Feature / Music / Year End 2025
2025: A Year In Review

This EP came as a total surprise, but what a welcome surprise! I was very positive about the debut LP and this follow up does not show a change of course. So here are another four tracks of catchy melodic skatepunk transporting you right back to the mid to late nineties with a perfect blend of American and Swedish punkinfluences.

One of my favorite discoveries of the last couple of years brings another four tracks of extremely catchy pop-punk. I discovered this band two years ago with the release of Illiberal Holiday, was treated to a great EP last year and a new one this year. I am happy with this steady stream of new punk. A funny thing about this band is that they release both an English and Hungarian version of their songs. As in the past, I still prefer the Hungarian version, as I the singing sounds better in my opinion. If you do mind not understanding the lyrics, do yourself a favor and check out the English version (called No Train's Coming)!

This Barcelona trio delivers a raw and gritty OI! with post-punk EP. The production is brilliant, fitting the genre; it’s rough enough around the edges to give the band a certain oomph. And that’s just how it should be. On these five tracks, the bands pays homage to bands that influenced them, shaped their sound. I don’t know which bands that are, but it sounds like a well meant homage. The end-result is a short, but great EP.

Nuclear War Machine seems like an apt description of the contents of this EP. It’s an onslaught from the first seconds to the last with an uncompromising and unrelenting d-beat vibe the whole way through. The production is raw and grimey as it should be.

If blistering and confrontational hardcore is your thing you should definitely enjoy Ta2Reeban. This Beirut based band sounds incredibly pissed off and they channel all that rage and anger through these five songs. As all lyrics are in Arabic I am not sure what they are singing about, but there’s more than enough going on right now to be pissed about, so I have some ideas. The production is raw and fitting the style like a glove. The only downside is the artwork, which doesn’t look very inspired. Highly recommended!

This Norwegian band does not limit itself to one style. When made to choose between playing black metal, death metal or thrash metal their reply was simply “yes”. Add a raw production with a pleasant focus on the low sounds and the end result is enticing, enchanting and just good fun.

This EP, that serves as a farewell from a band that, to be fair, I had already said goodbye to (their last release was from 2015, you can’t blame for having given up on them) brings back good memories. Now, I have  to be fair, I was/am a big fanboy, so including this EP might have something to do with that. Is this EP as good as their works from the past? I am not sure I can objectively tell (my answer is "YES, IT IS! WHY DO YOU THINK IT'S ON THIS LIST?"). However, if mixing screamo, crust, grind and old school hardcore sounds interesting, this EP might be one for you. Also, do yourself a favor and check out their previous releases.

Confession time: sometimes I can be a bit of an idiot. At first I thought this was one weird name for a band to have. It took me a while to understand (until the third song started to be precise) to understand this was actually a split (it only says it is in big bold letters on Bandcamp, but…). Anyways, of course this is a split album. After listening to this split I’ve bought previous releases by both bands. I hope this tells you that both sides of this split are pretty enjoyable. Both bands bands play melodic punk. Korupuhe is my favorite of the two, but only by a small margin.

I got into this band last year after the release of their previous EP (Лекарство от жизни). I enjoy thier modern hardcore punk stylings which remind me a bit of what bands like Turnstille and Firstline are also tapping into. Melodic and almost experimental without forgetting their punk roots. Another great release by this band!

When quality label Un Vie Pour Rien releases something I listen. Especially because I have grown to love French OI!, a genre where this label has an impeccable taste. The name of the band sounded familiar, which checks out: I own their 2023 demo. What do you get? Fast and aggressive hardcore with very strong OI! leanings. As I have included it in this list I think I don’t have to stress this is high quality music, right? 

Hardcore about unity, that’s a while ago. Still love that message though! This bands previous EP was nice, but didn’t really do it for me. On this release though, you’ll find only hits. This is the kind of OI! that is all about the roots of the genre, both music- and lyric-wise. And yet it sounds extremely relevant. Listening to this EP makes me feel like being part of something bigger, makes me feel strong because there’s a we instead of (only) an I and there’s a certain warmth and comfort from this feeling. The kind of comfort that makes you feel strong and ready for action, for change, for something better. This is what drew me to hardcore in the first place. I love this!

This EP is almost as long as the shorter albums of my full-length yearlist. That makes sense as this is a different genre altogether. The Big Rip is an up and coming Norwegian Stoner band that released their second EP this year. And oh boy, what a nice EP this is. It marries doom influences with the typical desert rock influences yet also leaves room for more psychedelic wanderings. I look forward to more work from this up and coming stoner band!