FRANK RINI

All of us here at Teeth of the Divine have had our ears bleeding, in a good way, for 2025 with the plethora of monstrous releases, and it’s been a lot of fun. The passing of the late great Ozzy Osbourne saddened all of us metal heads around the globe. It’s as if a part of our youth died that day. Then Tomas Lindberg and Ace Frehley passed away. RIP metal legends!

My List is in order of what I felt were the best as well as some exciting sub-categories.

Plenty to look forward to in 2026. Megadeth will be embarking on their retirement global tour in conjunction with their last full-length album. They have announced that this retirement tour will last several years. Other new releases to look forward to are from Anthrax, Kreator, Pestilence, The Ruins of Beverast, and plenty of others. We all wish you and your families joy and metal throughout the holidays. Please check out all of our lists because you are sure to find some great new bands to sink your teeth into.

1. Biohazard – Divided We Fall (Frontiers New Recordings)
2. :Skull & Dawn: – The Harvest (The Circle Music)
3. Shadow of Intent – Imperium Delirium (Independent)
4. Scour – Gold (Nuclear Blast Records)
5. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III (Independent)
6. Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance (Metal Blade Records)
7. Drown In Sulphur – Vengeance (Independent)
8. Agnostic Front– Echoes in Eternity (Reigning Phoenix Music)
9. Benediction – Ravage Of Empires (Nuclear Blast Records)
10. Ashen – Leave the Flesh Behind (Redefining Darkness Records)
11. Impureza – Alcázares (Season of Mist)
12. 1914 – Viribus Unitis (Napalm Records)
13. Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence (Season of Mist)
14. Body Box – 3 (Maggot Stomp)
15. Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath (Century Media Records)
16. Graveripper – From Welkin to Tundra (Wise Blood Records)
17. Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (Century Media Records)
18. Spiritworld – Helldorado (Century Media Records)
19. Sodom – The Arsonist (Steamhammer Records)
20. Fallujah – Xenotaph (Nuclear Blast Records)
21. Species – Changelings (20 Buck Spin)
22. Sleep Token – Even In Arcadia (RCA Records)
23. Despised Icon – Shadow Work (Nuclear Blast Records)
24. Condition Critical – Degeneration Chamber (Independent)
25. Belnejoum – Dark Tales of Zarathustra (Independent)
26. Rivers of Nihil – Rivers of Nihil (Metal Blade Records)
27. Cryoxyd – This World We Live In… (Dolorem Records)
28. Tribal Gaze – Inveighing Brilliance (Nuclear Blast Records)
29. Cytotoxin – Biographyte (Blood Blast Distribution)
30. Amorphis – Borderland (Reigning Phoenix Music)

Comeback Album of the Year: Coroner – Dissonance Theory (Century Media Records)

Best Grindcore Album: Kosuke Hashida– Outrage (HPGD Productions)

Best Debut Album: Decaying Human– Consume Violent Atrocities (Ossuary Industries)

Heaviest Release: Body Prison – Everything You Never Wanted To See (Thirty Two Records)

Best Thrash Album: Sacrifice – Volume Six (High Roller Records)

Best Sleeper Hit Album: Mausoleum Gate– Space, Rituals and Magick (Cruz del Sur Music)

Best EP: Corpse Pile – In the Beginning… (Maggot Stomp)

Most Disappointing Release:  Ghost – Skeletá (Loma Vista Recordings)