Like the last few years that preceded it, 2025 has been a year rich in good, also excellent, music amidst the droning overflow of an ever-increasing and disorienting offering, made even more swampy and acrid by an ever-growing number of AI-generated productions, whether declared or treacherously not. Here’s the usual perfectible and changeable end-of-year list, with many misses and no particular order. Grateful to all the bands/artists who shaped our listening pleasure. Happy New Year and much love to you all!!!
POTOCHKINE“Sang d’Encre”LP [Young And Cold Records]
Renowned for raw and electrifying live performances, the French duo delivers frenetic and hallucinatory compositions filled with visceral passion, which combine the mechanical and club-ready frameworks of Techno, Electro and EBM with sinister and esoteric darkwave obscurities sharpened by poetic, theatrical vibrancy. Snappy lashing drum patterns, sizzling machines and multidimensional powerful vocals, equally sassy and breathy, sublimate into a raw, high-voltage powerhouse that transports us to incendiary landscapes where the chaotic collision path of fire and ice finally becomes one.
Definitely a productive year in all respects for the venerable Italian couple Alessandra Gismondi and Luca Bandini, dusting off their Post-Punk Schonwald moniker, even though the distinguishing lines are very blurred, with a couple of cold, unforgiving brutalist singles, in addition to their full album as Shad Shadows. An evocative union of male/female vocal shadows and sensuality explores desire through a lens of psychology, romance, and fantasy, soaring and pulsing on a high-octane beat propulsion of surgical drum machines and sharp, icy swirling synths, dancing freely through the deepest secrets and most forbidden rituals, while darkness envelops our souls.
Favourite track:
UNDERTHESKIN–“N E V E R | R E T U R N”LP [Mother Solitude Records]
The never forgotten Polish act, led by Mariusz Łuniewski, returns after a long hiatus with their third album, their most refined and mature so far, centered, lyrically, on the harsh end of a relationship and the lonely hopelessness and longing that follows. Pure, raw and moody Post Punk passion reflects in grey shades of Coldwave, while emotionally-ridden atmospheric Shoegaze shimmers chime hypnotically in the ether over angsty, melancholic male vocals, radiating earnest, introspective energy throughout, with a dark, vibrant, and outstandingly catchy delivery.
Favourite Track:
SIIE “Acmè”LP [Cold Transmission Music]
In the Swiss–German project’s debut LP, darkwave, techno, electroclash, and cyberpunk coexist and merge in ideal harmony to capture the fleeting instant when everything aligns, ceaselessly propelling forward, brimming with gripping club vibes through high-voltage, wildly throbbing mechanical rhythms, to instigate impetuous and palpitating anthems full of dark esoteric energy, bursting with entrancing power, and sharp emotional depth, while neon-light synths trace futuristic skylines to shape what comes next.
Favourite track:
GRIS FUTURO“Nowadaze”LP [à La Carte Records]
A concept album about the dark trinity of materialism, survival of the fittest, and egoism brought forth by modern technology. Mexico City’s Rogelio Serrano and LithuanianEgle Naujokaity rely on vocals, analog synthesizers, and drum machines to create a heady retro-futurist liminal space, where coldness and darkness intersect and combine with warm, saturated colors to form a swirling kaleidoscope of fluorescent geometrical forms for the body and mind. Nine eclectic, breezy, and elegant compositions pulsate with dire, melancholic, catchy synth melodies, mechanical, danceable beats, and captivating vocals, when the nostalgia of the past peeks out and is filtered through vintage technology in a bittersweet reflection on its current distorted and dangerous use and how to pleasantly cling to life, nonetheless.
Favourite Track:
CORPUS DELICTI“Liminal”LP [Twilight Music]
Established in Nice in 1992, cult ‘old school’ gothic rockers Corpus Delicti return after nearly three decades, to master ten tracks sharpened with a massive dose of decadent, sinister and abrasive post-punk embedded in a superb fusion of thunderous drumming, menacing thrumming bass lines, impassioned, harrowing guitar work, and a pain-filled, bluntly expressive vocal delivery that achingly broods about inner conflict. “Liminal” shows the confident and vibrant attitude of a band rooted in the past but with a glimpse into the future, able to extrapolate and revive the deep essence of their unmistakable sound, serving up one of the most assertive and rousing Gothic Rock releases over the past few years.
Favourite Track:
SALLY DIGE “Holding the Sun”LP [Dige Records]
The Berlin-based Canadian polymath artist explores surreal and intoxicating dreamlike dimensions suspended between reality and heaven, ushering us into the threshold of a universe where shivering introspections from layers of lush and vibrant dreamy vocals bubble up to a shimmering surface through the pulse and lilt of floating, haunting melodies, drawn by a dazzling, enveloping electro-acoustic instrumental delicacy laced with sober string arrangement elegance, meandering from mysterious gothic fairy lands to spells of ethereal dreampop and arcane metaphysical folk idylls, infused with Enya, Mike Oldfield, Cocteau Twins and Kate Bush suggestions. Far from menacing, the songs, about letting go of past pain to trust the guidance of a faithful heart, exert a sweet grip you won’t want to escape, both soul-stirring, cocooning and extremely captivating.
Favourite track:
JENNIFER TOUCH “Aging At Airports”LP [Fabrika Records]
The third album by the German multidisciplinary artist is an ever-changing exploration into darker, more immaculate electronic sounds, verging on synth-driven darkwave edges. Jennifer Touch deploys an electrifying and gripping songwriting, molded on an array of multifaceted influences from the past, but with an equally distinct modern personal imprint, immersing in a deeper, painful, yet invigorating cathartic journey toward full maturity, centered on authenticity, independence, and experimentation. A chaotic, raw emotional blend of visceral, frenzied electronic energy with Touch‘s beautiful range of vocals on full display, relaying her personal experience about the pressure to be perfect and the artificial behaviour people have regarding the ageing process by layering cold, aloof spoken words with warm, impassioned longing and high-pitched flutters, making for an enveloping and stirring mind-body listening experience.
Favourite track:
WORLD, INTERRUPTED “Sorrow, Bring Me Joy”LP[Requiem Records]
A haunting yet seductive blend of visceral, brooding intensity, cinematic ambience and roiling Industrial menace from the Polish duo. Frantic layers of frosty screechy synths, unnerving basslines and metallic thumping percussions construct mysterious yet hypnotic buzzing mists as immersive as they are thrilling, where a juxtaposition of darkness and emotion, clarity and bleakness resonate and deflagrate, expanding with powerful, ritualistic female vocals that guide us blindly through the darkness, invoking a wide range of tumultuous introspective feelings in search of self-reflection and solace, celebrating rebirth and joy through pain.
Favourite track:
CLOSED MOUTH “After The Tears The Fury”LP [Icy Cold Records]
A painstakingly crafted devotional distillation filled with earnest intensity of everlasting 80s recollections, lingering greyish shadows and hauntingly beautiful melodies, the French one-man band mesmerizes and leaves a vivid impression once again with possibly his best album so far. Yannick Rault’s gravelly, somber vocals simmer against a wintry backdrop of stark, mechanical rhythms and the moody emotional gravity of post-punk basslines and abysmal synths, to seamlessly drown us in an intricate pulsing introspective haze of inner struggles and strife, achingly flickering in front of a dim mirror in which everyone can recognize their own gloom.
Favourite track:
HEIMBERG “Faceless”LP [Icy Cold Records]
An agonizing mix of self-hatred, adoration, and shame, delivered through haunted, shadowy male vocals, evokes a ritual sense of torment, destruction, and duality. The debut album by the post-punk/cold wave power trio from Strasbourg doesn’t shy away from letting intensity and chaos merge into a stark chill erupting from clattering steely beats, grisly, throbbing bass lines, sparse synth textures and harrowing melodies etched by jarring and scratchy guitars that seem to crackle and penetrate at the very core of the soul, all the while seducing into its sinister darkness.
Favourite Track:
LAURA KRIEG “Crépuscule” [Detriti Records]
Montréal-based Laura Krieg‘s ‘brutalist pop’ ushers in rough, grainy and ebullient layers of analog cold wave, electro-pop and minimal synth that collide in an EBM-charged sweeping climactic burst, helmed by aloof yet vibrant powerful vocalizations, where industrialized clattering programmed beats, pumping looping sequences along with screeching and searing synths, bridge sharp post-punk menace and dark gothic drama, to oscillate between abysmal glacial detachment and frenetic bruising rhythmical crescendos, equally thought-provoking and pogo-inducing.
Favourite track:
SOCIAL YOUTH CULT “The Lighthouse”LP [Self Released / Violet Hour Transmissions]
Shrouded in an eerie spectral aura imbued with low-simmering menace, North East of England newcomers capture the haunting wallop of 80s gothic dread and doom into a macabre dissonance to build sinister, lugubrious nightmares and distressing, often scabrous, horror-drenched cinematic moods. Thunderous tribal drumming, meandering dismal bass lines, alongside a deluge of piercingly jarring and wailing guitars splashing over emphatic charismatic vocals. The tightly wound agonising intensity revolves the emotional strain of the fatal into a spine-freezing, bewitching listening.
More than six years since their debut, “Absence,”Los Angeles-based yet Michigan-born duo Anna Schmidt and Kevin Czarnik are back with the follow-up to their distinctive dark and cold, atmospheric synth-drenched pop sound. A sweet spot of immaculate haunting melodies and raw emotive energy, helmed by bewitching female and shadowy male mood-soaked vocals, that exert a compelling blend of sad, fragile longing and rough, lusty power, to explore love, desire, fear, and obsession. The less fog-drenched neon-lit 9-tracker delivers more emphatic and vivid synth arrangements as well as a more bouncy, throbbing rhythm section, laced with a lingering, brittle melancholy and a sense of romantic longing throughout. An intoxicating, surreal return that resonates with fluorescent synths and deeply expressive emotions, through a heartfelt journey of pain, solace and catharsis.
Favourite Track:
RINA PAVAR“Six”LP [Cold Transmission Music]
Second album for the German dark electronic artist, paired with its full club-tailored remix version. Rina, with her magnetic voice swathed in fragility, passion, and sensuality, unfolds over minimalist yet powerful arrangements, snappy, infectious rhythms, and swirling, bewitching synths, leading us into dark, cinematic, palpitating meanders of stroboscopic intensity and profound emotion, talking about memories, visions, and encounters, painted with an striking, affecting candor to leave us mesmerised.
Favourite Track:
GHOST ENCLAVE “Toten Danse” LP [Swiss Dark Night]
The debut by Sicilian trio bridge past and present with a minimal, visceral, and cruelly romantic post punk immersed in a perpetual darkness that is achingly fueled by urgent, hypnotic percussions, morose bass lines, and searing guitars shrouded in reverb, that restlessly simmers, painfully soars, and darkly grovels together with haunted brooding male vocals, releasing cavernous sadness and angry resentment, to express a statement of rebirth and catharsis against the deadly squalls from the world outside.
Favourite Track:
WHITE BIRCHES“A New Reigh”LP [Progress Productions]
Swedish dark wave act White Birches return after a long hiatus with an equally elegant and richly layered, as it is powerful and vibrant, third album of intimate and earnest transfixing emotional intensity. I refer you to the in-depth interview and Mike’s review.
