We celebrate the good each year, but what about the albums that disappoint? Let’s be clear: singling out underwhelming records by some of our favourite artists is no celebration, but we think it’s useful. For a start, all bands on this year’s list are great artists or have been great in the past. It’s only because we care that we’ve assembled this list.
Ask members of Paradise Lost if the poor reviews of their 2001 album, Believe in Nothing, benefitted them in the long run. What about the tough love meted out to Fallujah for their 2019 LP, Undying Light? Or the critical mauling Megadeth received for their 1999 Risk album? All recovered their zest and purpose after a critical self-appraisal.
We take no pleasure in doing this, but these are the Scream Blast Repeat Top 7 disappointing albums of 2025…
7. Tribunal – In Penitence and Ruin
What we said at the time: “A sorrowful interplay of cello and keyboard gives way to a thick cloud of doom metal after thirty seconds in opener, ‘Incarnadine’. Unfortunately, this could describe most of the next forty-seven minutes… Listening to In Penitence and Ruin is like a long train journey. You have a lingering hangover and an introspective piece of literary fiction to read, but there’s no plotline, and you can’t concentrate. Normally, you’d enjoy it, which only adds to the frustration.”
Country: Canada
Genre: Orchestral Doom Metal
Released: 18/04/2025
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Read the original SBR review here.
6. Kardashev – Alunea
What we said at the time: “The main problem here is one of restraint. There’s too much of it. We need a no-nonsense blast of death metal at track four (see ‘Speak Silence’) to keep things on schedule. Instead, Kardashev allow Mark Garret to guide the song in his role as the vocal coach. That means butterflies in summer meadows rather than the rain and mud of a secluded forest. Is there even one guitar riff you can remember in this song?… Why do so many of the efforts on Side B start off in the guise of extreme metal and then lose their impact?”
Country: USA
Genre: Deathgaze
Released: 25/04/2025
Label: Metal Blade
Read the original SBR review here.
5. Whitechapel – Hymns In Dissonance
What we said at the time: “Hymns in Dissonance will please the fanbase from 2006 but producing an album of well-crafted – but unimaginative – deathcore will end their appeal to those outside this niche… What happened to the prog metal elements of this music? Why did Bozeman stop developing his Maynard James Keenan voice as he did on the last two outings? Often, the guitar tunings carry too many pounds to keep up with the drums, like an overweight office worker trying to complete a cross country run with the British Army.”
Country: USA
Genre: Progressive Deathcore
Released: 07/03/2025
Label: Metal Blade
Read the original SBR review here.
4. Psychonaut – Worldmaker
What we said at the time: “Psychonaut deserve respect for unlearning many of the things they know to find new musical textures, but that does not mean the experiment will always succeed… Unfortunately, this record comes across as pretentious despite its worthy commitment to speak to an unborn life through the medium of music…The white-hot aggression that weaves in and out of this landscape ought to be enjoyable, but it’s the least interesting aspect. Herein lies the problem with this album: the metallic parts are sterile and obstructive to the other dimensions that pique your interest.”
Country: Belgium
Genre: Post-Metal
Released: 24/10/2025
Label: Pelagic Records
Read the original SBR review here.
3. Orbit Culture – Death Above Life
What we said at the time: “After touring with Bullet for My Valentine and Trivium, they see a future where their name will be on the headline ticket. Death Above Life is a blatant push for the mainstream, but are they up to the challenge?… Did this band once identify with death metal? If so, they’ve succeeded in emancipating beyond the monotone mediocrity of the genre, but their next destination might be just as tiresome. Would we be content if Gojira produced something as wielded to the arena venues as this on their next record?”
Country: Sweden
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Released: 03/10/2025
Label: Century Media
Read the original SBR review here.
2. Kayo Dot – Every Rock, Every Half-Truth Under Reason
What we said at the time: “Toby Driver fears a future when AI can replicate all forms of music. Therefore, he wants Every Rock, Every Half-Truth Under Reason to baffle the learning machines by writing music that cannot be predicted using models or algorithms. This is a noble aim and an essential experiment, but we must still judge the quality of the music. As a form of entertainment, it fails on almost every level… ‘Closet Door in the Room Where She Died’ is like he took the Neurosis master tapes for Enemy of the Sun, used track splitter software, and then replaced everything but the screaming vocals with layers of ambient keyboards and detuned organ sounds… Only one notable event happens in this entire song, and that’s at the ten-minute mark when the ambient drones dissipate and a fiddling violin inserts itself into the gaps.”
Country: USA
Genre: Dark Avant-Garde Rock
Released: 01/08/2025
Label: Prophecy Productions
Read the original SBR review here.
1. Jinjer – Duél
What we said at the time: “They met expectations on 2021’s Wallflowers, moving away from anthemic songs to more technical and dissonant compositions that played well to the prog metal community. Now, they return with album number five, and one question stands out: where are the songs?… You wonder if Tatiana is tired of being asked to sing over such technical music drowned in dissonance.,, It feels forced as if they asked her to persist until she could impose a melody over it… The biggest crime of this record is how boring it is.”
Country: Ukraine
Genre: Progressive Groove Metal
Released: 07/02/2025
Label: Napalm Records
Read the original SBR review here.
Dishonourable mentions
Aephanemer – Utopie (Napalm Records)
Amorphis – Borderland (Reigning Phoenix Music)
Born of Osiris – Through Shadows (Sumerian Records)
Harakiri for the Sky – Scorched Earth (AOP Records)
Pelican – Flickering Resonance (Run for Cover Records)