Thanks to Post-Trash for posting my top 20 favorite records of the year as part of its staff picks roundup.
Archive for the Lists Category
Post-Trash Publishes My List of 2025’s Top 20 Best Records
Posted in Lists with tags Agriculture, Deafheaven, For Your Health, Halo Effect, Mclusky, Messa, Orbit Culture, Ossuary, The Armed, Vildhjarta on 12/20/2025 by Kurt OrzeckThe Bad Penny’s Top 50 Best LPs of 2025, Pt. 4: Wode, Floating, Jason Isbell, Glare, Havukruunu
Posted in Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo, Floating, Glare, Greet Death, Harakiri for the Sky, Havukruunu, Jason Isbell, Mors Principium Est, Saor, Wode on 12/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
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 third batch. (Go here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #21 through #30; here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #31 through #40; and here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #41 through #50.)
11. Wode – Uncrossing the Keys (20 Buck Spin)
• Wode’s ‘Uncrossing the Keys’: Two Cent Review
12. Floating – Hesitating Lights (Transcending Obscurity)
13. Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow (Southeastern)
• Jason Isbell’s ‘Foxes in the Snow’: Two Cent Review for Treble’s Best Albums of 2025
Continue readingThe 20 Best ’90s American Grunge Bands of All Time
Posted in Lists, Videos with tags Alice in Chains, grunge, Mark Lanegan, Melvins, Mudhoney, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Sub Pop on 12/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
New Releases 12.19.25: Blood of the Wolf, Monster Magnet, Olde Outlier, Starscourge (UPDATED 12 p.m. MT)
Posted in Lists, New Releases with tags Blood of the Wolf, Monster Magnet, Olde Outlier, Starscourge, Weft on 12/19/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Alien Orchestra – Under My Pale Skin EP (Rockshots)
Amigo the Devil – New Kind of Lonely single
Appian – Finding Moments (Sound as Language)
Blood of the Wolf – V: Indomitable (Horror Pain Gore Death)
• Exclusive Song Premiere: Blood of the Wolf’s ‘Oath of Supremacy’
Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso – Top of the Hills
Claire Guerreso – I Won’t Give Up single
Club 8 – Daydreams single
Flints – Cold of You single (Nettwerk)
Florence Road – Georgia single
Lisa Hilton Quintet – Extended Daydream (Ruby Slippers Productions 1031)
Imperatore – Lionspirit (Rockshots)
Continue readingOn Tyranny: Nightrage Guitarist Scolds Complicit Public for ‘Looking the Other Way’ as Democracy Dies
Posted in Interviews, Lists, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, fascism, Marios Iliopoulos, Nightrage, On Tyranny, trump, tyranny on 12/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Little did The Bad Penny expect that a feature called “The 20 Best Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Bands of All Time” that we published five days ago would become the most popular post in the history of this 15-year-old website in its entire existence. But that’s exactly what the headbangers ordered, and it’s spurring us to run some spinoff articles about bands made the cut on the list but that we’ve never had the pleasure of interviewing.
Reaching out to the bands on the list that aren’t as popular as your In Flames, Amon Amarth and Dark Tranquillity, we were reminded that Gothenburg is the historic city that birthed more than just three MDM bands. Nightrage guitarist Marios Iliopoulos said he was both flattered to be recognized and that their artistic output is just as strong as many of the other bands included on the rundown.
Continue reading10 Best Free Bandcamp Downloads #6: Death Pose, Softcult, Hull of Light, Scott Lucas
Posted in Lists, MP3s with tags Bandcamp, Big Harp, Death Pose, Glorious Depravity, Horror Pain Gore Death, Hull of Light, Mercury's Antennae, Scott Lucas, Softcult on 12/18/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Strapped for cash but hungry for great music? You won’t have much luck camping out at the grocery store these days; Bandcamp is a way better destination. Here’s a rundown of 10 rad releases, most newly released, that The Bad Penny recently came across on Bandcamp.
1. Death Pose – “Unresolved (A Song for Jeff)” (feat. Scott Lucas of Local H)
One year ago, Jeff Ulbrich – founding member of Chicago hard-rock squad Death Pose died unexpectedly, rendering his family, friends and bandmates inconsolable. None of those folks have fully recuperated from the devastating loss – and probably will – but participation by Local H frontman Scott Lucas shows the solidarity in Ulbrich’s community is still intact.
2. Mercury’s Antennae – Veil Opaque v.2
Portland, Oregon’s ambient darkwave unit Mercury’s Antennae aren’t categorizing this release as an EP, even though it only runs roughly five minutes and contains two remixes. But don’t bellyache – remember, like all the releases presented here, it can be yours for the low, low price of no money.
Continue readingFriends of The Bad Penny Share Their Top 10 Lists of 2025 Best Albums
Posted in Lists with tags Clipse, Curran Reynolds, Dave Clifford, Deafheaven, Heavy Halo, Justin Sinkovich, OvO, Pixel Grip, Primitive Man, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy on 12/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
The Bad Penny is rolling out its favorite albums of 2025 in five installments this year, with the first and second batches having already dropped. While the other three will plop down imminently, we’re smashing the self-indulgence and monotony by inviting some of our favorite industry folks to share their own top 10s with us and, by extension, you.
To warn off any complaints about corruption, misdealing or the coveted line in the sand between journalists and press folks, we laid down a strict ground rule: PR reps were not allowed to include any of their clients, past or present, on their lists.
We’re delighted by the picks that the participants received, as they run the genre gamut and include many albums of which The Bad Penny wasn’t even aware. Especially striking is that, among the combined 160 titles chosen by the … let’s dust off the old calculator here … 16 contributors, a tiny fraction appear on more than one list: Pixel Grip, Deafheaven, Clipse and Primitive Man. And each of those titles are only listed twice.
Thanks oodles to Tim Anderl of Sweet Cheetah PR, Caroline Borolla of Clarion Call Media, Brendan Bourke of The Syn, Dave Clifford of US/THEM Group, George Corona III of Terrorbird Media, Bruno Dorella and Stefania Pedretti of OvO, Brandon Gallagher of Trace Amount, Eddie Gobbo of Something Is Waiting, Austin Griswold of Secret Service Publicity, McKeever and Gosteffects of Heavy Halo, Curran Reynolds of Body Stuff (and The Chain), Michel Rowland of UTM Music Group, Justin Sinkovich of Solid Brass Records, Dan Volohov of Discipline PR, James Woodard of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy and Will Yarbrough of Season of Mist – not only for taking the time and care to craft such thoughtful top 10s and share them, but helping this website triple its UVs this year over last – and provide critical support to yours truly over the course of a 28-year career as a music journalist, rock critic and soon-to-be-lobotomized AI automaton.
Without further ado, here are the lists of the top 10 albums released in 2025 that some of The Bad Penny‘s favorite publicists and musicians graciously shared with us.
Continue readingBoise Friends of The Bad Penny Share Their 2025 Top 10 Lists
Posted in Lists with tags Chief Broom, DJ Joe Black, Duck Club, Ealdor Bealu, Ghorot, Mishap Records, Onsetter, Shadrach Tuck, The Record Exchange, Treefort on 12/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
The Bad Penny is rolling out its favorite albums of 2025 in five installments this year, with the first and second batches having already dropped. While the other three will plop down imminently, we’re smashing the self-indulgence and monotony by inviting some of our favorite Boise music-heads to share their own top 10s with us and, by extension, you.
We’re delighted by the picks that the participants received, as they run the genre gamut and include many albums of which The Bad Penny wasn’t even aware.
A boatload of thanks to Travis Abbott of Ealdor Bealu and Shadow & Claw, DJ Joe Black of Dayglow Drip and KRBX Radio Boise, Gus Marsden of Breathing Records, Catherine Merrick of The Record Exchange, Chad Remains of Ghorot, Tyler Squire of Onsetter, Shadrach Tuck of Chief Broom and Mishap Records, and Nathan Walker of Duck Club/ Treefort Music Fest/ MusicIdaho for participating in this team effort.
Without further ado, here are the lists of the top 10 albums released in 2025 that some of The Bad Penny‘s favorite Boise peeps (the kids still say that word, right?) graciously shared with us.
Continue readingThe Bad Penny’s Top 50 Best LPs of 2025, Pt. 3: Keep, Florist, Pharaoh Overlord, Gaupa, Igorrr
Posted in Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags Cosmic Reaper, Florist, GAUPA, Heaven Shall Burn, Igorrr, Keep, Lifeguard, Noir Noir, Pest, Pharaoh Overlord on 12/14/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
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 third batch. (Go here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #31 through #40 and here for The Bad Penny‘s favorite albums, #41 through #50.)
Continue reading
The Bad Penny (beta) 