It’s beginning to look a lot like year-end list season. Some of the early lists are already out (particularly from print mags), and as always, the first major metal list out of the gate is Decibel.
The list will appear with “editorial on these releases (for, you know, context), interviews with the artists who rank near and at the top of the list as well as dozens of hilarious, contributor-conceived, year-end Top 5 lists, a cover story celebrating the legendary GWAR’s 40th anniversary and a Hall of Fame on Pallbearer’s debut doom metal game-changer” in the January issue of Decibel, but the ranked list of 40 is available online now. It ranges from newcomers to veterans across black metal, death metal, metalcore, thrash, sludge, and lots more. One of the albums in the top 10 comes out this week, and we’ll be saying more about that one this Friday. Check out the list in full below.
Is your favorite metal album of 2025 on the list? What do you think of Decibel‘s picks?
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Decibel‘s Top 40 Albums of 2025
40. Sodom – The Arsonist
39. Ossuary – Abhorrent Worship
38. Nyredolk – Barndommens Hjem
37. Dead Heat – Process of Elimination
36. Biohazard – Divided We Fall
35. Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath
34. In The Company Of Serpents – A Crack In Everything
33. Morbikon – Lost Within Astral Crypts
32. Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound
31. Wode – Uncrossing The Keys
30. Havukruunu – Tavastland
29. Shearling – Motherfucker, I Am Both: Amen and Hallelujah
28. Testament – Para Bellum
27. Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration
26. Nite – Cult Of The Serpent Sun
25. Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons
24. Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh
23. Coroner – Dissonance Theory
22. (16) – Guides For The Misguided
21. Species – Changelings
20. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III
19. Castle Rat – The Bestiary
18. Haggus – Destination Extinction
17. Volahn – Popol Vuh
16. Decrepisy – Deific Mourning
15. Eternal Darkness – Eternal Darkness
14. Teitanblood – From the Visceral Abyss
13. Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar
12. One Of Nine – Dawn Of The Iron Shadow
11. Tribunal – In Penitence And Ruin
10. Lamp Of Murmuur – The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy
09. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
08. Tower – Let There Be Dark
07. Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence
06. Evoken – Mendacium
05. Rwake – The Return Of Magik
04. Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution
03. Paradise Lost – Ascension
02. Messa – The Spin
01. Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services