We’ve officially hit the mid-way point of 2025, and it’s already been a monumental year for heavy music.
It’s been a year marked by iconic deathcore forces, djent-pop dominators, progressive comebacks and the arrival of not one but two heavily-anticipated albums debuting at the top of the Billboard album charts, smashing sales and streaming records along the way. This is all to say: Heavy music is thriving big time.
With all that in mind, we asked Revolver readers to weigh in on the best albums of 2025 thus far, and they ranked the top 5 accordingly.
Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance
Deathcore fans were blessed by Whitechapel earlier this year when the veteran outfit delivered the exquisitely revolting, cult-themed collection Hymns in Dissonance. The album distills some of Whitechapel’s strongest qualities — buzz-bombed death-metal sections, skeleton-rattling mosh-outs and an ultra-menacing barrage of unearthly vocal sounds from frontbeast Phil Bozeman.
Despite lead single “A Visceral Retch” turning our stomachs with its extremely coprophagist subject matter, Hymns in Dissonance is one hell of a tasty deathcore treat.
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
Deafheaven’s first album in four years goes for broke as perhaps the blackgaze provocateurs’ most extreme and dynamic release yet. Across Lonely People With Power, the band harness anything from grimily primordial black-metal blasting, to thrashed-and-chugged heaviness, to oddly funky but still scream-imbued dream-pop.
Paired with George Clarke’s extra-vulnerable howls around grief and men’s sexuality, Lonely People makes for a compelling package —and it’s safe to say Revolver readers are transfixed by its Power.
Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea
Many of our readers would agree that it’s easy to get swept up by the sheer magnitude of Spiritbox’s stunning sophomore LP, Tsunami Sea.
Inspired by the oceanic majesty of the Canadian djent-popsters’ formative upbringing on Vancouver Island, the album floods the speakers with some of Mike Stringer’s most staggeringly heavy and progressively twisted guitarwork yet. As could be expected, vocal powerhouse Courtney LaPlante puts on a hell of a show, too, whether riding a memorable vocal melody or doling out a boatload of screams.
Insta-classics like “Soft Spine” and “Fata Morgana” have many listeners excitedely braving the waves of Tsunami Sea time and time again
Ghost – SKELETÁ
As Ghost’s latest frontman Papa V Perpetua frames it on SKELETÁ’s opening “Peacefield,” a “grand usurpation” has taken place, and a sensational new era has begun. The band’s many fans are reaping the rewards because of it.
While Ghost albums are often filled with sky-high sing-alongs, the Swedish ghouls deliver some of the pop-crunchiest hooks of their career on this sixth full-length studio release. From the night-terror-driven stomping of “Lachryma” to the devilishly hooky metal swing of “Satanized,” the occult-rockers remain in peak form with the recently instated Perpetua at the helm.
Sleep Token – Even in Arcadia
Arguably no other heavy music offering was as anticipated this year as Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia — and, truly, the fans came out in droves to crown the UK outfit’s fourth full-length as their favorite of the year thus far. This one won by a landslide.
The album continues the myth-heavy band’s expansive blend of pop hooks, hip-hop rhythms, soulful piano balladry, massively-djented heavy-metal crescendos and more. It’s likewise a self-reflective, meta-textual mind-bender, where vocalist Vessel moodily contemplates whether being this popular is worth the headache.
For what it’s worth, the legion of fans that voted in this week’s poll certainly think so. That’s why they’ve pledged to take an infinite bath in Sleep Token’s latest epic.