Tuonela Magazine’s Annual Staff Picks 2025: Editor-in-chief’s Edition

December 27, 2025

Now that 2025 is coming to a close, we at Tuonela Magazine want to share the releases that we have most enjoyed. Each of our staff members will share their own list, so here is the list of Laureline Tilkin, the editor-in-chief.

Another year has flown by. Seriously, does time have a fast-forward button these days?

Looking at the year as a whole, 2025 was also a strong one for metal in general. A lot of huge bands released new albums, so there was no shortage of big names competing for attention. At the same time, there were plenty of surprises that came out of nowhere and ended up having just as much, if not more, impact. In the progressive metal sphere, the year felt a little quieter than usual in terms of quantity, but the quality more than made up for it. Fewer releases, yes, but the ones we did get were strong enough to make it a very good year for prog regardless.

When I wrote my 2024 list, it was heavily shaped by the passing of my maternal grandfather in May of that year. Writing this now almost feels absurd, but somehow 2025 managed to echo that experience. My paternal grandfather passed away right in the middle of my summer holiday at the end of September. Needless to say, even though it happened late in the year, it still left a strong mark on it. On top of that, I went to Euroblast only a few days later, where I realized once again that music is my emotional support animal.

Because of everything that happened, I had very little time to properly prepare for Euroblast, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I ended up hearing several bands live for the first time, including IHLO, ESOTERICA, VIANOVA, and BENTHOS, who just happened to have released new albums. Those records went straight into my top 10. They offered exactly the kind of escapism I desperately needed at the time, and my replay button barely got a break.

Outside of all that emotional turbulence, 2025 was a lot. As in, work-yourself-into-the-ground-and-then-keep-digging a lot. I definitely went too hard and eventually crashed. Hopefully, 2026 will come with a slightly better work-life balance patch. For now, I am trying to catch up on everything I did not get around to and start the new year with a clean slate, or at least a less chaotic one.

Putting together my international top 10 albums turned out to be surprisingly difficult. Some albums I fully expected to dominate just did not hit quite as hard as I thought they would. If you had told me last year that SLEEP TOKEN, ORBIT CULTURE, or IGORRR would not be an easy number one, I would have looked at you like you had lost your mind. But here we are. For a while, I was convinced SCARDUST’s “Souls” would take the top spot, as it was such a fresh and rewarding listen. However, thanks to Euroblast, a few other albums ended up blowing me away even more. NAILED TO OBSCURITY also deserves a special mention. It is top 3 material without question. All killer, no filler, and on repeat more times than I am willing to admit.

On the Finnish albums side, ranking the top four was borderline painful. Honestly, they all deserve the same spot. I had to choose somehow between LUNA KILLS, BLOODRED HOURGLASS, WARMEN, and ROYAL SORROW. In the end, I went with loyalty as number one. After all, I probably spun LUNA KILLS’ new album the most. They are also one of the very few bands I would travel for, which I did in May when they played their first-ever show in my home country, Belgium.

Of course, there were plenty of fantastic albums that did not make the top 10 simply because space ran out. EPICA, ELUVEITIE, SCARDUST, ALIEN WEAPONRY, GHOST, LANDMVRKS, and UNPROCESSED all released albums that got a lot of playtime.

All things considered, despite the personal and professional challenges, 2025 turned out to be a very good year, especially musically. And honestly, that is what kept me going. Now, let’s dive in!