Black metal is a broad (and slightly singed) church in 2025. From the operatic grandeur of symphonic black metal to the no frills fury of the genre's more conservative, kvlt-purist sects all the way out to blackened death metal, deathcore, thrash... its a subgenre that continues to transcend its own boundaries with bands pushing the envelope with an eye to artistic candor unrivalled in just about any other extreme metal field.
As ever, the official Metal Hammer Albums Of The Year remains a diverse selection of some of the finest records to come out this year, but what of those that didn't make the final 50? That's where these handy little subgenre lists come in, giving us a chance to spotlight some of the brilliant records to emerge from metal's diverse plains this year - and where better to start than with black metal?
Below you'll find our run-down for some of the best BM records that have emerged in 2025 - don't see your favourite? Let us know what we're missing in the comments...
Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound (The Flenser)
On their second album, Agriculture brought their self-styled ‘ecstatic black metal’ to new heights. The L.A. darlings have roots in their hometown’s noise and punk scenes, and those influences shone through as early as opener My Garden, which screeched its way to life before breaking into hardcore and melodic passages. Though Micah (5:15am) stayed close to the core of black metal, the rest of the album felt like a brave new manifesto for the genre, with detours answering only to Agriculture’s vision. The album generated rave reviews from mainstream publications, meaning a breakout moment could be on the horizon. Matt Mills
Aran Angmar – Ordo Diabolicum (Soulseller)
Black metal has come a long way from being defined by scratchy, low-fi cassettes that sound like they've been unearthed from a fresh grave. On their third album, international metal troupe Aran Angmar strive for black metal's more cinematic, bombastic elements and come out with a record that is epic in every sense of the word, evoking the hellenic majesty of Rotting Christ at points whilst folding in elements of folk to give the album a wordly, travelled feel. Rich Hobson
Bianca – Bianca (Avantgarde Music)
Fusing black metal and doom atmospherics, Bianca represent an oft-underexplored fusion of styles. That only helped to cement just how arresting their self-titled debut was however, the Italian band balancing shrieking fury and ethereal melody to create something immersive and fascinating. Like an amalgm of Chelsea Wolfe, Messa and Myrkur, Bianca feels like a record that could only have come into existence this decade. Rich Hobson
![BIANCA - Todestrieb [Official Video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/D_D7Ysezn7s/maxresdefault.jpg)
Blackbraid – Blackbraid III (self-released)
Jon 'Sgah’gahsowáh' Krieger's thunderous but spiritually-bent black metal attack scaled new heights with Blackbraid's third album. Dextrously weaving traditional Native American folk influences into his particularly gung ho brand of blackened noise, Blackbraid III beautifully balanced wistful, existential soul-searching with pure, adrenalised heavy metal blood and fury. When ragers like Tears Of The Dawn and the fantastically titled Wardrums At Dawn On The Day Of My Death weren't pushing you to swing a tomahawk around a lightning-flecked mountain top, the likes of The Earth Is Weeping were gently pulling you back down into the earth itself. Merlin Alderslade
Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons (Debemur Morti)
Ethereal Horizons was a compendium of Blut Aus Nord’s recent triumphs. It had the same sense of Lovecraftian horror as 2022 and ’23’s Disharmonium duology, but also brought back the hypnotic psychedelia of 2019’s Hallucinogen. The end result was a grand achievement that shot black metal into the stars, with the looping riffs, whirring melodies and wailing vocals sounding as immersive as they did otherworldly. The Fall Opens The Sky and The Ordeal are among the grandest and most essential black metal songs of 2025, proving once again that these Frenchmen are peerless explorers within their genre. Matt Mills
Cradle Of Filth – The Screaming Of The Valkyries (Napalm)
While Cradle Of Filth haven't exactly been lax this past decade, 2021's Existence Is Futile felt like a serious return to form. Hails then, that its follow-up lives up to this renaissance, CoF embracing their more theatrical, bombastic elements in ways we haven't really had since the days of Midian and Nymphetamine. It doesn't come at the sacrifice of heft, either. But with Screaming... Cradle reasserted themselves as one of the finest black metal bands Britain has ever produced. Rich Hobson
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner)
There’ll always be a gaggle in the corner screaming about how Deafheaven “aren’t real black metal”, and they never looked stupider than they did after the release of Lonely People With Power. The follow-up to 2021’s all-shoegaze effort, Infinite Granite, it redressed the balance with such vicious tracks as Magnolia and Body Behavior. But, the Californians didn’t lose sight of themselves, either, with centrepiece Amethyst wielding the post-rock flourishes that made them stars and using them to make the inevitable blasts of metal all the more destructive. In a career of stunning achievements, this may have been the best of the best. Matt Mills
Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Innern (Season Of Mist)
They may staunchly be a black metal band, but Der Weg Einer Freiheit have always existed at arm’s length from the rest of the genre. Innern reiterated how singular an entity the Germans are, emphasising their post-metal proclivities to add big, head-banging grooves amid the flurries of tremolo picking and screaming. Openers Marter and Xibalba ran for 10 minutes but flew by in half the time, before Eos integrated an ambient beauty which echoed Wolves In The Throne Room at their finest. As much as they aren’t part of the black metal ‘mainstream’, Der Weg reasserted themselves as one of the scene’s best. Matt Mills
Gaahls Wyrd – Braiding The Stories (Season Of Mist)
It might've taken six years to emerge, but Braiding The Stories proved well worth the wait. Gaahls Wyrd's second album, Braiding eased off the ferocity some from their debut to instead imbibe Nordic spirituals and heavy atmospherics as part of their repertoire, resulting in a record that owes as much genetic composition to the likes of Wardruna as it does Mayhem or Emperor. Rich Hobson
Havukruunu – Tavastland (Svart)
Long celebrated in the underground for their refined, melodic take on black metal, Havukruunu leaned even further into catchiness on Tavastland. The Finns’ sixth album asked the question, “What if Iron Maiden were TRVE?”, then proceeded to answer it with confidence. Such songs as the title track galloped forward with heroic guitar leads, while the production and vocals remained grimy as fuck. The band also used their axe-swinging lyrics to explore the issue of generational trauma, bringing yet more innovation to the realm of extreme music. Even though Havukruunu are a firm cult prospect, this is an offering that the mainstream deserves to hear. Matt Mills
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