In some years three or four releases dominate most year end lists, but 2025 was different. The wide range of records championed on 2025’s year end lists is emblematic of the sheer volume of great music being released each year (especially in the world of hardcore, metal & punk). Honestly, any of the 20 records below could have easily ended up in my top five, but Agriculture gets the crown. The Spiritual Sound is Agriculture’s best yet & exactly the type of transcendent, beautiful, queer black metal that we need right now.
I always strive to read more and this year I actually did it. Thanks to the Chicago Public Library & audiobooks on the commute to work, I spent a lot of time with some great books. I added my favorite 10 books I read this year….some were new while others have been sitting on the shelf for years.
I hope you find something on the list below that speaks to you & check it out. My first listening journey of 2026 will be checking out all the cool shit on other year end lists that I missed earlier in the year.
-vh
Best Records of 2025
1 - Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound
2 - Lambrini Girls - Who Let the Dogs Out
3 - Militarie Gun - God Save the Gun
4 - XweaponX - Demo 2
5 - Korine - A Flame in the Dark
6 - Anxious - Bambi
7 - Ragana & Drowse - Ash Souvenir
8 - Graham Hunt - Timeless World Forever
9 - Gruesome - Silent Echoes
10 - MSPAINT - No Separation
11 - Cloakroom - Last Leg of the Human Table
12 - Yellow Eyes - Confusion Gate
13 - Turnstile - Never Enough
14 - Pet Symmetry - Big Symmetry
15 - Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power
16 - End It - Wrong Side of Heaven
17 - Melpomene - A Body Is a Suggestion
18 - Pup - Who Will Look After the Dogs
19 - Basic Needs - The World Isn’t My Concern
20 - Greet Death - Die in Love
Best Books I Read in 2025 (but not necessarily published this year)
1 - Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
2 - The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
3 - A People’s History for the United States: 1492 - Present by Howard Zinn
4 - The Fort Bragg Cartel by Seth Harp
5 - All Fours by Miranda July
6 - Original Sins by Eve L. Ewing
7 - You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue
8 - Outclassed by Joan C. Williams
9 - Yoko by David Sheff
10 - Exiles by Mason Coile