The Bad Penny (beta)

A lot of fucked-up up shit happened in the U.S. this year. Way, way too much of it. For many of us Americans who actually carry values in our hearts instead of bloviating about them or slapping bumper stickers on our monster trucks, it was almost too much to bear.

Fortunately, 2025 also saw the release of a staggering number of stellar records, which made the year a little more … well, bearable. Hence, for the first time ever, The Bad Penny is deviating from its usual annual tradition of limiting out favorite listens to just 10 and breaking them into a five-part series containing 10 records per installment.

What follows is the second batch. (Go here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #41 through #50.)

31. Blackbraid – III (Wolf Mountain)

32. Bleed – s/t (20 Buck Spin)

• Bleed’s ‘Bleed’: Two Cent Review

33. Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Inner (Season of Mist)

• Der Weg Einer Freiheit’s ‘Innern’: Two Cent Review
• Video Interview: Der Weg Einer Freiheit Frontman Nikita Kamprad Delivers Straight Talk

34. Castle Rat – Into the Realm (King Volume)

35. Cave Sermon – Fragile Wings (self-release)

36. Drain – Living Proof (Epitaph)

• Drain’s ‘Nights Like These’: Two Cent Review

37. Malevich – Under a Gilded Sun (Church Road)

• On Tyranny: Metal Band Malevich ‘Had a String of Shows Canceled for Some of Our [Pro-Palestinian] Activism’

38. In Mourning – Immortal (Valley Music Dalapop)

39. SOM – Shape of Everyhing (Pelagic)

40. Mawiza – ÜL (Season of Mist)

• Mawiza’s ‘ÜL’: Two Cent Review
• Exclusive: Mawiza Reveal Origin of Eco-Themed Collabo With Gojira Frontman
• On Tyranny: As US Citizens Get Disappeared and Terrorized, Chile’s Mawiza Reflects

This entry was posted on 12/09/2025 at 8:29 am and is filed under Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags Blackbraid, Bleed, Castle Rat, Cave Sermon, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Drain, In Mourning, Malevich, Mawiza, SOM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.