Best of industrial / electro / post-punk albums of 2025

Traditionally, I close each year with my TOP 25 of the best industrial / electro / post-punk ALBUMS we’ve received at Side-Line and Inferno Sound Diaries. This TOP 25 does not include re-releases, live recordings, remix albums, or best-of compilations.

I usually write a long introductory text filled with thanks and reflections, but this year I wanted to take a risk. I asked a few readers familiar with Side-Line to pose some very critical questions about my work. You can read the results in a separate post published today. (Stéphane Froidcoeur)

So here it is: my Album TOP 25 of 2025.

1. Fïx8:Sëd8 – “OctAgram” – Dependent Records
2. Autodafeh – “Greed” – Scanner / Dark Dimensions
3. The Young Gods – “Appear Disappear” – Two Gentlemen Records
4. Das Ich – “Fanal” – Danse Macabre
5. Paranoia Inducta – “Middle Of Nowhere” – Heerwegen Tod Production
6. Dead Man’s Hill – “Born From The Black Cauldron” – Zazen Sounds
7. Rotersand – “Don’t Become The Thing You Hated – Trisol / Metropolis Records
8. Je T’Aime – “Useless Boy” – Manic Depression Records
9. They Die – “Darkroom Session” – Swiss Dark Nights
10. Rome – “The Dublin Session II” – Trisol
11. The Birthday Massacre – “Pathways” – Metropolis Records
12. Pink Panther Project – “Clinics And Models” – Assur Anshar
13. Cosmo Brigade – “Hollow Obsessions” – Alice In… / Dark Dimensions
14. First Aid 4 Souls feat. Diva’s Of The Dark – “Progenitrix” – Alfa Matrix
15. God Body Disconnect – “Detune The Tragic Light” – Cryo Chamber
16. Kristof Bathory – “Black Hole Expedition” – Cryo Chamber
17. Rome – “Civitas Solis” – Trisol
18. Ultra Sunn – “The Beast In you” – Artoffact Records
19. Melkor – “Udkraxsha” – PharmaFabrik Recordings
20. Blac Kolor – “Arca” – Ant-Zen
21. Leila-Abdul Rauf – “Call From A Seething Edge” – Cyclic Law
22. Fictional – “Some Great Constructions” – Repo Records
23. Phragments & New Risen Throne –  “Between Ecstasy & Death” – Winter Light
24. Fernando’s Eyes – “Center Of Your World” – Icy Cold Records / Aenaos Records
25. Panzerkampf – “Extermination Engineering” – Heerwegen Tod Production

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Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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