We’re a couple of weeks into 2026 now, and already some big names have started popping up with the likes of Alter Bridge, Megadeth and Kreator all releasing albums in the first month of the year. BUT, we’re not quite done with 2025 yet.
Before Christmas, we asked you to vote for the best albums of the year, offering over 100 options for you to choose from. And choose you certainly did, with over 17,000 votes cast. We’ve got the results, and seeing as we’ve already got an official Top 50 albums of 2025, as voted for by Metal Hammer staff and freelancers, we figured we’d just run through the top 40 in a list below, and devote a little extra to your top 10.
Ghost’s Skeletá was voted Hammer‘s album of the year, but how did it fare for our readers? And which albums did you think deserved more time in the spotlight? Read on to see the results of our poll…
50. Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations
49. Thornhill – Bodies
48. Wardruna – Birna
47. Landmvrks – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been
46. King Kraken – March Of The Gods
45. Alien Weaponry – Te Ra
44. Coroner – Dissonance Theory
43. Turnstile – Never Enough
42. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III
41. Creeper – Sangivore II
40. Rivers Of Nihil – Rivers Of Nihil
39. Avantasia – Here Be Dragons
38. Slaughter To Prevail – Grizzly
37. Killswitch Engage – This Consequence
36. Machine Head – Unatoned
35. Eluveitie – Anv
34. Cradle Of Filth – The Screaming Of The Valkyries
33. Battle Beast – Steelbound
32. Igorrr – Amen
31. The Halo Effect – March Of The Unheard
30. Castle Rat – The Bestiary
29. Epica – Aspiral
28. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
27. Jinjer – Duel
26. I Prevail – Violent Nature
25. Amorphis – Borderland
24. Whitechapel – Hymns In Dissonance
23. Helloween – Giants & Monsters
22. Dream Theater – Parasomnia
21. Arch Enemy – Blood Dynasty
20. Grima – Nightshade
19. Testament – Para Bellum
18. Volbeat – Goat Of Angel’s Trust
17. Halestorm – Everest
16. Lacuna Coil – Sleepless Empire
15. Bloodywood – Nu Delhi
14. Paradise Lost – Ascension
13. Architects – The Sky, The Earth & All Between
12. Sabaton – Legends
11. Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me
10. Ward XVI – Identity (Self Released)
If there’s one thing metal fans have proved time and again, it’s that they love a bit of theatrical camp, particularly if it involves horror. UK horrorcore troupe Ward XVI certainly put that to the test with their third full length, a colourful combination of lunking, downtuned riffs, quirky flourishes and big choruses that brought to mind the finest efforts by bands like Wednesday 13 or Lordi.
The buzz around melodeath mob Orbit Culture feels like it’s hitting deafening levels now. Their fifth album, Death Above Life delivered on the genre’s promise to create something that could bridge the truly heavy with something properly anthemic, the Swedes taking some seriously big swings on an album that wasn’t just packed with gargantuan riffs and arena-ready choruses, but a sense of emotion and soul.
8. Avatar – Don’t Go In The Forest (Black Waltz)
Avatar went extra hard on the sonic diversity for their tenth album. Starting out the jaunty, military march of Tonight We Must Be Warriors, they swiftly took listeners on a sonic odyssey that covered sea shanties (Captain Goat), disco metal (Death And Glitz) and even straight-up old school Swedish style death metal (albeit with an Avatar flourish – just listen to those drums and riffs on Abduction Song). The result? A gloriously colourful, mad listen from start to finish.
7. Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea (Rise)
Four years in the making, Spiritbox’s second full-length may well have surpassed their boundary pushing debut. Granted, it didn’t have a viral hit like Holy Roller, but considering that track effectively laid out the base elements of Spiritbox’s sound, instead what we got was a perfection of all those disparate elements, from crushing metalcore to ascendant alt-metal and even electronica, all folded in with expert brilliance
6. Deftones – Private Music (Reprise)
You might’ve noticed from the sheer number of bands who now ape their sound, but suddenly Deftones have become massive. For any other band, that might’ve added pressure for their next album, but instead Deftones just ignored the world outside and focused on themselves. Private Music feels like a highlights reel for everything great about the band, riffs dropping like meteors from the heavens in the band’s most immediate, thundering record in over a decade.
![deftones - my mind is a mountain [official music video] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eVqZrI9JE6Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
Over a decade sicne they first became a viral hit, Babymetal asserted they were so much more than just a curio in the metal scene. They achieved that by pulling together a genuinely impressive guestlist of collaborators for their fourth full-length, ranging from Electric Callboy and Bloodywood to Spiritbox, Poppy, Slaughter To Prevail and Tom Morello, each adding a unique new flavour to the Babymetal without actually taking away from who the J-metal icons are.
4. Sleep Token – Even In Arcadia (RCA)
After capping off a trilogy that saw them become the biggest new metal band of the decade, Sleep Token somehow managed to go even bigger for their fourth full-length. The pop sensibilities were so much more developed on Even In Arcadia, the band even letting the mask slip a little on the salty Caramel, which reckoned with the costs of fame. Yet, amidst it all was a sense that Sleep Token have become the high watermark for what mainstream rock and metal want to be, Arcadia… resplendent in luscious vocal melodies and songs that felt pre-destined to conquer radio and massive venues worldwide.
3. Lord Of The Lost – Opvs Noir Vol. 1 (Napalm)
You might’ve noticed from the fact they win just about every tracks of the week poll they enter, but Germany’s Lord Of The Lost have a seriously engaged fanbase. With good reason, too: the Germans are among the most ambitious of metal’s modern bands, even aside from Eurovision and Iron Maiden tours undertaking everything from full orchestral albums to complete sound-and-image overhauls according to their creative vision. The first of a planned three-entry series, Opvs Noir Vol. 1 lent hard on sultry industrial-meets-goth, drawing on 80s pop sensibilities to create some genuine anthems, as well as star team-ups like Light Can Only Shine In The Darkness, which saw them recruit Within Temptation’s Sharon Den Adel.
2. Lord Of The Lost – Opvs Noir Vol. 2 (Napalm)
Released right at the tail-end of 2025, Lord Of The Lost continued their sultry industrial-goth vision with the second volume of Opvs Noir. There were no massive reinventions; this was elegant, horny goth music with a DNA in everyone from Roxy Music and Pet Shop Boys to Type O Negative, albeit with plenty of muscular riffs and thumping beats to ensure it didn’t just slip into wan, new wave territory.
1. Ghost – Skeletá (Loma Vista)
Not only was Ghost Hammer‘s critic’s choice for album of the year, but they also took top spot for our readers. It’s not hard to see why; since 2018’s Prequelle the band have delighted in making bombastic arena tunes (they certainly didn’t shy away from the Def Leppard comparisons on Impera).
Skeletá is no exception on that trajectory. Although this time it felt like the Swedes were drawing hard on yacht rock and AOR, more than a smattering of Journey and Boston could be found in the DNA of tunes like Peacefield. All that said, they still delivered on a sense of gleeful maximalism, tunes like Lachryma and Satanized bridging the gap to their doomier, underground past without losing sight of the massive crowds they now thrill. As much a gateway band as they are champions of metal’s old guard, its not hard to see why so many love them.
