Rolling Stone’s 15 Best Metal Albums Of 2025 List Is Pretty Solid

Music publication Rolling Stone have unveiled their list of The 15 Best Metal Albums Of 2025 and it’s pretty damn good!

For every major release like Ghost and Deftones, Rolling Stone got in some excellent choices from bands like Runemagick, Chepang, and Agriculture. Looking at metal’s representation across Rolling Stone‘s wider coverage, the genre once again found limited space on the publication’s Top 100 Best Albums Of 2025 list. Only two heavier-leaning records made the cut:

• Deftones landed at #76 with their tenth studio album, private music
• Turnstile earned #31 for their critically acclaimed release, NEVER ENOUGH

While metal continues to occupy a smaller footprint in Rolling Stone’s broader rankings, the outlet’s dedicated metal list paints a clearer picture of the genre’s strongest offerings in 2025. The list is as follows, though you really ought to go check out the full editorial right here.

1. Coroner – Dissonance Theory
2. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
3. Runemagick – Cycle Of The Dying Sun (Dawn Of Ashen Remains)
4. Chepang – Jhyappa
5. Castle Rat – The Beastiary
6. Rwake – The Return Of Magick
7. Whitechapel – Hymns In Dissonance
8. Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services
9. Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons
10. Halestorm – Everest
11. Primitive Man – Observance
12. Dream Theater – Parasomnia
13. Ghost – Skeletá
14. Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound
15. Deftones – private music

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