Top 5 Thursday #7: Top 5 Albums Of 2025

By Ryan Germ and Scott Danshaw
 2025 is over! From Scotty and me we mean it from the bottom of our hearts when we say happy new year to all of you, and THANK YOU ALL for the support given to us in the past month and a half since we started Shadowtalkers, it means so much and there’s going to be more to come in 2026. 

Anyways there was music that came out in 2025, and just like our personal experiences there was some good and some bad. But we could sit here and bitch and moan about the shit records or celebrate our favorites on this Thursday. We chose the latter. So without further ado let’s get into our picks for our 5 favorite albums of 2025.

Scotty D’s List (Honorable mention; MEMBRAINS - stoner punks from hell ep)

 Mickey Avalon - Postcards from Hell: Big return to form for Mickey Ave. This record is filled with what fans have come to expect from Mickey. It’s crude & crass rhymes over some insanely danceable beats who could hate that? It’s a fun listen so definitely give it a shot. 

 The Hives - The Hives Forever, Forever The Hives: The Hives are back at it again with a record full of the radio ready garage punk we’ve come to live and expect from them and that’s not a bad thing. It hits hard as fuck and leaves you repeating their mantra “the hives forever, forever the hives!”

  Spiritual Cramp - Rude: Spiritual Cramp have been killing it with everything they’ve released over the last few years but this record really showed how they came into their own and found themselves. 

AFI - Silver Bleeds the Black Sun: AFI goes full on Bauhaus on this record casting their previous post-hardcore/emo image and embracing their post punk/goth side. It’s dark it’s brooding and it sounds like it came directly out of the 80s. Grab your black eyeliner and your fishnets because warped tour is over and we are now dancing the night away at the Batcave.

Wavves - Spun: Wavves rip hard and whenever they drop a record it never disappoints. Their brand of surf punk is on full display here. It has a vibe so similar to King Of The Beach but in a slightly more mature light. On this record they prove to the world whenever they release an album they are the undisputed “kings of the beach”.

Ryan Germ’s List: (honorable mention; AFI - Silver Bleeds The Black Sun)

The Virgos - Lord Have Mercy: Instantly became my AOTY, it’s hard, it’s fast, it’s doomy, it’s THE definitive AOTY for me. Saba’s riffing is on another level, his vocals are super fun and range a wide variety of styles, AND the drumming is super super tight. 10/10, 5/5, 100%, whatever you wanna call it this record, it’s an all timer for me.

End It - Wrong Side Of Heaven: This is such a good punk record. It feels like you ripped the hooks off one of the good 90’s pop punk records and injected it into their previous EP, Unpleasant Living. From front to back this jawn bangs hard as fuck. It’s dancey, but retains aggression. Hard as fuck, but fun. I’m excited to finally see them because I missed most of their set when I saw them a couple years back.

Excide - Bastard Hymns: This only recently got on my radar. I heard hype about Excide but never went out of my way to listen to them before my homie Nate told me to listen. This record is so so good. It has those weird riffs that give Helmet or Quicksand vibes and they blend that with that ETID type of hardcore. I’ll tell you what, they’re the only band to do the ETID style in a good to great way since ETID broke up. Worth Your Salt is by farrrr the standout track on this record as it blends every great element of this record into one.

Scarab - Burn After Listening: Philly legends in the making. It’s overall a fast and grindy record but the breakdowns hit hard, the 2 step parts are groovy and the NAILS feature on Ugly is amazing. The vocals have this evil ass growl to them which really puts this over the top as a truly scary new Philly HC band. Great live band as well.

C4 - Payback’s A Bitch: Now this record doesn’t reinvent the wheel, in fact I believe from an objective stance that AFI’s effort from this year is a better record. But this record does that 80/90’s crossover type of shit REALLY well. The record gives off equal parts metal and punk, and the breakdowns are stripped down from the modern norm of chugs and spinkicks back to two stepping and pure riffage. The song that showcases this the most is Bomb The Scene, god does that two step make me feel things.