After completing the write-ups for each of these annual best of lists, there tends to be theme for the year that only becomes apparent once they’re complete. With the best albums list, I really didn’t see any dots connecting the selections, but this list of singles has perhaps revealed one, which is established or defunct groups coming back to life with new music that’s as vital as their previous work. And while I’ve noted here before that I strive to not get too attached to known greats at the expense of finding new up-and-coming greats, I saw and listened to more new bands in 2025 than I have in years, so I’m beating myself up less and feeling more certain in my picks and the validity of old groups making new, essential music. I’ll be out there eagerly damaging my hearing and throwing money at new bands throughout 2026 and will avidly do the same for veteran bands as well,
Dan Melchior und Das Menace – Natural Anxiety CS (Radical Documents)
The prolific Mr. Melchior gifts the world another fantastic document of his inventive garage rock genius, one of my favorites in recent years. Calling this garage rock isn’t quite fair, as Dan Melchior und Das Menace have consistently pushed their aesthetic beyond any by-the-numbers garage band playbook, playfully experimenting and dismantling the genre and listeners’ expectations. Natural Anxiety is no exception, as the heavily processed vocals, Joy Division riff samples, and incongruous song structures break norms left and right. The hypnotic track “Seee” might be the greatest Butthole Surfers song not by the Butthole Surfers, a trance-enducing lysergic trip that perfectly ends the A-side. Even the more straightforward tracks like “Manatee and Crow”, “Stop My Monkey”, and “Dwntwn” are blanketed in Chrome-esque effects and Ween weirdness, disorienting the listener in the most intriguing ways. Ten tracks in total, all un-skippable, which bodes quite well for the cassette format.
Electric Chair / Physique – Split 12″ (Iron Lung)
Seattle’s Iron Lung label is an always-reliable source for the best contemporary hardcore punk and in 2025 they paired two of the most raging Olympia bands onto this split 12″ that serves up five tracks from each. Electric Chair whips through just over 7 minutes of their raging start-and-stop-on-a-dime hardcore punk on their side, honed from years of touring and shredding punk houses across the country. Physique counter with just over 7 minutes of their fiercely efficient, no-nonsense approach to D-beat that’s as relentless as any hardcore punk band active today, making the predictable “which band’s side is better?” question a non-starter. This speedy 45rpm 12-incher will get plenty of spins on each side and will go down as one of the best documents of hardcore punk in 2025.
Full of Hell – Broken Sword, Rotten Shield 10″ EP (Closed Casket Activites)
Following up 2024’s amazing Coagulated Bliss LP, this groundbreaking quintet’s sole 2025 release was this EP on 10″ wax, offering up seven tracks of their one-of-a-kind avant-garde hardcore grindcore metal noise. The lead title track is a catchy mix of grindcore and Voivod-style speed metal gallops that blaze hot and carry well into “From Dog’s Mouth, A Blessing” with its massive, crunching riff and echoey vocals. From here the bottom drops out into the slow pulse of “Corpselight”, which plods an experimental electronic noise soundscape to before rounding out the A-side with the stomping track “Lament of All Things”. The flipside slowly builds with the doomy doublekick of “Mirrorhelm” and the lumbering pace of “Knight’s Oath” and “To Ruin and the World’s Ending”. With Broken Sword, Rotten Shield, Full of Hell have created another essential document of cutting edge extreme music.
Missouri Executive Order 44 / Usurp Synapse – Split 7″ (The Ghost Is Clear)
2025 saw a pair of 7″ records from M.E.O. 44, an Independence, Missouri punk powerviolence phenomenon, along with a couple tours that helped build the fanbase and attention that their 2024 album, Salt Sermon, had gained that year, including here. Like that dizzying explosion of tangled turbo riffing and Mormon-inspired themes, the pair of tracks included here are essential listening for aggro ears. On the flipside, Lafayette, Indiana’s Usurp Synapse, elders from the screamo scene circa 1999-2005 who reunited around the time M.E.O. 44 came together in 2023, offer up 4 tracks that all play on music artist names in humorous ways. For example, “Maryland Mansion” borrows a riff from a Marilyn Manson song and other tracks with titles like “Keith Sweat Pt. 2” “Kenny Login”, and “At The Drive Thru” show that these hardcore screamers don’t take things too seriously, even if their music is on par with the intense complexity and quality of primo screamo-era bands like Blood Brothers, Orchid, Sleepytime Trio, and Song of Zarathustra. Add killer cover art and you’ve got another must-have slab of vinyl from TGIC Records.
Moros – Recrudescent Horror CS (Knife Hits)
A new wave of old school death metal has been building over the last year or two, which has made it much harder to find a fresh, or at least memorable take on the oversaturated genre. There are tons of great DM bands out there, but many aren’t necessarily all that interesting, especially if they’re hyper-focused on sounding old school versus just feeling old school, which to me means heavy ass music that turns your head and makes you say “ffffuuuucccckkkkk.” Of the hundreds of DM bands I heard in 2025, Moros’ 4-track demo really stuck with me on account of their ruthlessly bleak and doom-ridden sludge style that lands somewhere between the committed tones of Corrupted and the nastiness of Deceased’s Luck of the Corpse album. Nothing flashy, but 100% real. And those are just reference points, as Moros’ sound is all their own and they’re clearly the real deal. As Malfunkshun once said, play “With Yo Heart, Not Yo Hands” — something Moros clearly does from the bottom of their blackened hearts.
Nature Boys – 13 / Common Visions 7″ (Self-Released)
This long-running Kansas City punk trio’s sole release in 2025 was this two-songer of tracks recorded in 2024. They were also busy touring Japan in 2025 and they tend to kick out albums every three years or so, so here’s to hoping that 2026 brings more Nature Boys’ trademark male/female dual vocals and catchy punk anthems. And if the B-side track “Common Visions” is any indicator of the direction they’re heading, it will be a treat to hear this more mature and slightly melancholic shade color their sound.
Nice Smile / Pissed Off Zombies — split 7″ (Total Punk)
I’m of the camp that will snatch up anything by PNW legend Rob Vasquez, being first smitten with a freebie Night Kings 7″ that came with an issue of Bad Vibe zine sometime in the mid-1990s. Since then, I’ve jumped at any opportunity to hear any Vasquez-related projects, so when Total Punk announced this 2-track split 45 with two of Vasquez’s bands I didn’t hesitate to obtain a copy ASAP. Both tracks have the detached, could-give-a-shit garage punk aesthetic that’s made Vasquez a hero to so many fans, with a lo-fi, blown-out DIY aesthetic capturing utterly perfect, memorable tunes. Even more exciting is the news that there’s a lot more unreleased recordings like these to be released in the future.
Smirk – Domestic Dog / Manhunt in Paradise 7″ (Industry Standards)
While the vinyl might not surface until 2026, this digital single was released in November 2025 and continues the solid and dependably great downbeat punk that Nick Vicario has been serving up since 2020. “Domestic Dog” has the feel of a early-80s new wavy punk, with an awesome Oingo Boingo-style guitar lick and a glazed goth minor key riff that makes it feel like something that could fit well on the dark Side B side of the first Hell Comes To Your House comp. “Manhunt in Paradise” is a classic Smirk downer with a chiming dual guitar work and a thoughtful arrangement that doesn’t feel hurried or insincere. After only single releases in 2024 and 2025, let us hope that we may be blessed with a Smirk album sometime in 2026.
Useless Eaters – “Lush Bomb” single (Self-Released)
The first new Useless Eaters tracks since Seth Sutton’s return to the U.S. trickled out in 2025, ending the drought since 2016’s excellent Temporary Mutilation 10″ and Relaxing Death LP releases. While Seth kept busy with other excellent musical endeavors such as Blaq Hammer, Clock of Time, Exit Group, Glaas, POW! and others I need to dig deeper into, it’s been fuckin’ great to hear some new Useless Eaters tunes. The Ego Shell / Rub 7″ released at the tail end of 2025 is equally great, but “Lush Bomb” has had more time to simmer in my brain pan and earn its place among the great tunes of 2025.
Wayne Pain & The Shit Stains – Street Mammogram 7″ EP (Goodbye Boozy)
You won’t find trashier punk than Wayne Pain & The Shit Stains and after a relatively quiet 2024, they’re roared back in 2025 with a trash punk mean streak, literally kicking of this 4-song EP with a track titled “Digging Through The Trash”. From there the raw ass punk-n-roll continues with nasty rippers like “Baby, I Hate You”, “The Girl Can’t Dance” and “I Get Drunk”, all recorded in the red in the gnarliest fidelity. In other words, essential listening.