Kings of Karma
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”
2025 Covers You May Have Missed
I am working on the Top 50 of 2025, and I realized that there were quite a few covers released last year. I don’t include cover songs on that list, so I thought I’d share them here.
- Amerakin Overdose: “Genie in a Bottle” (Christina Aguilera cover)
- Næŕok, Steeno: “3” (Britney Spears cover)
- Boze: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (Charlie Daniels cover)
- Gillsaw: “The Beautiful People” (Marilyn Manson cover)
- Priest: “Wicked Game” (Chris Isaak cover)
- Waiting at the Bridge: “Love Gun” (KISS cover)
- Kings County: “The Beautiful People” (Marilyn Manson cover)
- Damned Anthem, Lola Rhodes: “Heart-Shaped Box” (Nirvana cover)
- Silent Theory, Crispin Earl: “Pardon Me” (Incubus cover)
- Lift the Curse: “Love is a Battlefield” (Pat Benatar cover)
- RedPrint: “Stranglehold” (Ted Nugent cover)
- Rise to Ruin: “Paranoid” (Black Sabbath cover)
- Cirkus: “Crazy Train” (Ozzy Osbourne cover)
- P.O.D.: “Don’t Let Me Down” (The Beatles cover)
- Blackjacket: “Grenade” (Bruno Mars cover)
- Nick Nasty: “Seven Nation Army” (The White Stripes cover)
- Feverlust: “That’s So True” (Gracie Abrams cover)
- We’re Wolves: “Bark at the Moon” (Ozzy Osbourne cover)
- 9th Evolution: “Cry Little Sister” (Gerard McMahon cover)
- Kissing Candice: “Bodies” (Drowning Pool cover)
- Kings of Karma: “Run Rudolph Run” (Chuck Berry cover)
- Lift the Curse: “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” (Harry Reser and His Orchestra cover)
- Shallow Side: “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” (Elton John cover)
- Amerakin Overdose: “Feliz Navidad” (José Feliciano cover)
- ENMY: “Incomplete” (Backstreet Boys cover)
- KillDevil Theory: “Tom Sawyer” (Rush cover)
- Kalamity Kills: “Help!” (The Beatles cover)
- Nail Bite: “Nutshell” (Alice in Chains cover)
- Vampires Everywhere!: “Welcome to the Black Parade” (My Chemical Romance cover)
Also – Crispin Earl of The Veer Union released Covers Collection, Vol. 2 on December 5th, which includes his renditions of “The Kill” by Thirty Seconds to Mars, “Even in Arcadia” by Sleep Token, and more!
The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist, Pt. 11 (Updated 11/15/25)
Happy Holidays!
We’re getting so close to the end of 2025, and I’m going to say it now – choosing my top 50 this year is going to be hard. There has been a lot of great music released, and there’s still a month-and-a-half to go! Whyyy do I do this to myself? Ha!
Anyway, here are the singles I’ve added so far in November.
- Past Silent: “Glass House”
- Schmooze: “Too Late to Plead Insanity”
- Storm Kingdom: “Purgatory” (ft. Joe Booe)
- Horizon Theory: “Transcendence”
- Rise to Ruin: “Horizon Divide”
- Adelitas Way: “We Are Unbroken”
- Killed By Sorrow: “Betrayal”
- Cryblood: “Enemy”
- Eli Howard & the Greater Good: “The World is Crazy”
- Excision: “Adrenaline” (ft. Sullivan King and From Ashes to New)
- Traverse the Abyss: “Memento Mori”
- Closed City Terror: “No One”
- Aesthetic Perfection: “We Bring the Beat”
- Danger Silent: “To Whoever’s Left, Pt. 2”
- Coal Chamber: “Overflowing Blessings”
- Lord of the Lost: “Would You Walk With Me Through Hell” (ft. Infected Rain)
- Boze: “Boom Bap Collapse” (ft. Jude Buckingham)
- Sydney V. Smith: “Wasted Years”
- A.A. Kidd: “Isn’t the Sunset Beautiful?” (ft. Sa’Lunara)
- Gasoline Invertebrate: “Resurface”
- Ghosts Are Here: “You Deserve to Know”
- Bovault: “The Fool and the Trouble”
- vasthearts: “don’t feel the same” (ft. wintr)
- Palaye Royale: “Feel Something, Great”
- Gasoline Invertebrate: “Settler”
- Kings of Karma: “Run Rudolph Run”
- Boze: “I Will Go”
- Brother Cane: “If This Means War”
- The Renascent: “Keep Me Here”
The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist, Pt. 9 (Updated 9/20/25)
Welcome, September, and our first false fall! The temperature was pleasant this past week, especially in the mornings, but we’re back into the upper 80s, low 90s now. I’m so ready for cooler weather.
Anyway, I have begun part 9 of The Mostly Music 2025 Playlist. Here are the songs I’ve found that have been released since September 1st.
- Linx: “One Step”
- Skold: “All the $ in the World”
- Dead Deceased: “Demon Christ”
- NEEDTOBREATHE: “Momma Loves Me” (ft. The Red Clay Strays)
- The Veer Union: “Caught in the Crossfire”
- Storm Kingdom: “Emerald Isle” (ft. Joe Booe)
- Kings of Karma: “Falling to Pieces”
- Young Other: “Sickle”
- Wraithlurk: “One More Lie” (ft. $KIMMY)
- We Cry Wolf: “Easy Way Out”
- Loose Lips: “Lightning Strikes”
- The Truth Music: “Without You” (ft. JD and Dexter Poetic)
- Alter Bridge: “Silent Divide”
- DENIGH: “Meanstreak”
- Blacklist Union: “Dyin’ 4 U”
- Fake City Fire: “Singularity of You”
- Save Oz: “Jaws of Defeat”
- Small Town Titans: “I’m Not Done”
- Swim the Current: “Set It Off”
- Jungle Dream: “La Llorona”
- Cirkus: “Crazy Train” (Ozzy Osbourne cover)
- Seaside Massacre: “First Blood”
- Anemera: “Weight in Pain”
- Die Tired: “Why Won’t You Wake Up?”
- Violet Dawn: “Graveyard Walk”
- Kill the Fall: “Footsteps”
- Fright: “Bloody Dust”
- Have I Weather: “Plates”
- Stain the Canvas: “what are we now ‽”
- Velvet Queen: “Wolves”
- The Adio Sequence: “And You Will Be Rewarded”
Albums Released From January to March 2025
Last year, I attempted to post a list of all the albums and EPs I heard about. I split this compilation into two parts, posting the first at 6 months and the second at the end of December. I didn’t really like the way it worked out, so I’m trying something different for 2025 and sharing new releases quarterly. I am dividing albums and EPs into separate posts, though. That much is staying the same.
Also, in as many cases as possible, I am linking Apple Music profiles. While I continue to use Spotify when building my playlists, I do understand that many artists have conflicting emotions in regard to that particular streaming service. Therefore, I will attempt to send traffic to your alternative platforms. (Release dates may differ, depending on when the album hit Apple. I have used the dates posted by the bands/artists.)
- Skies of Terra – Dreamcatcher [1/1]
- Hobokin – The Rebellion [1/3]
- The Journals Kept – Campfire [1/3]
- Black Cat Bill – Floral Swords: Kuro Neko Sama [1/5]
- Tremonti – The End Will Show Us How [1/10]
- Gnostician – Unification as an Art [1/10]
- The Obsidian Resurrection – As Darkness Falls [1/10]
- Total Radio Silence – The Stories We Tell Ourselves [1/12]
- Animal Ion – Introspection [1/15]
- Nail Bite – Nostalgia [1/17]
- Featured – All Mouth and No Trousers [1/17]
- Beatific – Life Under Tension [1/24]
- Divine Shade – Fragments, Vol. 1 [1/26]
- Deified – Defacto Flame [1/31]
- Jonathan Hultén – Eyes of the Living Night [1/31]
- Six Hours For A Lifetime – 21 [2/5]
- Of Grace – Vindicta [2/7]
- Days of Jupiter – The World Was Never Enough [2/7]
- Wraithlurk – Crucified [2/12]
- Moon Fever – Forever Sleep [2/14]
- Horizon Theory – Radio Silence! [2/14]
- Hands Like Houses – Atmospherics [2/14]
- Bloody Pineapples – Bloody Pineapples [2/14]
- Touch of Red – In Our Nature [2/14]
- Crying Vessel – Sepulchers: The Maiden [2/14]
- Crying Vessel – Sepulchers: The Servant [2/14]
- Spiders – Sharp Objects [2/14]
- Corlyx – Purple Pain [2/14]
- Onioroshi – Shrine [2/18]
- Tricky Shoreline – Hummingbird [2/21]
- Sinclair Noire – Bone Orchard [2/21]
- Dirty Honey – Mayhem and Revelry Live [2/21]
- Jason Bieler and the Baron Von Bielski Orchestra – The Escapologist [2/21]
- Delphi Ravens – Keeper of Secrets [2/21]
- War Within Dreams – The Blue [2/22]
- Conan and the Malis – Going for a Walk [2/23]
- Starbender – Social Engineering [2/27]
- Caleb Hyles, Judge & Jury – The Darkness Before the Dawn [2/28]
- Kings of Karma – Bite the Bullet [3/1]
- VVitch – Nefarious [3/1]
- The Royal Ritual – Retract in Circles [3/4]
- Confessions of a Serial Killer – Audio Violence [3/7]
- CrosseD – No Pulse [3/10]
- Mean Silver Machine – No Way Out [3/14]
- Dead Rabbitts, Judge & Jury, Escape the Fate – Redefined [3/14]
- I Rose From the Dead – Lost in the Woods [3/14]
- Mainframe Bird – Ghosts Never Clap [3/21]
The Mostly Music 2023 Playlist, Pt. 3 (Updated 12/3/23)
Visit the full playlist here. And check out Part 1 and Part 2!
Below is a list of songs that I’ve added to part 3 since 11/19/23.
- Crywolf, The Kids: “Take This Weight”
- Xero Hour: “Black Flag”
- As the Sky Went Black: “Lucky 13”
- Televised Mind: “Masks”
- Robots Are Dix: “Rainbow Sun”
- The Exceptional Mr. Hyde: “Solemn Power”
- Fidite Nemini: “Let It Go”
- Drunk and Lonely: “Heartstrings”
- Luke S. Williams: “I Wonder”
- Anaria: “The Sandman”
- Anaria: “Freakshow”
- Lovely Machine: “GOING UNDER”
- The Thing With Feathers: “Ready to Burn”
- The Thing With Feathers: “Something Wrong”
- Of Chains: “Reconsider the Source”
- Zammek: “Roisterer”
- Armored Dawn: “Wayfaring Stranger”
- The Props: “Warpath”
- Etched in Embers: “Happy Song”
- Across the Frostlands: “Behind That Door”
- Knightfall: “Farewell” (ft. Jessica Mercy, Pete Rawcliffe, Patrick Goble, and George Acker)
- The Motor Control: “Last December”
- Against the Storm: “Lord of the Flies”
- Lifting Curses: “Heartscrossed”
- DENIGH: “Bed of Nails”
- Nils Ursin: “Purified”
- Highway Jones: “Rock and Roll Dress”
- Would You Kindly?: “Blood in the Water”
- Mad Wet Sea: “The Hunter”
- Kings of Karma: “Them Wheels”
- Unite!: “Fire (Feel the Flame)”
- Arcana Rising: “Rainsong”
- Seventh Fall: “Hey Pablo”