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Scene Point Blank's Favorites: Year End (2025)

Music / Year End 2025 • December 23, 2025

Every year we diligently assemble a list of our favorite albums of the year. Each SPB staff member enters the large arena we nickname THE DOJO, and yells out the name of their top album of the year. Rival staffers quickly assemble and shout out their own highly-favored record, and quickly the battle begins. Whoever is left standing after surviving the onslaught of music-loving nerds is crowned and anointed as the SPB CHAMPION, and their album duly takes the #1 spot on our list (below). The second-place champ gets to call their preferred choice our #2 album, and so on and so forth. Some might say this is a needlessly brutal way to assemble a site-wide list of our favorite albums of the year, but we believe it's raw, democratic, and we can't really think of another way of deciding on the best albums of 2025. If you have any ideas, please email us. But for now, let's put our differences aside, stock up on anti-bruising medication, and read Scene Point Blank's Top 30 albums of 2025. Check out the final page for our individual staff lists, too. Read more

Pass The Mic: Artists and labels on 2025

Music / Year End 2025 • December 23, 2025

For many years now, Scene Point Blank has taken the opportunity as the year ends to formally "pass the mic" … Read more

2025: A Year In Review

Music / Year End 2025 • December 23, 2025

Another twelve months have passed. Even though it's our job to make predictions and call things before they happen, it … Read more

Pulley and Fire Sale - Double interview

Interviews • December 6, 2025

When two bands come together on a split release, it’s more than just sharing music on vinyl. It’s a conversation … Read more

Latest album reviews — browse all

Crippling Alcoholism

Camgirl
Portrayal of Guilt Records (2025)

Crippling Alcoholism have always navigated a delicate balance between musical depth and immediacy. A blend that few bands attempt, let alone master, but Crippling Alcoholism's two previous full-length records, When The Drugs That Make You Sick Are The Drugs That Make You Better and especially With Love From A Padded Room did exactly that. With a foundation formed through post-punk … Read more

The Necks

Disquiet
Northern Spy (2025)

There are no signs of slowing down for Australian jazz masters The Necks. Following the release of the excellent Bleed in 2024, the legendary trio makes a return with their 20th full-length record, Disquiet. Long-form compositions are nothing new for the trio, but here they dive headfirst into a three-hour tour de force, traversing the abstract and meditative territories they … Read more

The Eradicator

You Can Hate The Eradicator
Independent (2025)

Is The Eradicator a joke that's been going for 10 years (the band), or for 35 (the skit)? Does it matter? Well, only in the sense that I question how much material the Kids In The Hall-inspired hardcore band can cull from a 5-minute skit. (Maybe 10 minutes. The character was revived in 2022's Season 6.) Why do I bring … Read more

Prayer Group

Strawberry
Reptilian Records (2025)

Standing between genres can act as a vantage point. For Prayer Group, sitting at the intersection between noise rock and hardcore has armed them with the necessary arsenal to propel their anger and frustration forward. And so, through a series of EPs and singles, this work culminated in their 2022 debut full-length, Michael Dose, where The Jesus Lizard methodology collided … Read more

Additional album reviews

The Goslings

Plexuses, Planes
Independent (2025)

For experimental rock artists torn between noise-rock abrasion and torturous drone immersion, one side usually wins. It is either a certain sentimental and ethereal quality or an oppressive noise dimension … Read more

Bee Bee Sea

Stanzini Can Be Allright
Wild Honey Records (2025)

I believe the first I heard of this album was when Wild Honey released the limited edition It’s All About The Music concept 7” EP back in July. Exclusively released … Read more

Second Harbour

Coalesce EP
Sharptone (2025)

Formed around the tight-knit chemistry of brothers Xavier and Vincent Morency with drummer John Muggianu, Canada’s Second Harbour are that rare modern post-hardcore band that sound equally comfortable bleeding and … Read more

Stay The Course

Red Flag
Punkerton Records (2025)

Hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Stay The Course brings their brand of pop-punk/easycore onto the scene. This is the band’s second album and is being released courtesy of Punkerton Records out … Read more

Witness Chamber

Bronze Gates
Brain Floss (2025)

Straight out of Boise’s unforgiving hardcore pipeline, the band Witness Chamber returns with Bronze Gates, their most suffocating and sharpened release yet. Seven tracks with zero breathing room. If you’ve … Read more

Home Front

Watch It Die
La Vida Es Un Mus Discos Punk (2025)

There's a song on Watch It Die called "Dancing With Anxiety," a title that wraps up Home Front's style quite well. Because I like to beat metaphors to a pulp, … Read more

PitchBlack

Walking on Burning Ground
Producciones Paganas (2025)

Formed in the mid-2000s, PitchBlack have always been one of Danish metal’s most overlooked heavy hitters. A band is sitting between old-school melodeath grit and European thrash aggression, building a … Read more

Speed

All My Angels EP
Flatspot Records, Last Ride Records (2025)

If you haven’t hopped on the SPEED train when they broke through, now is the time. The band formed in Sydney and blew past “local band” status the second the … Read more

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SPB featured stream: EFF - Zero

Posted in Records on December 2, 2025

After a string of singles, darkwave project EFF will release debut album Zero on Dec. 8. EFF started in 2023, with the songs that comprise Zero were written after July 2024 and take the sound in a new direction that balances reflection with transition. To steal some perfect language from … Read more

Get "Lit" with Jaguero

Posted in Bands on December 23, 2025

Following their two EPs thus far, Jaguero has announced plans for a full-length album, presumably in the coming year. The news comes, of course, with a lead single, "Lit." The … Read more

The Flenser has Crippling Alcoholism

Posted in Labels on December 19, 2025

Gothic noise band Crippling Alcoholism has just signed with The Flenser record label, which will reissue the band's Camgirl in early 2026. Founded by Tony Castrati after battling alcoholism, the … Read more

Hyper Gal in Europe

Posted in Tours on December 18, 2025

Japanese no wave duo Hyper Gal are headed to Europe in April-May, including Out of the Crowd Festival in Luxembourg City, Colossal Weekend in Copenhagen, and individual shows. The Osaka-based … Read more

Solid Sound Festival 2026 lineup

Posted in Shows on December 18, 2025

The Wilco led Solid Sound Festival will take place again in 2026, at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA on June 26-28. The newly announced lineup includes Billy Bragg, The … Read more

Grail Guard - Still No Future in 2026

Posted in Records on December 18, 2025

UK hardcore band Grail Guard just announced Still No Future, a grim and angry collection of songs to release on March6 via TNSrecords. Grail Guard's frontman and lyricist, Riaz grew … Read more

Shaving the Werewolf and Forcefed Horsehead split

Posted in Records on December 18, 2025

In a mouthful of a split EP, Norway bands Forcefed Horsehead and Shaving the Werewolf have announced an upcoming 2026 split EP to be titled From Horrid To Worse. The … Read more

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