Another massive week of new albums for us to check out today, from rock to metal to country! Let’s dive right in!
Twenty One Pilots: Breach
It’s becoming no secret my feelings towards this band. I once loved them and thought they were so interesting and unique, putting their own spin on rock and hip-hop for a relatively radio-friendly audience. Blurryface is one of the best albums of the century, blending heaviness, flow and some actual emotion-filled lyricism all perfectly. Everything after that… meh.
That is… sadly still the case. I really wanted to like this album, just like I really wanted to like Clancy and Trench. Much like those releases, there are elements here that I did enjoy, but they barely combine together to make full great songs, let alone an album of them. The closest I got to highlight tracks were ‘Drum Show’, ‘Downstairs’ and the slightly heavier ‘Days Lie Dormant’. However, I still found myself wanting a little more from all of them, sadly. And, while they were never poetic geniuses, some of the lyrics here are diabolically on the nose in the worst way. It’s starting to get to the point where I’m failing to even grasp the appeal of the band any more. This is the at least third time we’ve had an album from them that sounds like this, and it was pretty bland the first time. As Tyler says in a rather Eminem-style way in ‘Center Mass’, “a little softer than I used to be”. That line alone kinda sums up the whole album for me. Still better than Scaled and Icy, but it’s up there with their other two post-Blurryface releases for me. 3.5/10. Fans, please be kind to me!
Lorna Shore: I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me
The second album of the Ramos era of the band has a LOT of hype to live up to, given the bands meteoric rise since his joining and the release of Pain Remains. We fucking loved that album, so I’m curious to see/hear where this one takes us. From the incredible opener through tracks like ‘In Darkness’, ‘Glenwood’ and the grandiose closer, there is so much to love. It’s all so epic, somehow the perfect blend of European power and blackened deathcore. Will’s vocals are as utterly insane as ever, while the breakdowns are still a massive highlight throughout, as we’re just the epic soundscapes the band now craft with ease. My only slight issue is with the length. Over an hour of similar music is a lot for any genre, even stuff as fantastic and epic as this. I don’t think I’d revisit the album as a whole very often, but almost every song is awesome and I’ll be spinning them plenty in the coming weeks and months. While not quite up there with Pain Remains, it’s still an incredibly solid deathcore release and well worth checking out if you’re a fan of the band or the genre. 9/10
Spinal Tap: The End Continues
The return of the best parody band of all time has been a rather massive, pleasant surprise in 2025. Having not watched the movie yet, obviously, I was curious to hear if the album would still translate well just in audio, given that I have never really listened to the music from the original movie in isolation, either.
While I do think the tracks would work better within the context of the movie, they are still pretty great in their own right. The perfect encapsulation of 60s-80s rock, from Jethro Tull to Elton to Bowie to the likes of Priest and Sabbath. And while the tracks featuring legends like Sir Elton and Paul McCartney are quirky, crazy goodness, it’s when the band embrace their inner Alice Cooper that the album hits its high. Songs like ‘Brighton Rock’, ‘I Kissed a Girl’ and ‘Blood to Let’ are undoubtedly album highlights. The rest aren’t bad, but feel more like soundtrack songs as opposed to music to revisit on its own. Still, it’s made me more excited to watch the movie, and I’ll certainly be listening to the tree aforementioned tracks plenty moving forward. It’s a fun release if you like the band or the styles they’re parodying, and is a solid 7/10
First Time Flyers: Bound to Break
We’ve already checked out this album! Read our full review of it here.
Between the Buried and Me: The Blue Nowhere
This is quirky, Mr Bungle-like awesomeness. Right from the epic, proggy opener, the band show that 20+ years into their careers, they are still one of the most creative and interesting bands in the game, and still pull no punches. And that’s just one of the 10 awesome tracks on this thing! There really isn’t a bad song on this thing and, even at firmly over an hour in length, it still begs to be listened to in full. It’s like early Gojira meets Tool, but with a heavy splash of experimental stuff like Protest the Hero and Haken, with of course a healthy splash of metalcore mixed in for good measure. The bands talent for playing and songwriting is off the charts throughout, but if you’re going to dip your toe in anything, let it be the truly incredible ‘Absent Thereafter’; it has a bit of everything the band is about packed into 10 awesome minutes. Heck, there’s even a Southern rock/country riff tucked away in the middle with a SICK solo over it, as well as some jazzy, death’n’roll stuff towards the end. Like, mind BLOWN. But that shouldn’t take take away from the rest of the album, as it’s all just as amazing!
It’s the first time I’ve been able to actually review one of their albums, or check them out aside a fleeting song or two, and I am now fully obsessed. This is an incredible release, and one I’d recommend to anyone into music; regardless of the genres you like, you’re bound to find something to at least appreciate here. I was blown away from start to finish, and it gets a very easy 10/10!
The Rasmus: Weirdo
The 11th album from the Finnish alt rockers comes fresh off the heels of their return album back in 2022, featuring the Eurovusion hit ‘Jezebel’. Having a fair amount of momentum and hype around them, this album continues it all rather perfectly. Single/opener ‘Creatures of Chaos’ kicks things off on a surprisingly heavy note, a modern metal riff running through it and it overall having a Planet Zero feel to it. Meanwhile tracks like the lead single ‘Rest in Pieces’ and ‘Banksy’ are classic Rasmus in the best ways. However, most of this album is incredible, with tracks like ‘Love is a Bitch’ and ‘Dead Ringer’ being also huge album highlights (though not sure why he calls out Miss Finland in the latter?). I was not expecting a Rasmus album to go quite this hard in 2025, but the band are really back on top form and firing on all cylinders. It’s everything I wish Him was, musically, the perfect blend between them and the likes of Smash Into Pieces. This is definitely an album I’ll be revisiting again soon, and I’d recommend it to anyone into that early 2000s alt sound! 9/10
Fruit Bats: Baby Man
You are either going to love or hate this album. I think I somehow did both through its runtime. I remember seeing them at Long Road a few years back and loved it, as well as checked out their last studio work and enjoyed that too. But I have to admit, I struggled a little with this. It’s so very stripped-back; the whole thing might as well be an Eric D. Johnson solo project instead of an ‘indie rock band”s release. It’s just Eric’s vocals over piano, guitar or other strings throughout its nearly half-hour runtime. I get that it’s his baby and he’s the only sole member, but I kept shouting at my phone/iPad for the album to “just do something!”. The composition and lyrics are beautiful, with ‘Two Thousand Four’ and the title track being firm personal favourites. But even with them, some light band backing towards the end, something to build to, would have been nice. I know there are going to be plenty of fans of this out there, and I’m not saying I’m not one of them, but I did find myself getting pretty bored fairly quickly. A good album to sit back and chill out to, as well as dig into some emotion-filled lyrics, but little more. 6.5/10
Dance Gavin Dance: Pantheon
The return of one of the world’s most on-and-off-again problematic bands after 2022’s Jackpot Juicer is… fine. No, that’s harsh. It’s probably better than fine, but compared to their best stuff or their last release, it’s not up there. Still, the technicality is great, and tracks like ‘Midnight at McGruffy’s’, ‘The Conqueror Worm’ and ‘A Shoulder to Cry On’ are personal highlights. I just feel like it’s not quite as fun as I kinda hoped it would be. It lacks elements of the previous album that I can’t quite place my finger on, so while it’s good I just didn’t enjoy it as much. It’s closer to emo than the prog or experimental stuff. Still, if you are a fan of the band, you will most likely at least enjoy this, and it probably worth a listen. But yeah, for me it’s hard to give it much more than 6.5/10. Sorry guys!
Silverstein: Pink Moon
Just seven months after their last album, the band released a fantastic sister album in this. Like, to the point where this blows Antibloom out of the water. While said release has grown on me with another listen or two, this album leans into a modern metalcore sound in a big way, keeping their usual emotion-filled emo vibe but adding in some of the tastiest breakdowns of the year, even being up there alongside Lorna above. It’s short and sweet, in and out in 23 minutes, and the six middle tracks are utterly phenomenal. The closer is your typical post-hardcore closing ballad, and my only slight issue resides with the soft piano opener. A great idea in theory, but it transitions jarringly into the utterly brilliant ‘Negative Spaces’, some build to it may have worked better. Still, it’s a damn good album that makes me want so much more of this from the band. And incredibly easy 8.5/10 which would have been higher with a better intro and a longer release overall.
Booze & Glory: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Six years after their last studio release, the streetpunk Londoners are finally back, and with a vengeance! It’s no secret I love music like this, from Rancid to Dropkicks to Social Distortion, and this was very much no exception. From the fantastic opener to single ‘Mad World’, ‘Family isn’t Always Blood’ to the anthemic ‘Legends’, there is plenty to love on this album. However, there really isn’t a bad song on it, and it’s a fantastic near-40-minutes of punk rock. Some of the lyrics are fantastically/devastatingly poignant to today’s climate, which is what punk is really all about! If you are at all into the genre it’s well worth taking a listen. The band are clearly talented songwriters and players, and it’s so great to hear them to make a return in a big way! It’s a very easy 8/10 from us!