Insert joke here about how this column is late because we were smoking a bunch of weed or because the riffs are super slow. Ha ha, good one! Anyway, fuck an intro; this is Doomsday! It's loud, fuzzy, and yes, slow and very much a good listen when you're hitting the good old devil's lettuce.
Rock on!
Eden’s Top 10 of Bright Gloom and Doom
Slung - In Ways
In Ways is the bounciest album I enjoyed in 2025. Its mix of poppy, uptempo stoner and doom is just so addictive and I love its approach to vocals and production. Spin this one a couple of times and you’ll find there’s a lot to love about its swagger, flighty grooves, and kick ass vocals.
Acid Magus - Scatterling Empire
I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting from South African groove priests Acid Magus after their excellent Hope is Heavy but it sure wasn’t a grunge-drenched, atmospheric romp of an album. But that’s what I got with Scatterling Empire and I’m very glad for that; there’s something that I kept coming back to again and again in its purple laden folds.
Pyres - Yun
Pyres are probably the winners of 2025’s “Band I Knew Nothing About But Ended Up Liking the Most” award. I absolutely adore their slow, heavy, and groovy as all hell post-metal/sludge hybrid. It reminded me of the heavier sections of HARK (RIP) and just made me rock all the way out. Oh, and the cherry on top of the burning cake is definitely the vocals: those are some lungs!
Völur & Cares - Breathless Spirit
At this point, I will listen to anything Völur record, especially if it’s another entry in their collaborative series of albums, die Sprachen der Vögel (the languages of birds). This entry is somehow even more meditative than previous iterations, slow, contemplative, and intensely interesting and magnetic. From the depths of Völur’s handle on unfurling drone to the static of electronic experimentation that Cares brought to the table, Breathless Spirit is just layers upon layers of heart and a sharp, unique eye for the world.
Oromet - The Sinking Isle
Elsewhere on our end of year coverage, I called this one the year’s “largest” album. And that’s what you want from funeral doom: the feeling of being crushed under a massive weight. Oromet’s previous effort already accomplished that but that self-titled album felt more scintillating and bright, like its cover art. The Sinking Isle is much more somber, a fact which adds a whole new level to Oromet’s crushing sound. More than anything though, Oromet have dug deep into what makes them tick and have brought forth a starker, more sparse, and more focused vision for their funeral doom, making The Sinking Isle not only crushing but also engaging and engrossing. Oromet are fast becoming the name to beat in funeral doom and should remain such for the next few years.
Myriad Drone - A World Without Us
This, I think, is one of the most underrated albums released in 2025 and a great addition right after the album that’s above it. A World Without Us never quite collapses enough to be called “funeral”, but it does splice its post metal with elements of drone and, deep, growling tracks that take centuries to unfold. But it also has something urgent about it, something deeply melodic which offsets the dour heaviness. This thing probably comes to the album from its roots in post-rock, channeling the more dreamy and heartfelt energies of that genre in its more grandiose iterations as the soul and blood of the album’s sound. Just check out the opening track to get what they mean; yes, the work is grand and sweeping but there’s a bubbling, vital source of energy that keeps it moving forward, creating one of 2025’s most compelling releases in this space and one which a lot more people should listen to.
Trudger - Void Quest
Void Quest is, by far, the meanest album on this list. Powered by members of DVNE, it presents the heavier, death metal elements of that band’s core sound unleashed but not without taking the doomy, sludgy sound along with them for the ride. The result is a thick, groovy album that, nonetheless, has very little space or time to stop and contemplate things. Instead, that thickness is latched on to relentless riffs, deep growls, and an overall penchant for roiling sonic assault. Void Quest is like drowning in a turbulent sea of ink - yes, the viscosity is cloying down your throat but it also doesn’t help that you’re being battered from side to side by massive waves. The end result is a release which could straddle multiple top 10 lists in various different genre columns but which has to be mentioned on Doomsday for its relentless and unyielding dedication to sludge. Take the leap; embark on a quest into the void; sit back as that void jumps down your throat and turns your stomach black.
Naxatras - V
If the album above this one is the meanest entry on this list, this one is the smoothest (it’s almost like I give some thought to the order in which I present these entries). The adjectives and metaphors to describe Naxatras’ V flow from my tongue like honey, which is, in itself, a good metaphor for the album. Silken night, warm window, star-filled sky. At its core, V is a desert rock album; the riffs are measured and contemplative, sometimes willing to go a little bit fast but overall resigned to generating the album’s considerable measure of groove from a deep, redolent, and comfortable seat. But there are so many other unique touches, from progressive rock, post-rock, and folk that make this album as good as it is.
Check out “Numenia” for example, hands down my favorite track from this release. It incorporates so many instruments, ideas, and sounds from Mediterranean folk music, turning the whole thing into a mysterious, veiled affair. That is before the main riff arrives, right after the middle of the track, and the track is swept up into that kind of rare, more forceful passage that dots the album’s runtime. Everything is produced to a tee, to make sure the different sounds and approaches play off of each other exquisitely well, revolving around the sable, deep, rich sound that is at the center of this release. Do me a favor, play this one on speakers and turn it way up. It sounds so good when it’s echoing out in a room. Let it carry you on its weird sci-fi rocketship into a universe of golden swords, roiling sands, and velvet adventures.
Melpomene - A Body Is a Suggestion
One of the rarest forms of art out there is the instrumental, progressive, stoner metal album. It’s been a personal pleasure of mine to collect these rare releases like giant butterflies, pinning them to my board of coveted and oft-revisited releases. This started when I first heard Tempel’s magisterial The Moon Lit Our Path, still a high water mark for what the style can do. Happily, 2025 gave me an album that I don’t think falls short from that masterpiece in displaying the strengths of the style in the form of Melpomene’s A Body Is a Suggestion.
The core strength of the style is balancing the grandiose expression of stoner and doom with the complexity and technicality of progressive metal and this is what A Body Is a Suggestion does best. You never quite know whether the next riff is going to make you scratch your head or bang it, as huge, monstrous, groovy chords are chopped, discarded, and strung into complex, unfolding structures of odd time signatures, bridges, solos, and multi-faceted ideas. The really impressive thing is that the album ends up feeling cohesive for all of that, made to work by an especially keen eye for theming and composition. This means that every track has two or three central ideas from which the music proliferates, making sure that no note is there just to be there but rather that it contributes to the overall direction of the track being played.
I honestly don’t know how to tell you where to start; just throw it on, I guess, and start to haphazardly assemble the experience through listening, like I did. There’s also a theme of gender fluidity, great cover art by one of my favorite artists, Helvetica Blanc, and so much more greatness to discover under the chaotic surface of this release. It’s been one of the releases I’ve most enjoyed revisiting, and trying to make sense of, in 2025.
Calyces - Fleshy Waves of Probability
This list is unranked but if it was ranked, this album would have been at the very top. To be honest, it might be at the very top of 2025 for me, period. Listen, at the end of the day I love every single weird sub-genre and experimental album I listen to but my heart still yearns for the big, egregiously energetic, and far-flung sounds that first sparked heavy metal into life. When those sparks light a flame that has stoner metal in its colorings is when I am happiest. Calyces already released an album like that a few years ago but they’ve taken things to completely new heights on Fleshy Waves of Probability.
The entire album is just one excellent, bright, moving idea after another, whether that’s an explosively groovy riff, big, open vocals, or an incredibly agile groove section. I’ve written about this album so many times this year but I still can’t quite convey how happy and buoyant it makes me feel. Others on the blog have not felt the same way and I’ve found myself trying to explain it but with no success. This is simply what I want metal to sound like. This album cleaves to the core of why I love the genre and why its most basic formula sets me alight. I don’t know what else to tell you. Listen to this album and see for yourself, I guess. For me, it’s the best release of 2025 and the best release in the style of progressive stoner metal that I’ve heard in years.
Honorable Mention: Elder - Liminality / Dream State Return
Boeli’s Top Ten of Powerful Post, Scything Sludge and Dolorous Doom
- Trudger - Void Quest
For anyone who’s been keeping tabs on 2025 blog favorites, seeing Void Quest top lists should come as no surprise. Trudger features two former members of underground scene darlings Dvne on guitars, and while the aforementioned Scottish juggernauts failed to wow me with Voidkind (last years followup to the excellent Etemen Ænka) Trudger are here to deliver a sound that is more streamlined, knotty, dark and threatening in every aspect.
The brevity of the songs on Void Quest belies the intricate maze of rusty briars and spiky gears that make up their compositions, and everything from the excellent song titles to the production and the artwork exhales a dark and grimy urgency with every smoky breath.
Trudger’s music is most aptly categorized as progressive sludge metal, inviting comparisons to the aforementioned Dvne, as well as Barishi. There’s an Ulcerate-like quality to Trudger’s music, in how they write incredibly technical and snakelike riffs that are both unequivocally heavy and hugely memorable and catchy, worming their way into the brain like mechanical symbiotes that live rent-free in the cranium, expanding the mind while inadvertently leading to problematic levels of involuntary headbanging.
It’s truly amazing how much quality Trudger managed to squeeze into a 35 minute album, and how they manage to maintain full engagement with a sonic palate that is so dense and fairly uniform. Not once have I been unaffected by the indomitable energy of cuts like “Tethered System”, “Battle Hardened” and “Bile Elixir”. Trudger have reinvented their sound after a long period of silence since their debut, and are poised to lead the vanguard of progressive sludge metal.
- Mares of Thrace - The Loss
Harrowing, heavy and gorgeously vulnerable all at once, Mares of Thrace’s progressive sludge/core’s album tackles losing a loved one with taste, tear-jerking honesty and terrifying turmoil. I’ve written about the album at some length, and since it was the subject of my first review for the blog it holds an extra special space in my heart. The heavy subject matter and confrontational qualities of the album have led to a slightly lower play count than might be expected for a top three pick, but whenever I can sufficiently steel my soul and dive into another spin, the album steals my heart with a series of violent motions before returning it somehow lighter and more prepared for the threshers of life, love and loss. The Loss is far from easy listening but absolutely required nonetheless.
- Monograf - Occultation
I’m taking a bit of a leap of faith with this one. Considering Occultation’s November release date, it’s hard to gauge the album’s staying power as of yet. Norwegian masters of folk-infused blackish doom Monograf have however managed to spellbind me with their majestic sophomore album. From the impeccable builds and soft-loud dynamics of “The Prophet" to the kinetic power of “Cripplegate”, the album’s gorgeously brittle folk intermezzo and the urgently propulsive-yet-exploratory quality of its back half, Occultation exudes quality and craftsmanship in every way. Expertly paced and composed, the album takes its time to get where it's going while never relinquishing its firm grip on my attention, offering a mix of meditative and moving (both emotionally and physically) qualities that are rarely harmonized as such.
The album’s masterful buildups and incorporation of Nordic folk through violin and other unconventional instruments for a metal album is aided by what is possibly my favorite production job of the year. Spacious, punchy yet full of fuzz and texture in the heavier parts, the mix and master allow for truly huge climaxes while laying bare the sound of every string on quieter sections. This is one of those albums that feels like a breath of fresh air after listening to too much sterile and compressed music, and shows what is possible in the wonderful marriage of folk and metal when every aspect is handled with taste, expertise and an abject rejection of releasing anything less than stellar.
- Structure - Heritage
Probably the most purist iteration of doom metal on this list, Structure’s Heritage is a funeral-leaning masterpiece of poise and grandeur. Slowly gliding in like a massive, morose vessel out of a thick mist, watching this doomed ship undertake its slow, creaking journey towards an inevitably tragic yet beautiful destination has been a perfect companion on many days where commiseration was the spice of my life. While undeniably sad and dramatic, there is an oddly comfortable quality to Heritage, like being smothered willingly by a soft, huge and immeasurably heavy blanket on a freezing day. While truly grand and magnificent as a whole, I’ve sometimes struggled to remember or pick out my favorite moments on this album. That comes with the notable exception of the absolutely gorgeous melody and subsequent guitar solo halfway through “The Sadness of Everyday Life” which narrowly beats out the remaster of Pallbearer’s “The Ghost I Used To Be” for my favorite “pure” doom song of the year.
Huge, sad and beautiful, Heritage is everything I want out of doom metal of this variety, and while the fact that Structure hardly do anything to reinvent the wheel (of pain) and the albums plodding pace here or there can lead to the occasional wandering of attention kept the album out of my top three it absolutely deserves this spot.
- Dimscûa - Dust Eater
Dust Eater claims the upper middle of this list, on the merits of the sheer, visceral emotion it evokes. Focused yet meditative post-metal, helmed by a hair-raising shriek and commanded by a powerful drum presence, spartan and nihilistic in its precision, discipline and austerity. In the middle sit strings, alternately tectonic and nimble, always carrying Dimscûa’s lightless message of despair.
Considering the bleak subject matter and the album art, this album succeeds time and time again in making the listener feel tiny and insignificant. Like a leaf in a storm, a lone sailor in the valley of a cresting wave, or an astronaut lost in dead space.
Over the course of a scant 32 minutes, Dimscûa master the ebb and flow of their music. Every violent, crashing shift out of the eye of the storm feels earned and meaningful.
The album’s short length also turns against it on occasion. With just over a half hour of music cut up into four longer pieces, each of which has their fair share of buildup and atmosphere before the dam breaks, the album has a tendency of being over when I’m just about settling in. While “Elder Bairn” to this day has not failed to render my flesh gooselike, and massive closer “On Being And Nothingness” reaps my attention unfailingly, the middle two songs have managed to pass me by in a haze on occasion. Every attentive listen reveals they too are full of worth and woe, so this is probably a me problem. This debut album impressed the hell out of me, and was one of my most memorable first listens of the year. Time will tell if it should have been higher on the list.
- Messa - The Spin
The Spin is absolutely my favourite Messa album thus far. Slick, satisfying and neon-glazed, with a standout guitar tone and an incredible vocal performance, the album features one of the year's best midsections, with a legendary three song run from “Fire on the Roof” through “The Dress”. The rest of the album (while excellent) has not stuck in my memory as convincingly, and the album inadvertently slipped somewhat out of regular rotation during the last third of the year. I suspect that has more to do with my questionable attention span than the quality apparent on The Spin, though. Expertly crafted, nostalgic yet adventurous and inventive, this album deserves the hype and its spot on this list.
- Farseer - Portals to Cosmic Womb
Smart, spacey yet inexorably heavy and groove-laden at the right times, Portals to Cosmic Womb impressed the hell out of me when I reviewed it back in August. Especially in its heavier, more riff-forward moments Farseer’s criminally unheralded sophomore album managed to blow my socks off. The main riff of “The Gentleman’s Bookshelf” especially has done its very best to realign my spine on many occasions. There are moments of repetition or meandering that, after more spins and careful reflection have somewhat lost their luster (“Endless Waves of Obliteration”’s first half being the main offender), which has landed Farseer a lower spot on my list than I predicted when I reviewed it. Still, this is progressive, psychedelic doom done mind-expandingly and earth-shatteringly right.
- Kauan - Wayhome
I suspect the main reason this isns’;t higher on my list is twofold: its classification as doom metal is tenuous, making it just as much float alongside the other rankings on this list as slot in between them. I also need much more time with Wayhome to fully immerse myself in its subtle grandeur. Kauan’s brand of atmospheric post-rock, laced with elements of black, doom and folk metal, has been a mainstay in my listening habits for years now. In fact, they are one of those rare acts where I prefer their cleaner, less metal output because of its transporting, calming yet melancholic beauty. Wayhome features plenty of that, along with some of their most lively and immediate compositions to date. While Kaiho will probably always be my favorite iteration of Kauan’s wintery bliss, Wayhome is a definite improvement on the sound introduced on Ice Fleet in my book. I look forward to spending many more hours unraveling these sublime soundscapes.
- Novembers Doom - Major Arcana
This band, led by Paul Kuhr’s perfect death/doom voice, is an established mainstay in the doom pantheon for good reason. While Major Arcana might not be their best output, the sheer majestic quality mixed with burly death metal trappings of tracks like “Ravenous”, “Mercy”, song of the year contender “The Dance” and “Dusking Day” confidently show Novembers Doom have still got the grave juice.
- Zatokrev - …Bring Mirrors to the Surface
There’s something ineffable that keeps me returning to this album, even though I often feel like it passes me by or I still haven’t cracked its shell yet or discerned its true quality. Immersive and atmospheric post-metal, the album is long and threatens to slip out of notice on occasion. Something about it still compels me to afford …Bring Mirrors to the Surface this spot. Time will tell if I’m right.
Jordan’s Doomsday-iest Everything Should be Sludge Top 10 of 2025
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy - Heavy
I’d be reaaaal fucking stupid if I didn’t kick off my Doomsday top 10 without a riffapalooza like The Grasshopper Lies Heavy’s Heavy. So, that’s exactly what I’m doing. Press play, take something for your neck in the morning. Merry Riffmas.
Museum of Light - Diviner
Big ass riffs with a fun Torche-gone-gazey-post-rock sorta vibe? Sign me the fuck up. Also, this band absolutely killed it at the 2025 Ghost Canyon Fest, do make a point to see ‘em if you can, I guarantee you’ll have a good time.
Shrive - Leach
If SUMAC & Moor Mother didn’t release The Film, Shrive’s Leach would be my bonafide mind-warping noise/prog/sludge release of the year. Instead, it’ll just have to settle for my debut album of the year. More on this in our 2025 Superlatives.
The Virgos - Lord Have Mercy
One part Type O Negative worship, one part stoner metal that likes to dip its toes into some more aggressive waters, The Virgos very well might be “Pennsylvania’s heaviest band.” Lord Have Mercy got me full Uncle Jesse with this record: every song has such a distinct feel, the vocal variety and interplay always hit right, the hooks always slap, the leads are tasty and well-executed, and by golly, it just never lets up. This one’s hard to turn off once it’s on thanks to all that crunch and fun. Capisce?
Thumos - The Trial of Socrates
The Trial of Socrates got major spin from me this year likely because: 1) it’s fuckin’ riffs galore and 2) it was easy for me to toss on for a two-hour listening sesh as I worked without the distraction of vocals. As I word-barfed back in September, it’s a remarkably ambitious and well-executed album, even if the specific themes still haven’t quite clicked for me.
Bask - The Turning
The twang thang has been a quality I’ve been embracing more and more with each passing year, and Bask get major love for scratching that itch for me. What’s too-simply summed up as psyched-out bluesy stoner rock in the vein of King Buffalo, Bask’s twist carves out a distinct niche with The Turning, working in some righteous organ, horns, and strings along the way, too. Sonically powerful and weirdly life-affirming in that mid-era Baroness kind of way, this record connects solidly with crushing riffs as well as a little Southern rock tip of the hat. Potentially a great bridge record to get your indie rock friends into something heavier.
Trudger - Void Quest
Trudger quell one of my biggest worries about progressive sludge with this 2025 gem. So often it seems like that sludgy venom can easily get all nerded up and softened by labyrinthine songwriting or punches get pulled to flex some technical finesse. But with Void Quest, they’re really only sharpening their teeth with these elements. It helps that the vocals are totally relentless, but the instrumentation and production also go a long way in wringing authentic exasperation and fury out of every potent minute.
SUMAC & Moor Mother - The Film
In a weird way, The Film feels like our favorite art sludge band picked up where Rage Against the Machine left off. Moor Mother’s delivery throughout the album strangely smooths out the distorted bombast with a sort of running dialogue that lends to its cinematic feel, but her lyrics hit with an urgency and intensity that riles me up in an equal-but-different way than SUMAC’s gargantuan instrumentals. A true peanut butter and jelly-type collab of fringe powerhouses in extreme music, this will (like every SUMAC release prior for me) take a while to sink in and fully appreciate.
Conjurer - Unself
Conjurer are about as sure a thing as you can get when it comes to devastating riffitude, and Unself more than upholds that reputation. Their post-metal/sludge/metalcore fusion ticks a lot of boxes for me, but early on, the record flashes moments that signal something new—both more immediate and more intimate additions to their sound. Beyond sheer weight, Unself sets itself apart through a more personal emotional palette, touching on themes like neurodivergence and non-binary identity, and in doing so adds a new level of vulnerability to their already formidable arsenal.
Rwake - The Return of Magik
It seems like every year I’m consumed by a record that dazzles me with an artist’s vision. A creation of something so “complete” and idiosyncratic, it breaks into an echelon beyond annual or genre favorites. This year, it’s Rwake’s The Return of Magik.
Dark mysticism collides with pensive progressive post-metal, doom, and sludge, culminating in an album overflowing with fresh musical ideas. Ideas that are then sharpened with obsessive care, honing the band’s progressive, psychedelic, and sludgy edges to a fine point, slicing through convention and expectation to reveal an overwhelming attention to detail at every turn. Throughout, incantations backed by an orchestra-worthy array of instrumentation flow into explosive and rich post-metal climaxes, visceral sludge is complemented by unwieldy prog metal flourishes, and chuggy rage and vivid solos are quelled by downturns into cathartic epic doom.
What ultimately makes this record so rewarding and enthralling is Rwake’s dedication to craft and the obvious passion behind achieving their full potential. I’ve always had a soft spot for their balance of brutality and attentive, meticulous songcraft, but this 2025 reawakening feels like the fullest, truest expression of that identity yet. It’s so fucking good that I’m willing—but not exactly wanting—to wait another fifteen years for a follow-up.
In Memoriam: A Year of Sorrow and Darkness (aka Bridget’s Top 10)
Fós - Níl mo chroi in aon rud
Pyres - YUN
contemplation - Au bord du précipice
Decrepisy - Deific Mourning
Eyes of Argus - Honey'd Dreams
Depleted - Remains
HELL - Submersus
Grayceon - Then The Darkness
Throat Piss - Existence as a Grinding Gear
Oromet - The Sinking Isle