Hooked Like Helen
My Top 50 Songs of 2025
This list is rolling out a lot later than usual, and I’ve gotta be honest – it’s because I failed so miserably at keeping up with releases last year. I mean, I added tracks to my playlist and shared them here, as well as on Facebook and Insta, but I didn’t sit and listen to them until recently. I’ll do better this year, I swear!
And now, here are the fifty songs that really jumped out at me in 2025. A few things to be aware of: I do not rank the tracks in any particular order, and I do not include major label artists (or I try not to, at any rate), nor do I include covers. Last but not least, no band/artist can have more than one song on the list.
View the full playlist HERE.
- Element 117: “Vision”
- SKNN: “Digital Zombies”
- Could You Not?: “Backpedal”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Quote Unquote Life”
- The Fiction We Create: “More Than Scars”
- Nouveau Arcade: “Push”
- Eli Howard & the Greater Good: “Long, Strange Trip”
- Boze: “I Will Go”
- The CyberTones: “Red Flags Flying”
- Deadcode: “Don’t Let Me Go”
- AGBAT: “Fair Winds”
- Sever Red: “Conjuring”
- Endless May: “Call My Name”
- Absolutist: “Lineage”
- Elirah’s Cross: “The Walk” (ft. Histheory)
- Matte Blvck: “Vicious Dreams”
- Alchemy Within: “The Call”
- In Passing: “Silhouette”
- A Fatal Black: “Kill the Lights”
- Stellar Circuits: “Bury the Ashes”
- mothshade: “Labyrinth”
- New Dilemma: “Ice Cold Hands” (ft. Chloe Robin)
- Czarina: “Fall Damage” (ft. Circuit Preacher)
- postdrome: “So Inviting”
- Cold Clay Mountain: “These Hands”
- Krysis: “The Summit’s Ice”
- Adelitas Way + New Medicine: “Rollin'”
- Blackwood: “One Track Mind” (ft. Kameron Jane)
- The Black Zodiac: “Gallow’s Call”
- No Fly List: “The Rush”
- Voice of Glass: “Henosis”
- Nights in Prada: “Thorns in Silk” (ft. Sara Rayne)
- Divide the Fall: “Beyond the Surface”
- War Inside: “Hollow Points”
- Ethereal Treason: “Ivory”
- Mirrorcell: “U(phoria)”
- Noir Addiction: “Chemical Bride”
- Phantom of Pop: “Sugar Sin”
- Almera: “Retrograde”
- Stellar: “Outta My League”
- Kings of Karma: “Falling to Pieces”
- Wraithlurk: “One More Lie” (ft. $KIMMY)
- Rise to Ruin: “Archaic”
- Danger Silent: “To Whoever’s Left, Pt. 2”
- Hallowtide: “O Captain”
- MAK: “Fever”
- The Mercury Seed: “Disappear”
- vasthearts: “such a shame” (ft. romziie and Leø)
- AnonTheory: “Thoughts and Prayers”
- We Brought the Storm: “Heavy Rain”
The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist, Pt. 5 (Updated 5/31/25)
The second half of May has come in as strong as the first! Check out these tracks that have been released since May 16th.
- Animate Experience: “Onyx”
- The Modern Kollective: “Dreams and Nightmares”
- Azarene: “Memories”
- Falling in Reverse: “God is a Weapon” (ft. Marilyn Manson)
- Lady Strange & the Rites: “High Strangeness”
- Razorwire Halo: “As Good As” (ft. r3nrut)
- A Beautiful Scar: “Never Break”
- Shadow Reborn: “Grave of Roses”
- SKNN: “Bow Down”
- obli_x_vion: “Bird to Prey” (ft. Tyler Noxwind)
- Dark Divine: “Make Me Disappear”
- A Killer’s Confession: “Hollow”
- Ballyhoo!: “Swim”
- Them Damn Dogs: “Weirdo”
- Seethe: “Banshee”
- 40 Below Summer: “King Ghidorah”
- Priest: “My Lonely Heart”
- No Trees Touch The Sky: “3 Visits”
- Third in Theory: “Clay”
- Bleeker: “Self-Made”
- Heartsick: “Break the Curse”
- Cirkus: “Know Yourself”
- Danny Worsnop: “Harder Than the Hard Stuff”
- Sick Century: “Demon Inside”
- Wider Eaves: “Half the Way Undone”
- Shape: “Husk”
- Left to Suffer: “Anon” (ft. King 810)
- Above Snakes: “Forsaken”
- Beauty is Betrayal: “Devil Said”
- Painted Lines: “Better Off”
- Moonfall: “Light Blue Flowers”
- Closed City Terror: “Teflon Idiot”
- Storm Kingdom: “Raindrops Fall on Stained Glass Petals” (ft. Joe Booe)
- Stain the Canvas: “554th”
- Citizen Soldier: “Life Support”
- Voltaire’s Ghost: “Alix Street”
- Anchor & Braille: “Sweet Jesus Knows”
- Midnight For Now: “Friends”
- Host of Nightmare: “Diamond”
- Carbonstone: “Standoff” (ft. Jonny Santos of Spineshank)
- Caelum Wraith: “Are You Still You?”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Quote Unquote Life”
Be sure to visit the other installments of The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist. You could discover your new favorite song/artist!
My Top 50 Songs of 2024
I didn’t even pretend I was going to do less than 50 songs for this list. There was no way. And y’all made it difficult to narrow it down to even that! I’m gonna end up with a top 100 if I’m not careful.
So, this is totally subjective, of course. There were tons of amazing releases over the past 12 months, and I tried to share them all (though I know I missed a few, or found them too late). But these are the tracks, in no particular order, that grabbed and held my attention without letting go.
View the full playlist HERE.
Note: One band/artist cannot have more than one song included. I tried not to put anything by major label bands/artists on here. Last but not least, no covers!
- The Fifth: “Starlight”
- Wicked Playground: “The Madness”
- Hayden Helms: “Motive Behind the Move”
- LASTRY: “Trick or Treat”
- Kill the Fall: “Let It Breathe”
- Maudlin Strangers: “Silver Stain”
- EarlyRise: “Dance for the Money”
- Nick Nasty: “Lose My YOUth”
- Brett Carlisle: “Runaway”
- Til Fauna: “Whisper”
- Deep as Ocean: “Dark Place”
- Globus, A.D.A.M.: “Redemption (down the line…)”
- No Fly List: “Ghost”
- Towers of Jupiter: “Morsus Frigoris”
- Hooked Like Helen: “It Doesn’t Look So Good For You Now”
- THEHERO: “Blood Money”
- Christopher Ardra: “Losing You”
- Circuit Preacher, Mobiius: “Burn”
- Blackjacket: “Blood Stains”
- Alchemy Within, Skyler Parker: “Blood in the Snow”
- Modern Mimes: “Black Butterflies”
- Major Distortion: “The Lone Sailor”
- High Fade: “Bone to Pick”
- Swim The Current: “Stay”
- Carbonstone: “Echoes”
- Bridges Ablaze: “Numb”
- A Shadow Within: “Event Horizon”
- Feverlust: “i dare you to speak”
- Leonine: “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”
- Young Other: “Change Everything”
- Neon Society: “Heliocentricity”
- Mike’s Dead: “Bestrafe Mich (Punish Me)”
- Black Tourmaline: “Embers”
- Hotel Security: “Manic Attack”
- O Mateus: “Perception”
- Silk Parlor: “Holding Me Up”
- Alibis: “Sell Out”
- Eli Howard & the Greater Good: “Too Broke to Die”
- Mads Krul: “Feeling Alright”
- The Whispering Trees: “Bloodline”
- EverFelt: “River”
- Empty Atlas: “Little Voices”
- Red Eleven: “Path”
- Nothing Like Robots: “all natural”
- Algorhythm: “Deeper”
- Signal the Revolution: “Come to Life”
- The Holy Knives: “Killer”
- Kendall Cage: “Rabbit Hole”
- Nick Palma: “Super Electric”
- Sick Century: “Tidal Wave”
The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 5 (Updated 10/6/24)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – spooky season!!!!!!! And WOW, 2024 really is racing by. I know I’ve already made that observation, but sheesh!
Anyway, this year’s playlist is moving right along. And remember: there will be a top 50 at the end of December! Bands/artists, y’all are already making those choices extremely difficult to narrow down.
Please be sure to check out parts 1-4, along with the entirety of part 5.
Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5
Here are the songs that have been added since September 22nd.
- Crash the Calm: “Sleep on the Floor”
- Total Radio Silence: “Whirlwinds”
- The Sunday Sadness: “Killing Me”
- Rourke: “Rise”
- Wraithlurk: “Feral”
- Deadly Vices: “Brother” (ft. Brandon Yeagley of Crobot)
- Ruin the Mind: “GODSTOMP”
- We’re Wolves: “Flatline”
- SevVven: “Don’t Panic”
- Innocent Skyline: “Messed Up”
- Dread Persephone: “KYLL”
- The Nghiems: “Stay (Na Na Na Na)”
- Allie Riot: “Cherry Bomb”
- Kid Lazuras: “Skeleton”
- Feral the Wolf: “Echolalia”
- Circuit Preacher: “Burn” (ft. Mobiius)
- DED: “Rockstar”
- Tiny Ghosts: “roses”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Promise Me You’ll Run”
- Cutouts: “Cowgirl” (ft. Tomberlin)
- Duellona: “Big Boys Don’t Cry”
- Death Can Wait: “Death Can Wait”
- Awaking Tyler: “I Hate You”
- New Medicine: “Head Down”
- Scotty Austin: “Left For Dead”
- The Haptics: “Vows”
- Sinsation: “Only the Strong”
- The Split: “Zero Point Energy”
- Erode the Dream: “Salt”
- Above Snakes: “Rot”
- The Failsafe: “Wolves”
- We’re Wolves: “Fallen Sun”
The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 4 (Updated 8/11/24)
I can’t believe it’s already August!!! 2024 is flying by!
I have been retroactively adding songs to the other parts of this playlist as I find them, so be sure to check out/revisit each installment.
Part I (Jan-Feb) // Part II (Mar-Apr) // Part III (May-June)
And visit the entirety of part IV (July-Aug).
Here are the singles that have been added since July 28th.
- Benton Crane: “Ghosts (Part I)”
- Benton Crane: “Stay With Me”
- Waking Stone: “Submersion”
- Audiovent: “Sonic Sunrise”
- The Fërtility Cült: “Fame Everlasting”
- THRØNE: “All the Colours We Cannot See”
- Don’t Panic: “Dark Days”
- pennybomb: “K.O.”
- Inside the Hollow: “Sake of Sanity”
- Mella: “Swaydif”
- Skynd: “Violets are Blue”
- Til Fauna: “This World Ends Now”
- Stand Abandoned: “Skinwalker”
- Feathers For Fuel: “Obsidian”
- Volts Delicious: “Ring the Alarm” (ft. John Napier)
- Empire Springs: “Treading Water”
- Look Back Luna: “Shake My Ghosts”
- Sevy Rog: “The Devil’s Room”
- Lucid Be: “Endless Ocean”
- Rosie Frost: “Vampires” (ft. Lainey Lavender)
- Debris of Titan: “the one you thought would never leave”
- Debris of Titan: “Day Before”
- Safety in Sleep: “Fall Away” (ft. Bobby’s Wrld)
- Hooked Like Helen: “It Doesn’t Look So Good For You Now”
- October Sleepover: “Obsessions”
- Forever in Transit: “Enter the Void” (ft. Diego Tejeida)
- Hyperstasis: “Doom Loop”
The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 3 (Updated 6/30/24)
This will be the last update for part 3. The singles released in July and August will get their own playlist, part 4.
You can listen to all of part 3 here.
And don’t forget part 1 and part 2.
Here are the songs that have been added since June 16th.
- Ten4One: “I Believe”
- Alive in Stone: “Slave”
- Sourworm: “Kill the World”
- Pulsifier: “Scars”
- Crobot: “Come Down”
- Ariias: “A Delicate Balance”
- Central: “Black Dahlia”
- Glis: “Yesterday’s Anthems”
- Preacher Red: “Eye to Eye”
- Painted Lines: “Didn’t Get Your Name”
- DEATH CODE: “Pain” (ft. CRYBLOOD)
- Enemy Within: “The Final Suffering”
- Dayshaper: “Solidarity”
- The Renascent: “For You”
- Witchz: “LA$ VEGA$”
- Flat Black: “Sideways”
- The Stone Eye: “High Frequency Hog”
- Cruel Mourning: “Dead on Arrival”
- Silk Parlor: “Holding Me Up”
- NiNeO3: “I Know”
- Bullet to the Heart: “Freeze”
- The Funeral Portrait: “Suffocate City” (ft. Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills)
- Positivity Club: “Stop So Hard”
- One World (R)evolution: “Fractured”
- 3 Bravo: “Awake”
- Blacklist Union: “Horns and Halos”
- Bödel: “Bilan Faller”
- Desert Kites: “Holiday”
- We Are The Storm: “Obsidian”
- Ease!: “In This Room”
- Feathers For Fuel: “Winds”
- Fading Echoes: “Vultures”
- Earth Attack: “Dream”
- Crossbreed: “The Killer Inside”
- Young Other: “All Alright” (ft. Emily Rae)
- Burn the Ballroom: “Story of the End”
- Endless Chain: “We Are We”
- Dirty Rivals: “Lost”
- Hooked Like Helen: “OCD (these thoughts again)”
- No Trees Touch The Sky: “See This Through”
- Altamadum: “A Criminal Mind” (ft. Skyler Pretty)
- A Fatal Black: “DedHed (Welcome to the Graveyard)”
- By All Means: “Redesign”
- The Murder of Jane Crow: “Wicked Ways”
- Honeyknife: “Stay Bored”
- Carsex: “Crooked Canvas”
The Mostly Music 2024 Playlist, Pt. 3 (Updated 5/19/24)
View the full playlist here.
Also, be sure to check out parts one and two!
Here are the releases that have been added since May 5th:
- Honeyknife: “Even Out”
- Back From Zero: “Grind”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Duality” (Slipknot Reimagined)
- Reasons Above All: “Paper City”
- Sleeptalker: “LakeSideDreams”
- Spawn of Psychosis: “Pettingill”
- we are knaves: “Thank the Maker”
- Ham Radio: “Higher Ground”
- Blessings of Mara: “Voidwalker”
- Maylene and the Sons of Disaster: “Thrush”
- Greco Ray, Dorian Dolore: “All I Need”
- Brett Carlisle: “//Runaway”
- The Lucidia Project: “Soul Killer”
- Dark Divine: “Burn the Witch”
- Topher Music, JBEL Music: “Over It”
- Engines of Ruin: “Wolves”
- The Damn Devils: “Splinter”
- Last Word: “Trial of God”
- Scarlet View: “The Chase”
- Perfect Nightmare: “Your Ghost”
- Breathe In: “Machine”
- THEHERO: “Blood Money”
- Painted Lines: “Lost in Translation”
- Trading the Inside: “Burner”
- Seas on the Moon: “Are You With Me?” (ft. Eissa Morphide)
- Kluu: “Blood Stained Fingers”
- Bullet to the Heart: “Fight”
- Saint Diablo: “Voice on the Phone”
- CloZure: “Nevermore”
- Wicked Playground: “The Madness”
- Amerakin Overdose: “Damaged”
- Hollow Intent: “Wanna Be”
- Vicky von Vicky: “Freak Me Out”
- Forever in Transit: “Let Go Your Earthly Tether”
- Modyrn Myth: “Suture”
- Backward Blue: “Eye of the Storm”
- The Royal Ritual: “Modes of Violence”
- Inimical Drive: “Victim”
- Bobby Kane: “Riding Shotgun Through the Gates of Hell”
- Fractured: “Standing Still”
The Mostly Music 2023 Playlist, Pt. 3 (Updated 9/24/23)
Over the last two weeks, there have been several amazing singles released by some truly talented bands/artists! Here are the tracks I recently added to the playlist.
- Danger Silent: “I Will Never Sleep”
- Zack Miranowic: “Live Again”
- Six Scars: “Out of Time”
- Storm-Kingdom: “Empires”
- Winter in May: “Baby, Can I Hold You?”
- Circle of Dust: “Descend” (Aesthetic Perfection remix)
- Antagonïzer: “Bow Down”
- The Props: “Target Practice”
- The Props: “Shadow in the Sun”
- Lydia Can’t Breathe: “Killerz”
- By All Means: “Swing”
- Hello Luna: “Rampage”
- Like a Storm: “Sinners & Saints”
- The BRKN: “FANGS”
- Citizen Soldier: “Comparison”
- New Medicine: “Never Know”
- Soul Stir: “When You’re Not With Me”
- The Funeral Portrait: “Dark Thoughts”
- Dark Remedy: “Possession”
- Steam Slicer: “Exuberant”
- Hooked Like Helen: “Fraud”
- Like Ghosts: “Live Forever”
- Horizon Theory: “Darkness”
- Seventh Day Slumber: “Feasting on Vultures” (ft. Kellin Quinn)
No Resolve and Halocene Share Fall 2023 Co-Headline Dates [Updated 8/31/23]
Update: A show has been added on 9/9. While No Resolve is appearing at Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Halocene will be playing Canal Club in Richmond, VA, with The Haunt and Hooked Like Helen!
No Resolve and Halocene are hitting the road this fall with special guests The Haunt and Hooked Like Helen. You can snag tickets at halocene.com and noresolve.info. And, as stated on the poster, VIP is available for Halocene at the point of purchase online!
- 9/7 – Columbus, OH – The KING of CLUBS
- 9/9 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club^ (New date!)
- 9/10 – Asbury Park, NJ – House of Independents
- 9/12 – Cambridge, MA – Middle East (Downstairs)
- 9/13 – Mechanicsburg, PA – Lovedraft’s
- 9/14 – Leesburg, VA – Tally Ho Theatre
- 9/15 – Horseheads, NY – The L (The Pit)
- 9/16 – Lakewood, OH – The Winchester Tavern
- 9/17 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Crafthouse Stage & Grill
- 9/19 – Joliet, IL – The Forge
- 9/22 – Iowa City, IA – Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon
- 9/23 – Sioux Falls, SD – Bigs Bar
- 9/24 – Fargo, ND – The Aquarium (Dempsey’s Upstairs)
- 9/25 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
- 9/27 – Great Falls, MT – The Newberry
- 9/28 – Casper, WY – The Gaslight Social
- 9/29 – Lincoln, NE – Cosmic Eye Brewing
- 9/30 – North Kansas City, MO – Harrah’s Casino**
- 10/1 – Springfield, MO – The Riff
- 10/4 – Bloomington, IL – The Castle Theatre
- 10/5 – Angola, IN – The Eclectic Room
^ Halocene, The Haunt, and Hooked Like Helen only
** No Resolve & Halocene only
Mostly Music 