It’s been a tough year here on The Ways of Exile, life really got in the way and it feels like the blog took a hit as things got kind of challenging over the year. Thankfully that stage seems to be behind us, so let’s round up with what has been another good year for music. It also seems that this is the year that I’ve gotten over my issues with long songs, but we’ll get to that later.
The Lynkify links will take you to the featured song on a list of streaming services. Click the link and then select the song on the streaming service of your choice.
But first a cheat.
My favourite album of the year is the same album that I gave album of the year to in 2024.
This is my blog and yes, I can do that.
I Leave You This by Overhead, the Albatross is my most listened album for 2025 and hasn’t lost any of its wonder over the last year. I’ve seen them twice in 2025 and their Arctangent set was one of the most amazing shows I’ve ever witnessed, and I have seen a lot of bands over the years. The album’s mix of post rock and life affirming dance music doesn’t sound like anyone else, so if you haven’t heard it, I can’t recommend this album enough. If post rock isn’t your thing, skip the first 4 songs and give that a try.
More people need to hear this album. They deserve to be huge.
https://lynkify.in/album/i-leave-you-this/mGDEYqO0
Now to talk about the amazing music released this year.
Myriad Drone
A World Without Us
Post Metal
It takes a lot for an album released in January to survive the year’s music churn but there was never any doubt that A World Without Us would stay the course. When an album is this good, it’s not going to be forgotten.
It’s always amazing to watch a band make a giant leap in their craft, but it’s rare to see one as impressive as the jump Myriad Drone have made between this and their debut. Not to say that there was anything wrong with their first album, it’s really good, but this new album is world class.
There’s a lot of post metal out there but it feels like MD stand out from the crowd. From the first song, the band don’t mess about and let you know what’s in store by starting up the album with a ten minute epic.
A World Without Us shoots straight for the stratosphere with its light shoegaze sound, before coming back down to earth and adding Lisa Gerrard styled wordless vocals before switching to full face melting post metal at the end of the song. And from there on you know this is an album that’s going to mix things up.
The next track, Forlorn Hope sounds more like Sigur Ros than anything else before launching into the riffing, and that’s the thing that sets Myriad Drone apart. As much as there’s a Cult of Luna influence, there’s also acts like Dead Can Dance and Sigur Ros. When all this is mixed together, it comes out sounding like no one else. Mashing shoegaze, post rock / metal and blackgaze isn’t anything new, but this configuration, with this level of songwriting? I haven’t seen anything like it before. This is easily the most underrated metal album of the year, and that’s a massive shame. If this sounds like it might be your thing, get it in your ears.
It’s a real pity that the band is based on the other side of the planet from me because I would love to see this live.
https://lynkify.in/song/forlorn-hope/L6v8cSsr
Movement81
If infinity,
Electronica
Movement81 are a Welsh dance duo who dropped a really great, slow burn dance album back in April that, like pretty much everything on this list, deserves more attention.
The 90’s dance sound has been fashionable for a while now, and some of this album will draw comparisons with Bicep, but that’s hardly a deal breaker. What we do have is some warm electronica that seems to be even more fitting for these cold winter evenings than it did in the Spring. While the album hovers around the head nodding 120 bpm mark, the album gets darker as it goes on.
The pace picks up as the science lecture samples begin as Movement81 stray more into the techno side of things, which rounds the album out nicely.
If infinity, is a great debut album and I’m really looking forward to seeing what else they have in store for us.
https://lynkify.in/song/dark-matter/I0FDLRaf
Tayne
Love
Industrial / Noise pop
Speaking of January albums that kicked the doors down, Tayne’s debut album doesn’t take prisoners. Drawing more than a little influence from HEALTH, Tayne uses HEALTH’s sound as a template to jump off into their own, often heavier direction.
That mix of guitars and electronics is used to some pretty devastating effect here, as Tayne swings wildly between the sweet and the face melting. The singer has a hell of a voice on him and it really accentuates the band’s mood shifts. He can switch from clean, to bellowing, to screaming in the same bar if needed
Tayne may call themselves an Industrial Noise Pop band, but there’s not a whole lot of pop going on. This album is heavy as hell, but also extremely catchy, so if you’re in the mood for loud guitars and power electronics, this album will really scrach that itch.
https://lynkify.in/song/fear/aSDbf1zN
Telepathy
Transmissions
Post metal
Telepathy are a band who have put the time and graft into their music, changing and building on each release, improving on every album, which really shows here.
At an hour long, with tracks well over the 10 minute mark, Transmissions could be a drag, but it never feels like it. The band’s command of dynamics and honest to god song writing keeps the tracks fresh, and they never outstay their welcome. My favourite track on the album is Oath, which is clearly indebted to Metallica’s Orion but if you are going to be openly influenced, you may as well do it by the best.
It’s actually a disgrace that Telepathy aren’t much bigger than they are, even if it’s only to the ATG and Damnation festival crowd. Telepathy should be up there with Pelican or Russian Circles. Anyway, unfair as that is, it doesn’t detract from just how great this band are and how good this slab of post metal is.
https://lynkify.in/song/oath/mPMLvamS
Sybax
Twin
Post Rock / Electronica
It’s been a while since I’ve gone this evangelical about a band. (Well, since the Overhead, the Albatross bit at the top of this post) I’ve posted about them on forums, Facebook groups and this is the second time they’re making an appearance on this blog but it feels like I’m yelling into the void, as just not enough people have picked up on this band.
Split into two discs, the Twin starts with electronica based post rock, and rather than being chilled out and pretty, Twin has a real sense of drive with tracks like Poole and its driving bass line, and the Charlie Chaplin sampling Dictator, having a real sense of urgency.
The band are a duo, and the combination of bass and electronics creates an interesting sound, with the more post rock songs on this album sounding a bit like God is an Austonaut. If they kept the electronic side of their sound instead of going metal.
Disc 2 is really where things really kick off though. After the atmosphere building on Disc 1, this is where the album switches gear and goes hard. Twin becomes a dance album at this point with Dirty Hard Body throwing some dirty acid squelch and some filthy bass. It’s the album highlight and one of my tracks of the year, and a great introduction to the sleasier dance side of the band.
This may be my last chance to grab you by the collar and insist you listen to this album. Even if you just jump straight to disc two, cue it up and play it loud. This is one of the best albums of the year, and it deserves a lot more people listening to it.
https://lynkify.in/song/happy-dirty-body/2OC7p63w
Coastlands
Coastlines
Alt rock / Blackened hardcore / post rock
There’s a weird thing that can happen when you’re trying to listen to a large amount of albums at once to review them. Sometimes, you can hear an album, know it’s good, but due to time constraints, you don’t actually hear the album. Coastlands was one of those. It got reviewed and I liked it, but I don’t feel that I realised just how good this album is at the time.
This is a slippery record that is doing a lot over its short run time. Hollowing is a straight up alt rock song, but then slips into blackened hardcore (or maybe Screamo, I still can’t tell the difference), then transitions into the post rock of Mors, and then launches into the assault of Vessels.
This is an album that can combine prettiness, catchy songs and sheer beatdown violence, sometimes, all in one song. I’ve seen comparisons with Holy Fawn, but I don’t think that’s right, while HF are more post rock based whereas Coastlands are heavier and more varied in the styles they incorporate.
This is an album that shows incredible songwriting skill and ambition to melt these various styles into one that is not only coherent, but fairly unique. I really, really hope they tour the UK at some point.
https://lynkify.in/song/hollowing/ycejQwKw
We lost the sea
A Single Flower
Post Rock
How do you deal with having an album in your discography that is considered such a classic that people just want to hear it in full, rather than listen to your new album? I’m not sure that actually happened with WLtS, but there was a much bigger buzz for their full album, Departure Songs set at Arctangent than the non album set. But to be honest, I found the new material far more entertaining.
This review could be subtitled, “A Single Flower, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Really Long Song”. The album is of such quality that I finally stopped bitching about track lengths. I just put the album on and let it wash over me.
It starts slowly. The mournful middle eastern sounding riff that opens the album, slowly unfurls as the other band members join in, until If The Had Heart becomes one of the best post rock songs I’ve ever heard.
That’s how the album continues to build. Huge slabs of song that slowly resolve into epic post rock bliss, that live and breathe with you, song after song of pure, emotional class. However, Blood Will Have Blood does sit at the back of the album, like a thirty minute monolith, towering over an already epic length album. But it says a lot that once the song starts, you never notice its thirty minute (!) duration. If you’re going to write an epic you best bring your A game and We Lost really do that here. Blood feels like a mission statement, a declaration of the band’s talent. Something to show the world just how good this act is now.
With A Single Flower, We Lost the Sea have surpassed Departure Songs. This feels like hearing a classic arriving in the world as it happens. Hopefully the world is paying attention.
https://lynkify.in/song/if-they-had-hearts/SPJqUOjZ
Dimscûa
Dust Eater
Post Metal
If there’s ever been a band with a more whirlwind story in the metal community, I haven’t heard of it. For those who don’t know, Dimscûa were a group of friends who put out a post metal album with no fuss or promotion and didn’t expect it to do much. They just wanted to get it out into the world. Gavin McInally, Damnation Festival promoter and Two Promoters, One Pod host, gave them a glowing shout out on his podcast and then things started to snowball. (Going to point out again that I was listening to them before the shout out. Because this kind of thing is important in the muso nerd world.) For their first ever booked gig, Dimscûa played at Arctangent festival to about 3000 people.
And none of it would have been worth anything if they didn’t have the songs to back the hype up. I even remember the first time I heard the album. I was working away with it playing in the background and just kind of shrugged and chalked it down as just another post metal band.
That lasted about 5 minutes into the first song, then I just stopped and had to concentrate on the song, and the album didn’t let go for the rest of its 44 minute runtime.
This is one of the best post metal albums I’ve heard. Its sheer intensity, combined with that post rock beauty makes it stand out in an overcrowded genre. These songs may not be catchy in a pop sense, they are incredibly atmospheric and they will stay with you. The singer’s harsh vocal sounds like the depths of despair in places and helps transcend the already amazing music.
The most common comparison the band gets is to Amenra and it’s pretty obvious, especially on The Dusteaters, but I’ll tell you this. As much as Amenra are amazing, and one of the best live bands I’ve seen, I never listen to any of their albums. I listen to Dust Eater a lot.
This album isn’t the easiest listen, you probably aren’t going to que it up to it that often, but when you do it will blow you away every time. This is a gem of a record and it’s great to see the hype build for a band that really deserves it.
https://lynkify.in/song/the-dusteater/fKmfLiLJ
The Allegorist
From Birth Until Death
Techno / Ambient
From Birth Until Death is the only album on this list that wasn’t on my monthly round up. It just didn’t grab me enough to make the monthly list, but, also it didn’t let go. Every now and then something would draw me back to it, and as the months have gone on it’s become a firm favourite.
Techno is a wide church but I don’t normally live on the moodier, more ambient side of things. I tend to demand fireworks from my electronica, but I am growing and becoming more open to the more calm side of things. And From Birth is well out of my comfort zone, with some of the tracks having almost no percussion at all, just built on synths and wordless Lisa Gerrard style vocals.
On the early tracks, the claustrophobic vibe is everything, with the album delivering blasts of towering synths and contrasting Vangelis melodies to overpower the listener. It doesn’t sound like the first Fever Ray album, but that oppressive atmosphere is the only thing I can think of that feels similar.
There are tracks on the back half where the beats kick in however. The title track starts as a slow paced dirge but picks up when the percussion arrives, feeling like the track dragging itself out of the mire with the soaring wordless vocal lifting everything skyward. Andean Condor is the closest thing to a banger on the album, and it feels like it is the release that the record has been building to. You might not be able to dance to it but it feels like all the pressure the album has been lifted and offers some catharsis.
I always recommend listening to albums loudly, but this one really needs volume. If you have it on your headphones, it sounds fine, good even. But if you let it envelop you, if you feel the pressure of the synths, it becomes something much more dramatic, something much better. When that carefully rationioned percussion hits it should rattle you.
As I said, The Allegorist isn’t what I would normally listen to, but when I’m looking for something moody, visceral and dramatic, I really don’t have anything that comes close to this.
https://lynkify.in/song/andean-condor/5hkUWl7T
Cold in Berlin
Wounds
Goth
There’s always one. For the last few years, I’ve had my top ten locked in, and then, someone in November drops an album that is so good that it demands a place on the list. Not that CiB are without form here. The 2024 top ten album list was changed to the 2024 top ten releases as I felt that CiB’s ep, The Body Is The Wound, deserved a place on the top ten.
And so with Wounds, they’ve done it again.
Wounds leaves the band’s more recent metal sound behind and embraces the goth sounds of their earlier work. The Hangman’s Daughter kicks things off in hugely dramatic style with some moody electronics. It’s a great song but it’s instantly eclipsed by 12 Crosses, the album highlight and Maya’s vocal performance shows just how great a voice she has and how much character and presence she brings to this band.
The quality doesn’t drop at all on the album. It’s just great song after great song, from the dark rock of Messiah Crawling to the rich synths and pounding drums of They Reign, to the almost Bladerunner synths of The Stranger, Cold in Berlin, show again and again just how good they are.
It feels like CiB have been left in the goth musical ghetto, but seeing as that’s becoming less of a thing and more acts are openly embracing this sound, hopefully Cold in Berlin can finally break out and finally get the accolades they deserve.
https://lynkify.in/song/12-crosses/LCYJhooy
And we are done for the year. As always, I can’t thank you enough for reading. It means a lot that anyone would bother to click through in this day and age, it really means a lot.
The ways of exile 
The Dimscua album whilst pretty good, is only 32 minutes long on the streaming services. More of an EP than an album.
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Thanks for reading the blog. It means a lot 🙂
Sorry for using AI on this but here’s your answer.
“An album needs at least 5 songs or a total playtime over 30 minutes (US/Grammy), or more than 4 tracks/over 25 mins (UK Chart), but definitions vary; it’s generally a longer release than an EP (3-6 songs, under 30 mins), often with 8+ tracks or >30 mins, but artists & platforms use different rules (e.g., iTunes needs 7+ tracks or >30 mins) for a “full album” feel, though ultra-short or single-track conceptual albums exist.”
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thanks for this, haven’t listened to any, have downloaded them all on spotify to listen to when the mood takes
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Thanks for reading, I hope you find something to enjoy. 🙂
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I think it’s more of a personal choice really rather than US/UK chart averages. I always feel when a band puts out a record around 30 minutes long and calls it an album, it’s a bit poor. That’s not to criticise the content at all. I suppose if you feel that 30 mins is better quality than someone’s true album at closer to 50 mins then all power to them. I like the Dimscua record, but it doesn’t feel like an album to me at 4 tracks/ 32 mins, and isn’t on my AOTY top 10 for that reason.
Whereas the Khan album which has 2 tracks at 46 minutes does feel like an album and does make the list.
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