This is not an ultimate collection as this top is based solely on my personal music taste and only partially reflects the abundant number of releases in 2025. So, let’s dive in this super challenging task!

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#1 Maruja Pain To Power

An utterly rich and dense album that blends punk, free-jazz and nu-metal. The tracks are alternatively harsh and gentle, fully captivating the listener. The sound of the saxophone is beautifully haunting and perfectly balances the brutality of the vocal parts. Pain to Power is a true and complete work of art, as much musical as it is poetic and even picturesque, with paintings accompanying each track on the album.

#2 Mhaol Something Soft

This album may seem minimalist with the singer’s effortless vocals, but it stands out for its experimental nature, influenced by electro, minimal wave and post-punk. It is an album in perpetual deconstruction with frenetic, syncopated, shifting drums, amplified by two bass guitars and a regular one, all satured with noisy and obsessive sound effects. Bonus point, Something Soft is feminist, critical and politically charged.

#3 The New Eves The New Eve Is Rising

The revival of folk music, in a radical feminist, irreverent, frightening and noisy way. An explosive album, reminiscent of pagan incantations, which is perfectly composed, both musically and poetically.

#4 For Those I Love Carving The Stone

Carving the Stone is an electro-poetry album that dissects Ireland, its past, present and future. It is a true poetical-political testimony that adresses both the collective and the individual. However, this album goes beyond the particular and questions growing trends in our societies, such as communitarianism, techno-feudalism, individualism and loneliness. All this accompanied by pulsating electro beats.

#5 These New Puritans Crooked Wing

A 21st Century religious music album with an industrial twist, that resonates because of its spiritual majestic sound. Yet, These New Puritans do not subscribe to any particular faith, offering a music that transcends beliefs to explore the insignificance of human life.

#6 La Dispute No One Was Driving The Car

No One Was Driving The Car is an album conceived as a total work, both intense and powerful. The lyrics are perfectly written and masterfully performed, sometimes shouted at the listener, sometimes spoken.We are immersed in a disturbing universe that crushes individuals and questions our human, social, environmental and technical responsibilities. Perhaps La Dispute’s music shows us a way to find peace in a disenchanted post-industrial world.

#7 Dust Sky Is Falling

Dust’s melodic post-punk feels quite unique, carried along by an addictive saxophone and a wide variety of rhythms and moments of real sonic rupture. The entire album is very coherent and well-rounded.

#8 The Murder Capital Blindness

This third album is so dense and so dynamic. Opening with the noisy Moonshot, Blindness retains the same haunting and disturbing atmosphere as previous albums. It reflects no longer so much on the self and its existence, but rather on social issues, with the splendid ballad Love of a Country, which examines the rise of nationalism and the growing retreat into identityism.

#9 Sorry Cosplay

More pop and easier to listen to, Cosplay moves between catchy, danceable tracks with light vibes and more strange and obscure ones. This album explores identity, attitudes and the fabric of our social beings. It is perfectly produced and orchestrated, the sound architecture is complex yet absolutely controlled, as if it envelops the listener.

#10 Pulp More

We hadn’t had enough of the prolific careers of these Britpop giants, of course, they gave us More. The album does not capitalise on nostalgia but rather extends the band’s soundscape by deepening its groovy-glam, free-spirited vibe. They may be old, but they’re clearly not outdated.

#11 Militarie Gun God Save The Gun

They clearly have an obsession with guns, which is hardly surprising given their country of origin. But this third album is powerful, raw and violent, while remaining subtle and balanced, as in the very elegant Daydream. They seem to be continuing to develop their own style of hardcore by taking it to new horizons and musical influences.

#12 Geese Getting Killed

THE album that catapulted them to fame! It’s a psych-folk-rock album full of chaos and unapologetic about it. Everything explodes and seems deconstructed, yet it is effective and utterly captivating.

#13 Big Thief Double Infinity

A warm and elegant album that envelops you with its gentleness and delightful simplicity. Double Infinity immerses you in a nostalgic atmosphere with its rich and fluid instrumentation.

#14 Swans Birthing

An album lasting almost two hours can be considered as pretty long, indeed. However, it is a densely crafted, virtuosic record. Birthing showcases the wild mastery and perfect unmastery of Swans, the heavyweights of post-rock, art-rock and all branches of rock that defy categorisation. You just have to listen to it at the right moment to appreciate it.

#15 The Hellp Riviera

Riviera is an album with slightly cliché and kitsch lyrics, playing on a mystified image of California. But beyond the lyrics, the album succedes in pushing the boundaries of indie sleaze, blog house and electronica. It’s a very enjoyable album that transports you to the heights of Los Angeles at dusk.

#16 University MacCartney, It’ll Be Ok

It’s a strange and disturbing album, a bit like a surrealist artwork. I’m not sure I fully understand their lyrics, and that’s probably for the best. MacCartney, It’ll Be Ok is full of rage, radical, violent, saturated and transgressive, but counterbalanced by their humour and self-mockery, it oscillates between loud post-punk, experimental post-rock and playful hardcore.

#17 Dove Ellis Blizzard

A superb debut album that celebrates the poetry of everyday life while forging its own unique soundscape within the folk/song-writing genre. Blizzard is a true sonic journey into the beauty of human emotions.

#18 Humour Learning Greek

Another highly versatile and playful post-punk album. The singer is running out of breath ; the tracks are tense, saturated with sound, punctuated by more relaxed melodies. It’s a bit abrasive but very powerful and really draws you in.

#19 Anna Von Hausswolf Iconoclasts

Iconoclasts is an album of dark elegance, superbly composed, sophisticated and thoughtful. The vocal work is impressive, enhanced by the freedom in the use of a wide range of instruments; the album is perceived as a free, epic exploration with a mystical aura. Sometimes it is almost pop, sometimes very minimalist, or, on the contrary, overwhelmingly grandiose and terrifyingly maximalist. The featurings are phenomenal.

#20 Momma Welcome To My Blue Sky

Between shoegaze, post-punk, alt-rock and pop-rock, Momma is forging its own path, and doing so very successfully. Momma finds the perfect balance between light experimentation and super-effective, catchy choruses.

#21 Deftones Private Music

I didn’t necessarily want it to be in my top list, because we’ve talked enough about anthologies. The fact is, I’ve listened to this album quite a lot and it would be disingenuous of me not to include it. It’s really good, even if it’s not particularly groundbreaking. But it’s at least as good as their old albums, and just staying at the top is such an achievement in itself.

#22 Turnstile Never Enough

Following in the vein of Glow On, Turnstile continues to master hardcore with brio. Oscillating between raw energy and more groovy, experimental passages, Never Enough is a powerful and effective album that stays in your head.

#23 Just Mustard We Were Just Here

A very interesting album offering a renewal of shoegaze, infusing it with more art-rock, post-rock and electro sounds. Superbly produced and dense to listen to, with a rather cryptic meaning.

#24 Shame Cutthroat

Less experimental and torn, Cutthroat is an effective album that instantly sets the mood. The tracks stick in your head, and their apparent simplicity is a real strength, making them catchy, almost brit-popy, anthems. The band is strong and the singer seems to be finding his artistic voice. All the tracks are excellent joyful, liberated explorations.

#25 Bambara Birthmarks

It’s dark and so controlled, a bit like a fusion of Franz Ferdinand and Nick Cave, with a heavy industrial twist. It’s superbly composed and written, with great balance and thoughtfulness. Sometimes the tracks become more danceable with pretty nice synth parts and a darkwave touch. Everything works so well, the guitar riffs, the hoarse singing, the drums, it’s a real feast for the ears.

#26 Ditz Never Exhale

A dark, noisy, intense and hypnotic album. Never Exhale is a heavy and saturated album, with changing rhythms and patterns, creating an oppressive and chaotic atmosphere. Ditz paints a grim portrayal of our world, where we seem to be suffocating.

#27 Bar Italia Some Like it Hot

Bar Italia’s post-punk is undoubtedly all about fun, creative emancipation and irreverence. The album is superbly balanced, with a confident use of keyboards and guitars. It never gets boring, with lighter tracks counterbalancing darker, more ethereal ones.

#28 Fragile Big Big Smile

The only French band in this top. A raw but really well-composed and executed album. Big Big Smile is chaotic and loud, but there’s a kind of light and joy that transcends the noise. You can tell they enjoy playing this and trying new things, as they should.

#29 Blood Orange Essex Honey

An album that is almost impossible to describe, as it combines so many different styles and creates its own unique soundscape. The entire record is smooth, refined, charming and captivating. Without the listener even noticing, Essex Honey envelops them in its musical delights and showcases a magnificent musical creativity.

#30 Wolf Alice The Clearing

The Clearing is gorgeous, joy-filled, soulful, cool, and even a bit wild. Sometimes it’s slightly psychedelic-acoustic-folk-glam-dancy-disco, somewhat unruly. It experiments freely, borrowing from all kinds of influences. For me, probably their best record.

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Too loud to ignore