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The Year In Review – Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2025

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“Who the fuck is Justin Bieber?” – Ozzy Osbourne

There’s not much to celebrate in rock and metal music in the same year when we lost the one and only John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne. Nothing will ever be the same without the Prince of Darkness, the Madman, The Wizard of Ozz. There isn’t a single artist or band reviewed in the history of The Headbanging Moose that wasn’t influenced in several ways by Ozzy and, of course, by Black Sabbath. It is a very sad year indeed. However, Ozzy was always in a great mood, always happy, and I’m sure that, wherever he is now, he wants to see us all smiling and laughing, because that’s what life is all about. He also wants us to keep attending rock and metal concerts to have a good time with our loved ones, with our closest friends, just like Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi and I did so many times this year, covering incredible bands the likes of Blackbraid, Ne Obliviscaris, Cattle Decapitation, Blind Guardian, and so on. I’ve also had the utmost pleasure of seeing the mighty Judas Priest in Dalhalla, Sweden, a dream come true for this fanboy here, and I can’t wait to “run for my life” in 2026. Having said all that, let’s honor the life of Ozzy with The Headbanging Moose’s Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2025, excluding EP’s, best of’s and live albums, and keep on rockin’ like the Madman until our very last breath!

1. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III (REVIEW)
Behold the stunning next chapter in the musical and spiritual journey of the witch hawk of Black Metal hailing from the Adirondack Mountains.
Best song of the album: Wardrums At Dawn On The Day Of My Death

2. Werewolves – The Ugliest of All (REVIEW)
The torchbearers of “Caveman Death Metal” continuing to annihilate intellects with an unlistenable barrage of truly hideous music.
Best song of the album: The Ugliest of All

3. Testament – Para Bellum (REVIEW)
Let’s prepare for war to the sound of the breathtaking fourteenth studio album by California’s own masters of old school Thrash Metal.
Best song of the album: Para Bellum

4. Helloween – Giants & Monsters (REVIEW)
These German giants of Heavy Metal and monsters of Rock N’ Roll are back with their ass-kicking seventeenth studio album.
Best song of the album: Majestic

5. An Abstract Illusion – The Sleeping City (REVIEW)
This incredible Swedish Progressive Death and Black Metal entity returns with their heaviest and most atmospheric work to date.
Best song of the album: Like a Geyser Ever Erupting

6. Allegaeon – The Ossuary Lens (REVIEW)
World domination awaits to the sound of the striking new beast by one of the must-see bands of the current tech death scene worldwide.
Best song of the album: The Swarm

7. 1914 – Viribus Unitis (REVIEW)
Trench warfare meets blackened death and doom in 1914’s fourth onslaught of war-torn fury.
Best song of the album: 1918 Pt 3: ADE (A Duty to Escape)

8. Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence (REVIEW)
Canada’s own Death Metal machine returns with their ruthless ninth studio album.
Best song of the album: Until There’s Nothing Left

9. Baest – Colossal (REVIEW)
Back from the fires of Denmark, this unstoppable creature will crush you with their fourth studio album.
Best song of the album: Colossus

10. Diabolizer – Murderous Revelations (REVIEW)
The torchbearers of diabolical abomination unite once again to drag us down into the fiery abysses of Turkish Death Metal without warning.
Best song of the album: Deathmarch of the Murderous Tyrant

And here we have the runner-ups, completing the top 20 for the year:

11. Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (REVIEW)
12. Impureza – Alcázares (REVIEW)
13. Crimson Shadows – Whispers of War (REVIEW)
14. Primal Fear – Domination (REVIEW)
15. Serenity In Murder – Timeless Reverie (REVIEW)
16. Khôra – Ananke (REVIEW)
17. Panzerchrist – Maleficium – Part 2 (REVIEW)
18. Ominous Ruin – Requiem (REVIEW)
19. Wrath of Belial – Embers of Dead Empires (REVIEW)
20. Grima – Nightside (REVIEW)

Not only that, here’s once again our Top 10 EP’s of 2025, proving once and for all that the duration of an album is not that important in the end. As long as the music is great, the whole thing can be only one second long, like the classic “You Suffer” by Napalm Death!

1. When Plagues Collide – Kingmaker (REVIEW)
2. De Profundis – The Gospel Of Rot (REVIEW)
3. Fimbul Winter – What Once Was (REVIEW)
4. NecroticGoreBeast – Brute (REVIEW)
5. Serpent Corpse – Retaliate (REVIEW)
6. Akouphenom – Connections To The Erebus (REVIEW)
7. Necht – The Inevitable Suffering (REVIEW)
8. Discovery Through Torment – Telesynthetic Rebirth (REVIEW)
9. Der Rote Milan – Verlust (REVIEW)
10. Eleine – We Stand United (REVIEW)

Do you agree with our list? What are your top 10 albums of 2025? Also, don’t forget to tune in every Tuesday at 10pm BRT on Rádio Coringão to enjoy the best of classic and underground metal with Jorge Diaz and his Timão Metal, and every Thursday at 8pm UTC+2 on Midnight Madness Metal e-Radio for the best of underground metal with The Headbanging Moose Show!

Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year! See you in 2026!

And of course, as we really don’t like those boring Christmas songs here on The Headbanging Moose, we’ll leave you with what’s perhaps the most emotional and strongest metal hymn of the year, the charity version of “War Pigs”, by Black Sabbath, recorded by Judas Priest and with Ozzy himself sharing the vocal duties with the Metal God Rob Halford! This is the epitome of rock and metal music!

Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses…

Album Review – Ominous Ruin / Requiem (2025)

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San Francisco, California-based tech death juggernauts are back with their infuriated sophomore opus, representing a powerful exploration of the human psyche, the ravages of time, and the inevitable descent into oblivion.

San Francisco, California-based Ominous Ruin, the ruthless Death Metal juggernaut known for their intricate compositions and unrelenting sonic brutality, has returned to the battlefield with their highly anticipated new album, simply titled Requiem, following up on their critically acclaimed 2021 opus Amidst Voices That Echo in Stone. Written, produced, mixed and mastered by the band’s own guitarist Alex Bacey, recorded by Cody Fuentes at Rapture Recordings and by Petr Oplatka at Petropolys Media, and displaying a striking artwork by world renowned illustrator Pär Olofsson, the new album by newcomer Crystal Rose on vocals, Alex Bacey and Joel Guernsey on the guitars, Mitch Yoesle on bass, and Harley Blandford on drums is a formidable leap forward in both musical complexity and emotional depth, while also representing a powerful exploration of the human psyche, the ravages of time, and the inevitable descent into oblivion.

The album starts with a delicate, atmospheric Intro, setting the stage for Ominous Ruin to demolish our senses in Seeds of Entropy, with the intricate yet visceral guitar lines by Alex and Joey providing Crystal with exactly what she needs to roar like a true she-wolf in a killer display of Technical Death Metal. Crystal continues to vociferate rabidly in Eternal, while Harley delivers a bestial performance behind his drums, resulting in six minutes of first-class extreme music; and after the eerie instrumental interlude Bane of Syzygial Triality the band will smash us like putrid insects with Divergent Anomaly, with Harley once again pounding his drums manically supported by the rumbling bass by Mitch, sounding beautifully insane from start to finish.

In Fractal Abhorrence they continue with their undisputed feast of Technical Death Metal infused with sheer brutality and rage, with their riffs and bass lines sounding utter metallic while Crystal keeps blasting her venomous roars for our total delight. And get ready for eight minutes of demented, intricate and visceral sounds in Architect of Undoing, the most detailed of all songs, starting with a beyond thrilling instrumental piece before crystal arrives growling like a demon, not to mention Harley sounds beyond inhumane on drums. Then the band shows no sign of mellowing down their sound in Staring into the Abysm, again blasting our ears with their ruthless Death Metal, with Mitch simply sounding infernal on bass; whereas lastly, we’re treated to the Archspire-like title-track Requiem, another lecture in dexterity, speed and insanity by the band led by the phenomenal riffage by Alex and Joey.

Requiem is, at its core, a continuation of Amidst Voices that Echo in Stone, having its conception spawned from the raw emotion of personal issues and turmoil, as it was created during a dark time in the band’s lives. All that darkness translates into first-class extreme music as expected, turning the album into a must-listen for fans of the genre. Hence, don’t forget to check what Ominous Ruin are up to on Facebook and on Instagram, to check more of their music on YouTube and on Spotify, and to grab a copy of the incendiary Requiem by clicking HERE. The album might be a new phase in the band’s career, but their core savagery, violence and intricacy is intact, inviting us all to join them in the battlefield while they take another giant step forward in their exciting career.

Best moments of the album: Seeds of Entropy, Divergent Anomaly, Architect of Undoing and Requiem.

Worst moments of the album: Bane of Syzygial Triality.

Released in 2025 Willowtip Records

Track listing
1. Intro 0:56
2. Seeds of Entropy 4:03
3. Eternal 6:05
4. Bane of Syzygial Triality 2:39
5. Divergent Anomaly 5:17
6. Fractal Abhorrence 5:14
7. Architect of Undoing 7:59
8. Staring into the Abysm 3:16
9. Requiem 5:01

Band members
Crystal Rose – vocals
Alex Bacey – guitars
Joel Guernsey – guitars
Mitch Yoesle – bass
Harley Blandford – drums