Stick To Your Guns‘ Keep Planting Flowers, Lacuna Coil‘s Sleepless Empire, Killswitch Engage‘s This Consequence, Spiritbox‘s Tsunami Sea, Whitechapel‘s Hymns In Dissonance, Bloodywood‘s Nu Delhi, Alien Weaponry‘s Te Rā, Deafheaven‘s Lonely People With Power, Arch Enemy‘s Blood Dynasty, Underoath‘s The Place After This One… and those are just the notable releases within the first three months of 2025.
Yet, someway, somehow, Sleep Token has taken home Revolver Magazine‘s End Of The Year Award for “Album Of The Year” for Even In Arcadia.
Out of the near 100 records to be released in the heavy music scene this year… Even In Arcadia takes the prize. Granted, it was a commercially successful record, so yes, technically ‘album of the year’ isn’t that far of a stretch, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best. Because if we begin to quantify how good an album is by how much it has sold within one year, then it negates the numerous smaller label releases that just blow bigger production out of the water. And it’s not because we ‘just don’t get it’ –Even In Arcadia was criticised by publications for its safety and seeming “inauthentic,” but we understand why though. It’s scary to piss of Sleep Token fans – we do it all the time.
Revolver Magazine then also hail Courtney LaPlante, Poppy, and Amy Lee‘s rather lacklustre collaboration “End Of You” as song of the year, which is disappointing considering Spiritbox‘s “Soft Spine” was quite literally right there. Or, you know, Lamb Of God‘s “Parasocial Christ.” Or Deftones‘ “My Mind Is A Mountain.” Hell, even Limp Bizkit‘s “Making Love To Morgan Wallen” would have been better.
Then, Deftones are hailed as Artist Of The Year, with Revolver saying it was awarded to the band “for their massive 2025. From their excellent private music LP to the most recent iteration of their wildly diverse Dia De Los Deftones festival, the alt-metal leaders further cemented their position as both elder statesmen and cutting-edge trailblazers” (Revolver Magazine).
Ghost ended up being handed the award for Live Band Of The Year, and that alone made it very obvious that these awards are based on success alone. And while that is a perfectly valid way to judge a record and rank it, however, just because a record, or song, or band is big, doesn’t mean they’re good. Awards feel disingenuous when they go to a piece of work that truly doesn’t encapsulate the boundaries and popularity that metal has been pushing at.
Out of all of the categories, it feels like Deftones is the only appropriate winner. Whether it’s ragebait, engagement bait, or whatever, the winners in 2025 are so vapid that it does injustice to some pretty great (and successful) albums and songs that came out this year.
We’re not alone in what we think. Check out the comments on the Instagram posts below.
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