The Callous Daoboys’ favorite albums of 2025

If you’ve ever wondered what a cross between Mr. Bungle and The Dillinger Escape Plan would sound like and then realized that kind of exists but still weren’t satisfied with the answer, you may be looking for The Callous Daoboys. Even more so than their first two albums, [2025’s] I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven carries the mathcore torch for the latter while embracing the whimsical frenzy and the fucked up pop sensibilities of the former. It’s home to some of their heaviest material yet as well as straight-up pop music, and a whole slew of unpredictable things in between. If heavy music had a place in mainstream culture the way it did in the ’90s and 2000s, The Callous Daoboys could be the new System Of A Down–a deeply strange, heavy rock band with nearly-inexplicable crossover success. 

Atlanta’s The Callous Daoboys released their own great third album this year (the above quote is from Andrew’s review), and before we end the year, Amber, Matt, Maddie, Carson, Jackie & Dan from the band gave us their lists of 2025 favorites. Catch them on tour with Arm’s Length in 2026, and check out their album lists below…

Amber-

1. Clipse, Pusha T & Malice – Let God Sort Em Out
2. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
3. Ninajirachi – I Love My Computer
4. Clark – Sleep Stims
5. Erika de Casier – Lifetime
6. Ichiko Aoba – Luminescent Creatures
7. Greyhaven – Keep It Quiet
8. 2hollis – Star

EPs

1. Jane Remover – ♡
2. Wishy – Planet Popstar

Matt –

1. The Mars Volta – Lucro Sucio 
2. AFI – silver bleeds the black sun 
3. Pool kids – easier said than done 
4. DeathDotGov – deathdotcom
5. Deafheaven – lonely people with power 

Carson – 

1. 1. Ethel Cain – Perverts
2. 2. Rosalia – LUX
3. 3. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
4. 4. Arm’s Length – There’s a Whole World Out There
5. 5. Orthodox – A Door Left Open

Jackie – 

1. Deafheaven – Lonely People with Power
2. Fleshwater – 2000: In Search of The Endless Sky
3. Discontent – Processing Upheaval
4. Stateside – Where You Found Me
5. C4 – Payback’s a Bitch

Honorable Mentions:

• Tribal Gaze – Inveighing Brilliance
• Corpse Pile – In The Beginning…
• Skinhead – It’s A Beautiful Day What A Beautiful Day
• Killing Me Softly – To Forever Fall Through God’s Safety Net
• SCARAB – Burn After Listening

Dan – 

1. Natalia Lafourcade – Cancionera
2. Blind Equation – A Funeral In Purgatory
3. Greyhaven – Keep It Quiet
4. Greet Death – Die In Love
5. Purity Ring – Purity Ring
6. Butcher Brown – Letters From the Atlantic
7. Model/Actriz – Pirouette
8. Snooze – I KNOW HOW YOU WILL DIE
9. Blood Vulture – Die Close
10. Vildhjarta – + Där skogen sjunger under evighetens granar +
11. All I Hear Is Birds – GODSPEED
12. Benthos – From Nothing

EPs

1. Tan and Handsome – 2 Tan 2 Handsome
2. Rolo Tomassi – In the Echoes of All Dreams
3. Combat Evolved – A Wink and a Grin…
4. SPLITJAW – Truth & Reconciliation
5. Fromjoy – Ataraxia 19.13.8.1.19

Maddie – 

1. Snooze – I KNOW HOW YOU WILL DIE
2. PinkPantheress – Fancy That
3. Stateside – Where You Found Me
4. Orthodox – A Door Left Open
5. Food house – two house
6. Kaonashi – I Want To Go Home
7. For Your Health – This Bitter Garden
8. Pool Kids – Easier Said Than Done
9. Your Spirit Dies – My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest
10. Wiltwither – Pure Light
11. Greyhaven – Keep It Quiet
12. Unprocessed – Angel

Browse more Best of 2025 lists.