Best Albums of 2025 So Far: Top New Releases in Hip-Hop, Metal, and Alternative Music
The best albums of 2025 are proving that this year’s music scene is as innovative and diverse as ever. From critically acclaimed hip-hop and experimental rap to heavy metalcore and genre-blending alternative sounds, 2025’s top new releases showcase artists pushing creative boundaries and exploring new territories. Whether you’re a fan of poetic lyricism, emotionally charged storytelling or heavy drums and guitar, these standout albums are shaping the soundtrack of the year. Dive into our list of 6 must-hear albums of 2025 so far.
Aesop Rock – Black Hole Superette
Aesop Rock is basically your favourite rapper’s favourite rapper if your favourite rapper also likes to read obscure poetry in their spare time. He’s known for lyrics that feel like riddles with obscure vocabulary that would even give your pretentious English teacher a run for their money. But on Black Hole Superette, there’s a bit of a shift. All the lyrical complexities you’d expect are still there (it’s still Aesop, after all), but this one has been transformed into something with a more calm, introspective tone with some of the more mundane of life’s moments like gardening, Costco runs, and bird-watching.
Aesop turns these moments into something poetic as only he can. It’s funny, strange, and sometimes just surprisingly wholesome. Critics have called it one of his most mature and balanced works yet, and it showcases his ability to grow and reinvent himself even with three decades in the game.
Not only does Aesop Rock have his own entry on this list, but he also features on this one. Dead Channel Sky is the fifth studio album by the experimental rap trio clipping. (which is fronted by actor/rapper Daveed Diggs). This album leans hard into sci-fi territory, fusing hip-hop with a cyberpunk vibe, which is a departure from the horrorcore sound of their preceding two albums There Existed an Addiction to Blood and Visions of Bodies Being Burned.
It's ambitious, it’s pretty weird and pretty ominous with this constant feeling of dread and impending doom… like you’re being chased through a vast dystopian city but unsure of exactly where you’re going. Of course, I mean all this in a really good way! The beats are glitchy, chaotic and pierce your ears with sharp, blaring sounds (I still mean that in a good way). The stories are dark and cinematic, still retaining a touch of that horrorcore influence, and Diggs’ flow is somehow both clinical and emotional. It’s not an album you throw on casually for a Sunday afternoon (or hey, maybe you do), but if you like your music with a side of cyberpunk apocalypse, this one’s for you.
Let’s get a little heavier: Tsunami Sea is the new album from Canadian metalcore band Spiritbox. this is probably the most face-melting pick on the list- as some might put it- but it absolutely belongs here and not just because of my personal love for face-melting metal. Spiritbox have been rising fast thanks to their unique blend of brutal breakdowns and melodic-even ethereal- vocals courtesy of frontwoman Courtney LaPlante. And on Tsunami Sea, they only continue to level up.
This album is chaotic and beautiful all at once. One moment you’re being hit with pounding riffs and guttural screams, and the next you’re floating through atmospheric clean vocals and entrancing guitar. It’s heavy, sure, but it’s also deeply emotional and strangely accessible- like a haunted house that also serves artisanal coffee. Spiritbox may still be more of a cult favourite, but Tsunami Sea makes a strong case for why they’re ready to be your next favourite band.
Yeule – Evangelic Girl Is a Gun
Yeule- the muscial project of Nat Ćmiel- is pretty tricky to catergorise. Evangelic Girl Is a Gun is a little shoegaze, a little industrial and a littie dream-pop. The album is as experimental and genre-fluid as Yeule’s past work, but a bit more approachable. It’s a little more defiant, layered under a sadness and distortion. Those ethereal vocals and glitchy textures remain, but the record feels perhaps less niche-sounding than some of the previous albums, leaning more into soft rock territory.
Yeule has said that the album was inspired by Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński, as a painter also, Yeule wrote: “I wanted to bring homage to my life as a painter with this album. For me, Beksiński portrays so beautifully, with utmost care, the entities that crawl through his dystopian, tranquil landscapes. The nature of painting as a medium is a reflection of my emotions, both violent and gentle. A fleeting moment of time in my life, transcribed with paint and trapped in time.”
And that is as good an explanation for this album as you’ll get!
We already had metal entry, but if you want something heavy but with a side of R&B, piano ballads, and cryptic spiritual themes, Sleep Token is probably more your vibe. The anonymous UK collective (fronted by the mysterious masked “Vessel”) returned this year with Even in Arcadia, an epic genre-bending album that swings from gut-wrenching to grandiose to utterly theatrical- and that’s just describing the opening song.
The band’s sound has always been hard to describe (is it progressive metal? Ambient alt-pop? Gospel rock?), and this album doesn’t exactly give us a more definitive indication- is it the soundtrack to your most epic heartbreak or your most dramatic shower cry? Who knows, but that’s part of the appeal of Sleep Token- the fact that their music stretches across such a vast soundscape that most people will find something to enjoy.
For fans, Even in Arcadia is a massive step forward- it’s glossier, more emotionally charged, and leaning even harder into that cinematic sound they’re known for. For those discovering Sleep Token for the first time, it might be a strange introduction- but a memorable one.
Simz don’t miss! (Thank you, I thought of that myself). Following her Mercury Prize-winning Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and then the stripped-down NO THANK YOU, Lotus sees Simz taking full control- both creatively and emotionally. This album is self-produced, raw, and filled with lyrics that tackle betrayal, grief, and inner strength with unflinching honesty. Even though it isn’t explicitly mentioned, those themes appear to stem from the fact that Lotus marks Simz departure from longtime collaborators Inflo and Cleo Sol, who produced, co-wrote and provided backing vocals for her last 3 albums. As Guardian journalist Lanre Bakare puts it:
“Lotus feels like a breakup record of a sort, not romantic but still deeply personal, as the Simz/Inflo partnership is pulled apart and dissected.”
Little Simz always been a master storyteller, but here she feels more personal than ever- almost like we’re reading pages from her journal. If this is Simz working through pain, she’s turned it into pure gold.
As the best albums of 2025 continue to captivate fans and critics alike, it’s clear this year is full of exciting musical innovation! These new releases highlight the evolving sounds and bold creativity defining modern music. Stay tuned for more top album recommendations and keep exploring the freshest music 2025 has to offer.
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