7 Great Metal Albums You Might Have Missed in Winter/Spring 2025
More time has passed since the last Shadow of the Horns roundup than I anticipated. There’s been a lot happening here at Treble, lots of midyear lists, some planning for things on the horizon, even a new recurring feature that I introduced over on our Patreon. So I feel the need to play catch-up.
But instead of catching up for just a two-month gap, I decided to take a look back at some under-the-radar gems that slipped through the cracks throughout the entire first half of the year. The thing about metal is that, in 2025, there’s a whole hell of a lot of it. It’s easy to miss the good stuff sometimes just because most of us are trying to catch a deluge in a paper cup. I don’t think it’s ever been more challenging as a critic and an editor to be able to fully process even a small percentage of what’s being released, but the upside is that release dates don’t necessarily matter if you’re taking a broader view.
So, with that in mind, I’ve picked seven new-ish records that might not have been picked up in the algorithm or flooded your playlists, but which I endorse wholeheartedly. Here are seven great metal albums you might have missed in 2025 so far, and next time I’ll make sure not to let another month lapse.
Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.
Doomgaze/Sludge
Baan – Neumann
Within the first minute of “Birdperson,” the leadoff track on Neumann, the new album by South Korean sludge/post-hardcore outfit Baan, I was immediately reminded of the heavy melodicism of Baroness’ Red Album, a sonic parallel that will always perk my ears. And for that matter you can find more recent peers on a similar sonic wavelength, like the post-screamo eruptions of Glassing. But despite the massive sound they put forth, with riffs of reinforced steel and concrete, Baan are just as steeped in a triumphant space-core sound, with moments like “Histrionic” reminiscent of Hum gone hesher, or the raw beauty of the epic closer “Oldman,” a collaboration with Asian Glow. Though there’s no shortage of familiar elements to Baan’s approach, they combine them in novel ways, breathing new life into atmospheric sludge metal by finding new sources of beauty and immensity.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Screamo
Crossed – Realismo Ausente
I can’t help but feel an immediate affection for a band who ratchets up the intensity so high that I feel like I’m barely holding on by the second track. Madrid’s Crossed carve out a jagged niche between screamo and metalcore that retains an unlikely catchiness amid its chaotic blitz. “Vaciar Un Corazón,” “Distrés” and “Monotonía de la Lluvia en la Ventana” each harbor memorable melodies and hooks within their razor’s-edge attack, and while the intensity and fury is almost certainly priority number one here, they’re outstanding songwriters, delivering some explosive bangers that easily stand up to the likes of a more familiar name like Portrayal of Guilt. Absolute mayhem meets accessibility.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Thrash metal
Doomsday – Never Known Peace
A killer thrash metal band from the Bay Area? Yeah, it’s been known to happen! Crossover thrash rippers Doomsday certainly hail from a long lineage of California riffmongers, though their approach is more Exodus than Metallica, more Vio-Lence than Testament, surging at maximum speed with power chords that draw blood and leads that provide a mesmerizing melodic counterpoint to their vicious gallop. There’s little pretense here, only one instrumental interlude—the still-pretty badass bell-tolling and ’80s-horror menace of “Extinction’s Hymn”—but most of all a trunk full of riffs and speed metal sprints punctuated by hardcore gang vocals. Never Known Peace is sweaty, ripped-jeans thrash that leaves its mark in 30 minutes and gets out before the embers die down, and it’s an insanely fun half-hour at that.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Metalcore/Noise Rock
EYES – Spinner
Copenhagen’s EYES first flipped my wig a couple years back when Treble’s Tom Morgan included the band in a roundup of under-the-radar noise rock albums. And now the group has aligned with Prosthetic, whose catalog features no shortage of standouts in underground metal over the years, from Kylesa to Undeath. With one foot in metalcore and the other in noise rock, the Danish band aim for maximum impact, stacking up 23 minutes of pummeling, punishing, guttural roar. Much like the Crossed album featured in this month’s roundup, what’s remarkable about Spinner is how instantly satisfying its songs are—noise rock isn’t often recognized for its accessibility, for good reason I should add. But like a great punk record, Spinner is all anger, hooks and energy, nasty as hell but endlessly enjoyable.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Sludge/Post-hardcore
Idle Heirs – Life Is Violence
In vetting my picks for this column, I initially wanted to focus on the albums that we hadn’t covered in any form here at Treble, thus making it not just a roundup of albums that you might have missed, but we did too. We didn’t actually miss this one, which made an appearance in our Best New Releases roundup back in April. But Idle Heirs’ debut warrants an extra round of plaudits in my book. Featuring Coalesce vocalist Sean Ingram and producer Josh Barber (Norma Jean, The Devil Wears Prada), Idle Heirs are steeped not in metalcore or mathcore but a more atmospheric, shoegaze-laden permutation of post-metal that emphasizes open space and headphone-worthy layers of sound rather than an immediate fix of direct pummeling. Certainly, it’s a grower, a slow-burner, any cliche you choose to indicate that it’s the kind of album that rewards repeat listens, but that point still stands: It’s well worth the time invested. But make no mistake, it hits hard regardless on standout moments like “Jaded Mountain” and “Lemonade Stands,” a rich and emotional listen from a band that understands the value of giving heavy music room to breathe.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Black Metal
Patristic – Catechesis
Italy’s Patristic was co-founded by Enrico Schettino of Hideous Divinity and Jacopo Gianmaria Pepe of Bedsore, the latter a band that’s become a favorite of many of us here at Treble since the release of their 2020 debut Hypnagogic Hallucinations. But since their debut EP, Patristic has expanded into a quartet, with Pepe having left the band, and as such there’s more of a muscular full-band feel to their malevolent and eerie black metal sound. As their first proper full-length, Catechesis doesn’t stray too far from the black metal basics, but the group pulls it off with a feral assault and a dazzling musicianship that breathes some life (or at least makes it undead?) into a well-trafficked sound. There’s a lot of haunted atmosphere to revel in here, and just the right amount of pageantry, but more than anything, Patristic are simply making some standout black metal in a time when that’s an increasingly difficult thing to do.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Post-Metal
Pothamus – Abur
I’m loath to call Pothamus a “post-metal” band. In the broadest terms, the Belgian band certainly fits the criteria: lengthy instrumental passages, slow escalation in volume, atmosphere orchestrated alongside volume, they’re signed to Pelagic, etc. But there’s something more psychedelic and otherworldly about what they do; opener “Zhikarta” begins with a hypnotic pulse and sweat-lodge drones, crafting an atmosphere of mystical visions and terrifying hallucinations. Those looking for sonic elements reminiscent of the likes of Neurosis and Cult of Luna will find them, certainly, but this is more mesmeric in its ambience, an apocalyptic opening of a gate through ritualistic repetitions and an intense focus on slowly simmering drones. Music for drinking the Blood of Kali.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
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