Nobody’s waiting for it, but here it is anyway: my top records of 2025.
Unpopular opinion: even in the punk sector the waterfall dynamic has taken over — releasing single tracks via streaming for months before the release, while the actual album ends up being nothing but boring filler, or even worse, selling us six songs as a “full” 12”. Boring, uninspired, and weak.
A real surprise for me was the new
@afireinside album. Of course I knew the band before, but I never really cared. The
@tear_up_oi album is a refreshing throwback to the good old Hammer or Helen Of Oi! Records days of the ’90s — this is exactly how UK hooligan rock should sound.
@spiritualcramptv are simply great — dandy-ish and British as fuck, brilliant! It’s wonderful to see URBAN REJECTS’ Andreas coming back so strong with
@gruppe_handvoll_scherben ; the man is a legend.
I still haven’t seen
@stilldefiant live, but that 10” is killer. Hard to believe a German band can play such smooth skinhead rock ’n’ roll — 98% of the bands in this country could learn a thing or two from that.
@splitsystem666 and the
@hardonsband are keeping the Australian flag flying — killer stuff. Who needs hype jobs like The Chats or everybody’s darlings Amyl and the Sniffers, who get more generic and uninspired with every release?
@viagraboys were on heavy rotation for me in the first half of the year — varied and never boring.
@malavistanyc make you crave summer, beer, and a good time.
So far, so good! What did I miss? Feel free to let me know in the comments
