MetalMatters: The Best Metal Albums of December 2025
In December’s best metal, Martröd tap into fiery black-metal dissonance, Lychgate expand extreme-metal, and Rotten Sound show their grind quality.
Music
Features, reviews, interviews, and lists about music, covering the latest as well historical topics.
Carminho Expands Portuguese Fado’s Boundaries
Carminho says Portuguese fado is, in some ways, analogous to punk because of its spontaneity and spilling over of raw emotions.
Dry Cleaning Take a Small Step in the Right Direction
On Secret Love, Dry Cleaning achieve moments of brilliance but also succumb to periods where they lack cohesion.
Wesli Follows Diasporic Threads Through Haiti
With Makaya, Wesli places Haiti on a deeply interconnected world map and underscores the power of creative acts of solidarity and revolution.
The Afghan Whigs Share a Pair of Powerful Covers
The Afghan Whigs have released two new cover tracks, “Fake Like” and Downtown”.
The 80 Best Albums of 2025
The best albums of 2025 challenged orthodoxies, created new genres, and spanned a vast range of musical styles and traditions, while looking forward.
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The 10 Best Brazilian Pop Albums of 2025
Brazilian pop thrived because artists recombined local textures with pop to paint a picture of how the country is rewriting its relationship to identity.
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The 10 Best Soul/R&B Albums of 2025
In these challenging times, the best soul and R&B albums walked tall and carried a big stick, while also being a much-needed balm and source of warmth.
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The 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2025
The best hip-hop albums celebrate classic styles with new approaches, blend rap with electronic, jazz, and soul, and push the boundaries of genre.
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The 25 Best Folk Albums of 2025
The year’s best folk albums transcend genre boundaries, yet each entry remains firmly grounded in the folk ethos of connection and storytelling.
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The 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2025
This year’s best electronic albums span the widest range of styles of any genre, ranging from melodic electro and warm house to the experimental outer reaches.
Dead Kennedys’ ‘Frankenchrist’ Is Sadly Relevant at 40
Dead Kennedys’ Frankenchrist is a full-scale assault on Reagan’s America–the hypocrisy, seedy undercurrent beneath the slogans, and institutional racism.