When was the last time a modern metal album made you feel something huge? I mean stopped you dead in your tracks and sent a shiver down your spine while simultaneously bringing tears to your eyes?
Sadly, I can’t think of a single metal album released this year that wielded such arresting, heart-stopping power for me. My god, I want it to. I search and search, only to feel like I’m wading through a mud pit of clinical, overproduced riffs and ultra-processed vocals.
This isn’t to say all modern metal is bad - there are some exceptional bands - but the majority of current metal releases just aren’t giving me the depth of emotion I yearn for from music. And this may be because there’s a greater musical monolith standing in the way, eclipsing every metal album released in 2025. Holding aloft a musical candle that shines so bright no other genre can compare.
I am, of course, talking about video game music.
I play in a metal band, I go to metal shows, I am currently nursing a bangover on tour with Svalbard right now. I have lived and breathed metal since I was 12 years old, and yet all of my favourite albums from 2025 are video game soundtracks. Not a single heavy album has cracked my top 10 albums of 2025 - it’s nothing but beautiful game scores and OSTs.
Some might argue that this is just a reflection of getting older and musical tastes changing, but my adoration for Moonlight Sorcery, Stormkeep and Stortregn says otherwise. It’s not that I no longer love metal; it’s just getting harder and harder to find new metal albums that speak to my soul the same way gaming soundtracks do.
It’s not just me, either. You’d be surprised by how many metal musicians actually listen mostly to soundtracks, be it film, TV series or video games. When performing at big metal festivals such as Bloodstock and Hellfest, I have found myself bonding with so many other bands - not over distorted riffs and blastbeats, but through discussing grand, orchestral, instrumental scores.
You’d only need to listen to the Elden Ring Nightreign soundtrack to understand why. The sorrowful refrains of the main theme for Nightreign bear a darkness that most metal bands could only dream of creating.
The Nightreign composers write songs like it's the last song they will ever write. And comparatively, it just doesn’t feel like most popular metal bands do that at the moment. Modern metal lacks that sense of urgency, it feels too considered and measured, rendering it unable to conjure pure visceral emotions within me. Simply put, the musical standard of game soundtracks seems so much higher than metal genre standards at the moment.
While not sonically heavy in the sense of downtuned guitars and guttural vocals, the Nightreign soundtrack has a whole different weight to it. A sense of finality. The first time I heard the theme for Caligo Miasma of Night (Fissure in the Fog) I burst into tears. This song truly sounds like the end of the world.
That’s the kind of impact I wish current metal bands had on me, and yet it’s video game soundtracks that keep delivering this right now.
Upon entering the Choral Chambers in Hollow Knight Silksong, I had to stop everything I was doing in game, allow my character to stand perfectly still and let the swathes of melancholy melodies pierce right through my heart.
Silksong boasts a soundtrack so diverse, so full of references, from the dramatic pulse of the Fourth Chorus boss to the playful darkness of the Danny Elfman-esque Cogwork Dancers. These are the evocative pieces of music that make me want to pick up my guitar and write riffs. Not anything else. (This would also explain why most guitar leads I write end up sounding very similar to Final Fantasy melodies!)
While it’s exciting to see metal twist and turn in unfamiliar directions, for me personally, this year I’d much rather listen to World of Warcraft Manaforge Omega Patch 11.2 Ghosts of K’aresh Combat Composition than the latest Sleep Token or Spiritbox. Sorry!
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