Reach of the Sun
12. CARMERIA - Tragedie D'amour
13. Mother Of Millions - Magna Mater
14. Crimson Sun - Sorrowbreaker
15. Andy Gillion - Exilium
16. The Eternal - Skinwalker
17. Oceans of Slumber - Where Gods Fear to Speak
18. Seven Spires - A Fortress Called Home
19. As The Sun Falls - Kaamos
20. dArtagnan - Herzblut
21. DGM - Endless
22. Charlotte Wessels - The Obsession
23. Swallow the Sun - Shining
24. Paralydium - Universe Calls
25. Borknagar - Fall
26. SUNBURST - Manifesto
27. Anaria - Holding Cell
28. Wheel - Charismatic Leaders
29. Witherfall - Sounds of the Forgotten
30. Devin Townsend - Powernerd
31. Unleash The Archers - Phantoma
32. ETHEREAL - Downfall
33. Firewind - Stand United
34. Fractal Gates - One With Dawn
35. Imperia - Dark Paradise
36. Judas Priest - Invincible Shield
37. Opeth - The Last Will And Testament
38. KRYN - Risset
39. Mountaineer - Dawn And All That Follows
40. Advocacy - The Path of Decoherence
41. Throne of Thorns - Converging Parallel Worlds
42. Leprous - Melodies of Atonement
43. Rendezvous Point - Dream Chaser
44. South Of Salem - Death of the Party
45. MYRATH - Karma
46. Bruce Dickinson - The Mandrake Project
47. Metalite - Expedition One
48. PAIN - I Am
49. Starchaser - Into the Great Unknown
50. Winterfylleth - The Imperious Horizon

As usual, trimming the list of potentials down to 50 was hard enough, but ranking them proved to be even harder. Every one of these was a contender for the top 20. So much great music; thank you to everyone involved in bringing all this fantastic art into existence!

*I dislike the trend of "year-end" recaps and such being published around the end of November or the beginning of December. As often happens, there were some December releases that I felt deserved a bit of time to... percolate, as it were... and two of them ended up on this list, one in the top ten. And for that reason, I intend to continue to post about the "year's best" only after a year is well and truly over.

09/21/2024

Swedish melodeath pioneers Dark Tranquillity just absolutely ruling the stage! 🤘 🖤