Let’s ignore the pedantic argument about which year a century starts with. Whether you count from year zero or year one, a quarter of the current century is now behind us – and the world of prog has changed massively in that time, not least during the 12-month period that’s just closing.
Since it’s the traditional season of looking back, we want to know about your favourite album of 2025. Naturally we have a few suggestions of our own, but we’re ready and waiting to be proved wrong!
Steven Wilson’s impressive return to all-out prog must be a contender for the year’s best record. He summer up The Overview by telling Prog: “Once you realise your existence is futile and life is a random gift, you think, ‘I’m going to make the most of it.’ Life is meaningless – so embrace it!”
Also this year, Dream Theater’s Parasomnia proved there’s plenty of life in the prog-meta dogs yet, especially with the return of original drummer Mike Portnoy. “Most is more than familiar,” we wrote in our review, “but there’s a sense of excitement in having this chemistry back in place.”
Folk-prog veterans Solstice have been fighting their way back from the wilderness for several years now, and their 2025 album Clann is a triumph of commitment, belief and joy. “I think we’re beginning to produce our best work now,” leader Andy Glass told us. “It’s that telepathic thing when you’ve been working together a long time – but it’s always felt like a new band.”
You could say similar things about Cardiacs’ LSD, the completion of the long task of bringing late leader Tim Smith’s final artistic visions to the world. “All the time he was ill, he had it in his head that he was going to finish it when he got home,” his brother Jim told Prog. “He never made it home. I guess we owed it to him.”
IQ delivered Dominion this year, six years after their previous outing. We called it “a more accessible and digestible prospect with a shorter running time” than 2019’s double-length Resistance, adding: “It’s definitely a case of quality over quantity.”
We’ve argued that IHLO’s Legacy, Amplifier’s Gargantuan, Between The Buried And Me’s The Blue Nowhere, Jethro Tull’s Curious Ruminant and Gazpacho’s Magic 8-Ball are all strong contenders for the greatest prog work of the year.
Looking for more options? How about The Flower Kings’ Love, Rick Wakeman’s Melancholia, Green Carnation’s A Dark Poem, Part I, King Gizzard And The Wizard Lizard’s Phantom Island or Hawkwind’s There Is No Space For Us?
Or perhaps Katatonia’s Nightmares As Extensions Of The Waking State, Mogwai’s The Bad Fire, Coheed And Cambria’s Vaxis Act III, Envy Of None’s Stygian Wavz or Lunatic Soul’s The World Under Unsun?
Every album has something to say… so which release spoke most loudly to you? Which track best sums up your favourite record? Why should everyone else check it out?
Let us know in the comments below.
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