2025 Albums of the Year

Here are my top 10 albums of the year. 

Ranking: 

I decided to get rid of in between numbers because it was too much work for me since I listened to 100 albums. Number five is the best and number one is the worst. 

I will start with the best albums to the worst. I have also split my album list into "Metal", "Punk", and "Non-Metal." But the overall winner, comes from any of these three categories. I grade music based on: style of music, musicianship, lyrics, album art, mixing and production. I don't include eps or demos. Please note this is just my opinion and my personal taste.

Every year, I listen to bands I do not like to give them a chance. Or to see if my tastes have changed. In some ways they have. In my teens there was no way I would ever rank doom metal as high as I do now. 

In my 2024 AOTY I was hopeful about 2025. Boy, was I wrong. 2025 was the year that stupidity reigned and I felt powerless. 2025 was the year of stale metal albums. Perhaps, I am reverting back to my punk roots. I found punk music when I was 11-years -old. Or maybe I am old and miss when metal made me feel excited. But this year, most of the metal albums were basic and did not stand out. That's why my top 10 are examples of how to make a great album.

Surprises: 

Coroner, Sodom, and Lord Belial surprised me with how good their albums were. They're old, but they still know how to create killer tunes. Blut As Nord is another band that I never understood the hype for. But this year, I really liked their album. 

On the other hand, I did not expect that one of my favorite bands in the whole world, Katatonia would write a terrible album and disappoint me. I'm about to rant in Swedish. Maybe then Jonas will hear me. VAD HAR DU GJORT!! DETTA ÄR INTE KATATONIA!!! MEN JONAS PROJEKT!  VAD VAR DU TANKER! INTE KONSTIGT ANDERS NYSTRÖM LÄMNADE!  And for those who don't speak Swedish. I basically said Katatonia is no longer the Katatonia that all the fans love or remember. At this point, Katatonia should break up. Jonas can make a new band with the current members. I LOVE Katatonia so much that seeing Jonas change it hurts me. I will now qoute "Follower" from The Great Cold Distance, but with my own feelings. 

So when you come. I'm too unprepared to come along. I hold my Katatonia albums so hard, my knuckles turn white, when Jonas clears the streets and kills the band. Katatonia should have called it quits at "Sky Void of Stars." That was a great album. 

Don't get me started on Dark Angel. What the hell was that album? It's a hot steaming bowl of diarrhea. Younger me would have been livid because Dark Angel used to be one of my favourite bands. But at 37 I just accept that some people do not grow wiser in their age, but become dumber. Honestly, Dark Angel deserve everything that happens to them for all their bad decisions. Suddenly, these people get old and they forget everything they believed in. Thrash is dead because no actual thrasher would ever choose an AI album cover. How can a person call themselves a musician and then be like, "You know what?! I have no integrity left! Let's not pay an artist. Even though artists need money, just like musicians. Let's instead, enter a prompt from my stupid brain." Gross. Someone please slap or punch me if I ever give up on my principles. But who in their right mind, would actually pay to listen to the new Dark Angel? 

Winner:

But now for the moment you've all been waiting for. And it's not to hear me bitch and whine about old metal bands. 

THE WINNER OF THE ALBUMS OF 2025 GOES TO... 

1. CAUSTIC WOUND 

As always please purchase this album or merch from the Caustic Wound Bandcamp. 

Grinding Mechanism of Torment is how I would describe 2025. Music, friends, and my partners were the only things that kept me focused and stopped me from crashing out. 

But I survived like I always do. Because I refuse to quit. Just like the music I listen to. Caustic Wound is one of the many bands that was born from the ashes of Cerebral Rot splitting up. 

I love deathgrind and goregrind the most because it combines my love of death metal and grindcore/hardcore. 

Caustic Wound is a perfect symphony of sickness. Clyle Lindstrom's vocals are gutteral and vomitrocious just the way I like it. I'm always jealous of people whose vocals sound like they're choking on bile because if I was a vocalist I would love to sound like that. 

The riffs are melodic and catchy. Similar to Swedish death metal but downtuned further. The drum and bass are the proveyers of the punk sound. The drums and bass are a punch to the gut that makes a person go, "Ohh that's filthy." Every element of this album was clearly planned out and executed to perfection. I like how the two-stepping parts lead the listener further into the song. It's cute because it's like a child skipping becuase they're happy. Or maybe that's just me because d-beat fills me with so much joy. 

There is a total of 16 songs, but the album goes by fast because of how well each song blended creating a chaotic flow. Grinding Mechanism of Torment left me wanting more. That was a rare feeling for me since most of the metal bands this year created mediocre albums. I am starting to think most metal bands are running out of ideas. But then again Coroner and Sodom can still kept my attention. The album art is also true to goregrind. It's gory, but also has an old school hardcore vibe to it. 

And now for the rest of my rankings.

Metal 

5 

Everything is perfect! I LOVE THIS! 

2. Lik - Necro 

3. Sepulchral Curse - Crimson Moon Evocation 

4. Corpus Offal - Self-Titled 

5. Centinex - With Guts and Glory 

6. Havukruunu - Tavastland 

7. Omnium Gatherum - May the Bridges We Burn Light the Way 

8. Hooded Menace - Lachymose Monuments of Obscuration 

9. Blood Monolith - The Calling Fire 

10. Phrenelith - Ashen Womb 

11. Runemagick - Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms) 

12. Evoken - Mendacium 

13. Dysentery- Dejection Chrysalis 

14. Pissgrave - Malignant Worthlessness 

15. Terror Corpse - System of Apocalypse/Ash Eclipse Flesh 

16. Coroner - Dissonance Theory 

17. Putridity - Morbid Ataraxia 

18. Primitive Man - Observance 

19. Cult of Fire - The One, Who is Made of Smoke 

20. Amorphis - Borderland 

21. VoidCeremony - Abduction 

22. In Mourning - The Immortal 

23. Mephitic Corpse - Sickness Attracts Sickness 

24. Paradise Lost - Ascension 

25. Novembers Doom - Major Arcana 

26. Drudkh - Shadow Play 

27. Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons 

4 

Potential to be a 5 but something is missing. 

28. Relics of Humanity- Absolute Dismal Domain

29. Sodom - The Arsonist 

30. Lord Belial - Unholy Trinity 

31. Lust of Decay - Entombed in Sewage 

32. Internal Bleeding - Settle All Scores 

33. Helheim - HrabnaR/ Ad vesa 

34. Sanguisugabog - Hideous Aftermath 

35. Ribspreader - As Gods Devour 

36. Lamp of Murmuur - The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy 

37. Eluveitie- Anv 

38. Vintersorg - Vattenkrafternas Spel 

39. Unleashed - Fire Upon Your Lands 

40. Peeling Flesh - PF Radio 2 

41. Putrescent - Darkness Embraced 

42. Phobocosm - Gateway 

43. Cadaver - Hymns of Misanthropy

44. Degraved - Spectral Realms of Ruin 

45. Disarmonia Mundi - The Dominant Stranger 

46. The Halo Effect - March of the Unheard 

47. Ancient Death - Ego Dissolution 

48. Malefic Throne - The Conquering Darkness 

49. Helloween - Giants & Monsters 

50. … And Oceans - The Regeneration Itinery 

51. In the Woods … - Otra 

52. Gaahs Wyrd - Braiding the Stones 

3 

Average

53. Revenge - Violation. Strife. Abomination 

54. Cancer - Inverted World 

55. Ghost Bath - Rose Thorn Necklace 

56. Vile Apparition - Malignity 

57. Grave Infestation - Carnage Gathers 

58. Cryptopsy - An Insatiable Violence 

59. Malformed - Confinement of Flesh 

60. Teitanblood - From the Visceral Abyss 

61.Castrator - Coronation of the Grotesque  

62. Crypt Sermon - Saturnian Appendices 

63. Retromorphosis - Psalmus Mortis 

64. Proscription - Desolate Divine 

65. Avulsed - Phoenix Cryphobiosis 

66. Manegarm - Edsvuren 

67. Destruction - Birth of Malice 

68. Sabaton - Legends 

69. Imperial Triumphant - Goldstar/Imprints of Man 

70. Hate - Bellum Regiis 

2

A for effort. But this album does not spark joy in me. 

71. Katatonia - Nightmares as Extensions of the Working State 

72. Lipoma - No Cure for the Sick 

73. Abraded - Ethereal Emanations from Chthonic Caries 

74. Benediction - Ravage of Empires 

75. Revocation - New Gods, New Masters 

76. Sadist - Something to Pierce 

77. Qrixkuor - The Womb of the World 

78. Warbringer - Wrath & Ruin 

79. The Haunted - Song of Last Resort 

80. Before the Dawn - Cold Flare Eternal 

1

There are no words to express how much this album sucks! Did these bands even try?!

81. Vildhjarta - Dar skogen sjunger under evighetens granar

82.  Elvenking - Reader of Runes 

83. Harakiri for the Sky - Scorched Earth 

84. Equilibrium - Equinox 

85. Dark Angel - Extinction Level Event 

Punk: 

86. Scalp - Not Worthy of Human Compassion (5) 

87. Scrab - Burn After Listening ( 5) 

88. Ingrown - Idaho (5) 

89. Jivebomb - Ethereal (5) 

90. Agnostic Front - Echoes in Eternity (3) 

91. Biohazard - Divided We Fall 

92. End it- Wrong Side of Heaven (3) 

93. Pupil Slicer - Fleshwork (1) 

Non-Metal: 

94. Wardruna - Birna (5) 

95. Ulver - Neverland (5)

96. Perturbator - Age of Aquarius (5)

97. Danheim - Heimferd (5) 

98. Health - Conflict DLC (4) 

99. Sowulo - NIHT (4) 

100. Nytt Land - Songs of the Shaman (4) 

An Ode to Wilbur

Wilbur loved to lay in the window and sleep in the sun. 

 

Wilbur 

Yellow eyes 

Pointy ears 

Wet nose

Whiskers a'plenty 

Little cow boots 

Forever my little boy 

Nothing like grief to make a person journal again. I'm also on vacation so I have  time to write again. Working full time and pursuing a Masters degree means I have no time to blog or do any of my usual activities. But I cannot continue with my life until I mourn. Therapy has taught me that I have to feel my emotions because if I compartmentalise I will never address my feelings. If I don't feel, then I won't hurt. But I also won't heal. 

I'm no stranger to death. Afterall, I'm a medium just like my Abuela/Mormor, a goth girl, work with a plethora of death deities, and unforunately had many people I cared about pass. 

I've been fostering cats and TNRing since I was in my teens. I have seen my fair share of dead cats. But never a cat that was my pet. Or a cat that I loved. I knew Wilbur was magical when I first laid eyes on him. Dia del las Almas de las Mascotas or Day of the Dead for Pets was on October 27, 2025. Today, October 29, 2025 is National Cat Day. Wilbur died yesterday, October 28, 2025 at 7:02 p.m. It's like he timed everything so well. I'm just glad he's no longer suffering. He stopped eating on Sunday. We knew his cancer was eating his organs away. We knew his body would soon start to shut down. Wilbur no longer could pur. 

Cancer took my beloved pet and one of my favourite musicians, Tomas Lindberg. I will never forgive or forget. If this blog touches you please donate to animal shelters or cancer research for both cats and humans. 

I am mourning but I also want to celebrate and honour Wilbur's life. Wilbur changed Ryan and my life for the better. That is why I will NEVER stop fostering and TNRing cats. I will continue until I die. 

August 1, 2019 Ryan and I arrived in Bushwick with Anthrax and Squeakers. It was the first day of our new life. Neither of us have ever lived in another state before. We've lived on our own before. We lived together in another country, Australia. Both Ryan and I were born and raised in Illinois. We both did college in Illinois. I have already stated why I chose to leave in many blog entries. To summarise, both Ryan and I never felt like we belonged in Illinois or the Midwest. 

We arrived at the building that would be our new home. I opened the car door. I stepped out. What did I see? A scared and startled tuxedo cat ran away and hid under our new apartment building's dumpster. I quickly grabbed some food. But the kitty ran away. I knew it must be hiding nearby so I said, "If you're hungry come find me and I'll give you food. I have two cats and I rescue cats like you." I never thought Wilbur would actually listen to me. Ryan and I first lived in a big studio apartment on the second floor. I would see a bunch of cats sleeping together. I knew this was a colony. I would hear them mate in the spring and summer. 

Occationally, the tuxedo cat I found on the first day I moved to Brooklyn would flirt with Squeakers. I thought it was cute and funny. I would tease Squeakers and say, "Your suitor is here." Or I would call Wilbur her boyfriend. Every time Wilbur would appear, I would say, "Sorry my dude but Squeakers is neutered. She's not interested in sex." I told Ryan I think I will name that tuxedo cat Wilbur because he lives behind our building. And we live on Willoughby Ave. 

Then the pandemic happened. Ryan and I were stuck in our studio. We were driving each other nuts. Because there were no walls in our studio or places to go. I am immuno-compromised. Ryan lost his job. We were stuck together. Normally, we don't mind. But we're two mentally ill, neurodivergents who need alone time if we want to remain civilized and have our social battery running. 

Then we were offered a duplex unit on the first floor. At first, we thought it was a good deal because we did not have to look for a new apartment or move. And we got more space. But our rent was ridiciously expensive and our landlord was a scumbag as usual. The only two good things that came out of living at our old apartment was getting Wilbur and the creation of Plague Master (Ryan's band). 

Ryan and I moved into the bigger unit. Then I noticed there was a ramp and a big door that led to outside. I knew the history of this building because I was 100 percent sure it was haunted so I researched it. It used to be a cinema, gathering place for the Labor Socialist party, mental institution, and retirement home. Then it was made into an apartment building. The ramp made sense.

I never understood why the previous resident would cover up the door. No human knew about the door. Then I saw a bunch of cats sleeping on the ramp. My heart broke. These poor babies. Were they born in this colony? Were they bodega cats that escaped? Were they abandoned cats? I had too many questions.

All I knew was that I was going to help these cats. I started to feed them. Eventually, I gained their trust. Then our second year, one of the white cats I fed came inside. I knew I had to foster him and find him a new home. As is my family tradition to name cats after metal bands. I named this cat Adramelech.  Because he killed me with his cuteness. He was the Chancellor of the blue eyes. Supervisor of the feather toys. Sadly, he died 5 days before Wilbur did. I found him a great home.

Here's my precious Adremelech. He was adopted and became Dreamy. 

I knew my program to deferalise this cats into house cats was working. I needed to work fast because Ryan and I were moving. I told Ryan we would only move if I was able to trap the colony of cats. With the help of Bushwick cats and my vet, Doctor Loose I was able to neuter every cat. The kittens were adopted. The 3 cats who were too feral were given to bodegas or breweries. At the same time, a ginger tomcat also part of the colony was trapped in my building. I don't know how he came inside but I scooped him up and put him in a spare carrier. I've always wanted a ginger cat. I know they're dumb and chaotic. I don't care. I still want one. The day he was supposed to be neutered. When Ryan had the door open he bolted and escaped outside. That little jerk climbed a tree by our apartment window to gloat at me. His look was so smug. His look said, "Hahah, you can't take my balls! I am free!"

Then a miracle happened. Wilbur walked into our apartment. I was testing out churrus and catnip. I gave him some like I always do. Wilbur kept crying for more. I said, "Sorry buddy but I don't have anymore." He didn't believe me and walked into the apartment. He plopped himself on the cold tile and chirped at me. I went upstairs and got Ryan. I said, "Ryan you won't believe this, but Wilbur is downstairs. Go get some greenies." I knew from the time I laid eyes on this cat that this cat would be ours. Either mine or Ryan. Every time Ryan called Wilbur he would come running. Like a child being called to dinner in old movies or shows. 

Once it became dark, I opened the door again. I fed the bodega cats dinner. Wilbur grabbed his kitten, Wilson with his mouth to bring him in. But Wilson ran back out. I think he was already mated to Adramelech's younger sister. Wilbur went outside and bit him. I said, "I'm sorry Wilbur. But Wilson has made up his made to stay outside. I wish we could take him in to. But you can't force him." Then Wilbur looked at his son and walked back in. Ryan returned from the pet store with flea bath and medicine. 

Ryan holding Wilbur on his first day as a house cat. 

After that day, Ryan and Wilbur became inseperable. Wilbur was Ryan's shadow. Everywhere Ryan went Wilbur went. Squeakers became jealous because she was Ryan's only baby. Now she had to share. Squeakers and I bonded more. Eventually, Squeakers learned to love Wilbur. 

Every night he would scream for cuddles. Ryan and Wilbur cuddling. 

I think it's because Squeakers understood that he was very sick. When we took Wilbur to the vet we were told that he had FIV or cat HIV. He had a weakened immune system. He had jaundice and worms. Wilbur would always have chronic ear infections and eye infections. He was a special needs cat. We gave Wilbur his medication. He became a healthy cat. We even stupidly tried to get him adopted. But after a year we had to accept that Wilbur chose us. Many years passed by and after being told Wilbur would only live for 2 years max we thought he was safe. But we were wrong. Wilbur lived for 8 years. Longer than expected, but still it shattered our family. We knew he had bad teeth that had to go. But it wasn't until August of this year we noticed a bump on his hind leg. It was growing too fast. We went to the vet. We had many tests done by different doctors. The day he was supposed to get his leg cut off October 16, 2025 our vet told us the cancer was already inside his organs and bones. That we should start making end of life preparations. We should just do kitty hospice. Wilbur fought bravely. No matter how many medications or how many times we had to take him to the vet he was always a good boy. Wilbur was always there when Ryan and I were upset. He knew how to make us laugh with his chirps. Like Squeakers, he was jealous when we got Garm. But this year, Wilbur and Garm became best friends.

Garm holding and protecting Wilbur. 

Garm wouldn't leave Wilbur's side. Not even at the end. Garm was there when Wilbur died. All our pets were because we chose to put him to sleep at home. Wilbur died wrapped up in Anthrax's baby blanket with Ryan holding him. The last thing Wilbur heard was his favourite band, The Cure, "Love Song" and us telling him how much we loved him. Garm licked his forehead. And I held Anthrax while he saw. Mostly so Anthrax wouldn't lay next to Wilbur's dead body and for my own comfort. Anthrax is my soul animal. I know at that moment, Anthrax was glad I held him because I could tell he was crying with me. I am still crying typing all of this. But this is good. I want everyone to know how brave and how loved Wilbur was. This is not an obituary. This is the story of love. This is the story of an innocent animal who endured so many awful things but was always happy and hopeful. Wilbur loved cheese, churrus, cuddles, greenies, and post punk. That is why if you wish to honour Wilbur play some Sisters of Mercy or The Cure. 

The Cure's "Lovecats" 

2024 Albums of the Year

 

It's been four months since I have written anything new. My apologies. On the bright side, I aced my first semester of grad school. I feel confident that next semester will be the same. 

I have no doubt 2025 will be a killer year for music as well. Although, it will be hard to top this year. I do not remember giving so many albums such high scores. Normally, I have a few number 1 albums in my list. But this year the lowest score is 2. Usually, I grade albums on a 1-5 scale. That is not the case for 2024. 

2 is the worst and 5 is the best. In addition, I use in between numbers. I include every album I listened to this year. I will start with the best albums to the worst. I have also split my album list into "Metal and Punk" and "Non-Metal." I grade music based on: style of music, musicianship, lyrics, album art, mixing and production. I don't include eps or demos. Please note this is just my opinion. Brutal death metal was the king of 2024. 

GRAVITY DRUM ROLL PLEASE! 

Winner: 1. Defeated Sanity: Chronicles of Lunacy

Bandcamp: https://defeatedsanity.bandcamp.com/merch

Here is the full album stream for your listening pleasure. Buy their album afterwards! 

Also known as my childhood. I'm joking. But growing up with a mentally unstable parent teaches you a lot about yourself and how stigmatized mental heath is. The biggest reason why I love this album is because it's relateable to me. There are riffs for days. The bass is so good, it slapped a smile on my face. And the drum fills are telling me I need to practice more. Oh yeah, and Josh's vocals are insane. 

Each song is about a psychological issue or mental illness. Really each song explains how gross humans really are. Are humans really the top predator? Scores of humans lack common sense and intellgence. Rather, I think that humans are on top of the food chain or animal hiarchy because of their talent at destruction.

My favorite part of collecting records is always being able to read the lyrics, learn who the band is thanking, and being able to see if I can hear a band's influences. Of course, I own this record. Even if Lille and Vaughn weren't my friends, I still buy the album because Defeated Sanity has never written a mediocre album. Let alone, a bad album. I do not think it's possible.

Here's my copy of the album. 

The inside of the record. 

This is the back of the record. 

Here's the record itself. Isn't it pretty?! I love marble records. 

It was painful deciding what album would be number one. For me, first place was tied between Defeated Sanity and Maligancy because both albums held my attention from start to finish, the bar and skill is even higher than before, and these bands have been working their asses off for years. It's about time they become popular. Both Defeated Sanity and Maligancy deserve all the recognization they're getting. Albums like these are only created when a band doesn't compromise their integrity and keep upping their skills. 

I told myself to stop being a Libra and make a choice. After listening to both Chronicles of Lunacy and ...Discontinued mulitple times this week I decided that I loved Chronicles just a little bit more. But not by much. Sorry, Danny! But hey, Maligancy won second place. That's pretty awesome because it shows how much thought I put into my AOTY list. 

Malignancy ...Discontinued 

When you listen to this album you'll understand why I had a hard time making my decision for AOTY. BUY THIS ALBUM NOW! 

Bandcamp: https://malignancy.bandcamp.com/music

Now for the rest of the list. Some albums have comments that needed to be said. That's just how my ADHD brain works. 

Metal & Punk Albums: 

5 

Everything is perfect! I LOVE THIS! 

2. Maligancy: ...Discontinued 

3. Brodequin: Harbinger of Woe

4. Petrification: Sever Sacred Light 

5. Ashen Tomb: Ecstastic Death Reign 

6. Tzompantli: Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force 

7. Vanhelgd: Aptos Doctrina 

8. Feral:To Usurp Thrones 

9. Cryptic Hatred: Internal Torment 

10. Crawl: Altar of Digust 

11. Unearthly Rites: Ecdysis 

12. Nails: Every Bridge Burn

13. Cryptic Brood: Flesh Bacteria 

14. Gatecreeper: Dark Superstition 

15. Wolfbrigade: Life Knife Death 

16. Oranzzi Pazuzu: Muutautja 

17. Coffins: Sinister Oath 

18. Spectral Voice: Sparagmos 

19. Swallow the Sun: Shining 

20. DarkTranquillity: Endtime Signals 

21. Horna: Nyx

22. Spectral Wound: Songs of Blood & Mire 

23. Necrophobic: In the Twilight Grey 

24. Winterfyllth: The Imperious Horizon 

25. Mitochondrian: Vitriseptome 

26. Blood Incantation: Absolute Elsewhere 

27. Hulder: Verses in Oath

28. Sonata Arctica: Clear Cold Beyond 

29. Hammerfall: Avenge the Fallen 

30. Judas Priest: Invincible Sword 

4.5 

Potential to be a 5 but the production or mixing is off to me. Or something is missing. 

31.  Paganizer: Flesh Requirem. Would have been a 5 if not for the cringe song title, “Viking Supremacy”. 

32. Ulcerate: Cutting the Throat of God

33. Fulci: Duck Face Killings

34. Cephalotripsy: Epigenetic Neurogenesis

35. Birdfesh: Faster Than a Priest Vomit

36. Necrot: Lifeless Birth

37. Cardiac Arrest: The Stench of Eternity

38. Wormed: Omegon

39. Black Curse: Burning in Celestial Poison

40. Bedsore: Dreaming the Strife for Love

41. Dissimulator: Lower Form Resistance

42. Ribspreader: Reap Humanity

43. Ahklys: House of the Black Geninis

44. Borknagar: Fall

45. Arkona: Stella Pandora. Not the folk metal band. But they both are Russian.

46. Hamferð: Men Guðs hond er sterk

47. Limbonic Art: Opus Daemoniacal

48. Ihsan: Ihsan

49. Witch Vomit: Funeral Sanctum

50. Thou: Umbilical

4

Definitely not average. But not a 4.5. 

51. 200 Stabwounds: Manual Manic Procedures

52. Devenial Verdict: Blessings of Despair

53. Peeling Flesh: The G Code

54. Full of Hell: Coagulated Bliss

55. Darkthrone: It Beckons All

56. Concrete Winds: Concrete Winds

57. Benighted: Ekbom

58. Blazing Eternity: A Certain End of Everything

59. Avernus: Grievances

60. Gaerea: Coma

61. Master: Saints Dispelled

62. Severe Torture: Torn from the Jaws of Death. I heard some of these songs live. ST is definitely a live band. In the studio, it’s not the same.

63. Replicant- Infinite Morality

64. Molder: Catastrophic Reconfiguration

65. Verikalpa: Tuomio

66. Evergrey: Theories of Emptiness

67. My Dying Bride: A Mortal Binding

3.5 

Above average, but still needs some more work. 

68. Blood Red Throne: Nonagon

69. Undeath- More Insane

70. Teeth- The Will of Hate

71. Mokoma: Myrsky

72. Oxygen Destroyer: Guardian of the Universe. Even Godzilla is not enough to make this music above average.

73. Powerwolf: Wake Up the Dead

74. Blue Oyster Cult: Ghost Stories

3

Average

75. Anti-Christ Siege Machine:  Vengeance of Eternal Fire

76. Nile: The Underworld Awaits

77. Epitaph: Path to Oblivion 

78. Rhapsody of Fire: Challenge the Wind

79. In Extremo: Wolkenschiber

2.5

I can tell the artist or band is trying. 

80. ACXDC: G.O.A.T. Misleading album title. This album was underwhelming. The dude is better off owning a book and record store. In addition, defending human rights.

81. Sarajah: Sarajah. Music is great. The vocals do not match the doom. It sounds wrong to me.

2

A for effort. But this album does not spark joy in me. 

And the worst metal album goes to….

82. Nightrage: Remains of a Dead World. This album made me wish my hearing was dead. This is an example of how not to write melodic death metal. Nightrage was only good when Tomas Lindberg was their vocalist.

Non-Metal:

I don’t have as many for this category, so I’ll just put the number beside the album.

83. Eivor: Enn (5)

84. Molchat Doma: Belaya Polosa (5)

85. The Cure: Songs of a Lost World (5)

86: Ulver: Liminal Animals (5)

87. Nox Novacula: Feed the Fire (4.5) 

88. GosT: Prophecy 

89. Clan of Xymox: Blood of Christ (4)

Mi Gente, Tenemos Un Problema.....With our Fiction Books

As some of you all know, I am a Young Adult Librarian trainee. Today for work we have a Mock Morris Review with the YA BPL librarians. I read the books selected. I also did research yesterday. 

As I was researching, I felt the dread I always feel when ranking books. Knowing that I won't like most of these books because fantasy and sci-fi will always win for me. I was pleasantly surprised that one of the books has a Black main character and is fantasy. As I was reading, Shut Up, This is Serious I began to roll my eyes. The utter annoyance and rage was pooling up in me. I needed answers! 

This is the book that triggered me. 

Why are ninety percent of books for Latino teens set in California or Texas? Why are Latino books always about cholos, gangs, or surviving the ghetto? 

Why are we as Latinos always type casting ourselves and then complain that people are doing this to us? If publishers would stop picking authors who write about the same boring crap or could stop making Black and Brown people stereotyping ourselves that would be amazing! Because, believe me, Black and Brown emos, goths, metalheads, punks, and other subcultures exist! 

What happened to a Latino main character who grew up in the suburbs or in the country? Or a Latino gay boy who looks up to Walter Mercado. He learned to read tarot decks and is obsessed with playing matchmaker based on people's astrology. Or the trans teen who is learning spell work from their curandera/brujera abuela. Lastly, where is the book about the atheist Latino teen who is at odds with his family, thus his best friend's family adopts him. 

THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO READ ABOUT!!! 

Do you know how sad it is, that I could relate to White characters more than my own culture or people? This is exactly why I love books with titles, like Bad Mexican, Bad American. Or I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. This is what appeals to me. 

Not every Mexican or Latino lives in L.A for f--k's sakes. Not every Latino has friends who get pregnant when they're in high school. Not every Latino lives in a barrio and has solely Latino friends. Not every Latino is into cumbia, hip-hop, reggaetón, or rap. 

Maybe, I should write a book about a goth, tomboy, Latina teen who grows up in the suburbs and her Dad covers for her. Knowing that if her Madre found out she would get a putaso and be grounded for a year. So her Da lies so her brother and her can take a Metra train into the city to see a metal or punk show. 

And yes, this is autobiographical. Because I did this many times in high school with my younger brother and friends. Back then,  we didn't have Uber. My brother and I would decide who would buy the train tickets before school. Then after school, we would walk to the Roselle Metra station. Hop on the train and go to the House of Blues or the Bottom Lounge. Then on our way back we would hope for the best. We would leave 5 minutes early from the show and run to Union Station. If we were lucky, we would catch a train back to the Northwest suburbs. 

Or I can write a book about a Mexican hockey player who moves to Finland to be a part of the liiga.  Because not all of us like soccer/futbol. 

I'm tickled pink that there's so many Black authors who write fantasy, horror, and science-fiction. Now, if only, mi gente can do this. Because I'm so sick of the Latino teen trope who lives in a poverty stricken section of the city and only by getting a scholarship or becoming a teenage Mom will they find themselves. Grácias, pero no grácias. Nosotros somos más qué eso. 

Maybe, one day, I'll be an author because I have a plethora of ideas.