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The 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

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Wode’s ‘Uncrossing the Keys’: Two Cent Review

Posted in Album Reviews, Reviews with tags black metal, Wode on 11/09/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

With Uncrossing the Keys, Wode proved they wanted to make a daring pivot, at risk of alienating black-metal purists, by benching those two trademark qualities of theirs in favor of a far more eclectic listen—an objective at which they succeed handily. On Uncrossing the Keys, Wode finally makes good use of the huge asset of which they didn’t take full advantage in the past: three guitars. Rather than mostly playing in unison, this time around, vocalist M. Czerwoniuk and his fellow axemen—T. Horrocks (who also plays drums and keys) and backing vocalist D. Shaw—engage in intricate interplay for the bulk of the record. The Pittsburgh metalheads’ coal-black alchemy results in an album with more melody than all Wode’s previous albums combined. And that’s really saying something, considering that their debut was one of my favorite albums of 2016. Read my full Treble review.