Notable Releases of the Week (11/14)

This week brought the first major album year-end lists of 2025 but the year isn’t over yet. A lot of great new albums came out today, and it’s been a busy time in the music world in general. Since we last spoke, the Grammy nominations came out, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony happened (with some genuinely cool moments), and Robyn made her anticipated return. We talked about all of that and more on the two newest episodes of BV Weekly, streaming wherever you listen to podcasts.

As for this week’s new albums, I highlight eight below and Bill tackles a few others in Indie Basement, including The Mary Onettes, The Dears, I Was A King, and The Gnomes. On top of those, this week’s honorable mentions include RZA’s Bobby Digital Presents: Juice Crew All Stars, Torture, Raw Brigade, Summer Walker, Boldy James & Nicholas Craven, Tony Molina, Cheap Trick, Austra, Home Front, Cheem, Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids), Valee & MVW, TOBi & Real Bad Man, FearDorian & osquinn, Surf Gang & Lerado Khalil, Odonis Odonis, VoidCeremony, Degraved, Spencer Radcliffe, Men Without Hats, Sword II, Bicep, Egyptrixx, Wale, Ed Harcourt, Nightmares On Wax, Mina Tindle, Theo Croker & Sullivan Fortner, runo plum, K-Lone, JJJJJerome Ellis, Onyon, Tiberius, Of Mice & Men, The Devil Wears Prada, The Neighbourhood, 5 Seconds Of Summer, the Jimmy Eat World EP, the Big Boy EP, the Orville Peck EP, the Primordial Rites EP, the Samia live album, caroline’s deluxe edition of this year’s caroline 2, Momma’s deluxe edition of this year’s Welcome to My Blue Sky, Jake Xerxes Fussell & James Elkington’s score for Rebuilding, Jim Jarmusch & Anika’s Father Mother Sister Brother soundtrack, Blondshell’s If You Asked for a Picture companion album, the deluxe edition of Momma’s 2025 album Welcome To My Blue Sky, the Pavement best-of, the Doves best-of, the Sponge rarities comp, the “lost” Ima Robot (pre-Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) album, The Notwist’s rarities comp, the expanded 10th anniversary edition of Modern Baseball’s Perfect Cast EP, the expanded 25th anniversary edition of Green Day’s Warning, the 35th anniversary edition of Lush’s Gala, the 40th anniversary edition of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy, Circle Jerks’ Golden Shower of Hits reissue, Drive-By Truckers’ The Definitive Decoration Day, the 50th anniversary Split Enz box, The Rolling Stones’ Black And Blue box, and the Christopher Cross singles compilation.

Read on for my picks, and check out the new episode of BV Weekly for more of this week’s new music and music news. What’s your favorite release of the week?

Lamp Of Murmuur – The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy (Wolves of Hades)
The US black metal act’s latest album is his most triumphant and musically diverse yet, with elements of prog, goth, folk, classical, and more.

We were just talking about how it feels like there’s more widespread excitement around black metal (or at least US black metal) this year than there has been in a while, thanks in large part to the deservedly beloved new albums from Deafheaven, Agriculture, and Blackbraid. And one of the other albums I highlighted during that discussion was the then-upcoming album from recent Blackbraid tourmate Lamp of Murmuur (who also shares a backing touring band with Blackbraid). At the time, I had only heard the singles from Lamp of Murmuur’s new album, and now the whole thing is here and it’s even more triumphant than the singles predicted. It’s also more than just black metal; it makes its way through progressive rock, gothic metal, dark folk, symphonic interludes, and more, and the title track(s) is a three-part suite that clocks in at over 20 minutes. As on Lamp of Murmuur’s great 2023 album Saturnian Bloodstorm, within the harsh black metal parts, you hear elements of speed/thrash metal, NWOBHM, and classic rock, but The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy goes far deeper into post-genre territory than its predecessor. Stylistic departures aside, The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy is just an intense listen, an album that gets better and more unpredictable as it goes on. Its peaks, valleys, and twists are cinematic.

FKA twigs – EUSEXUA Afterglow (Young/Atlantic)
The year’s best rave-pop album gets a hazy victory lap.

As year-end lists and Grammy nominations come out, it’s already clear that we’re gonna see a lot of FKA twigs’ EUSEXUA this list season. The January release was an early AOTY contender and it’s stayed a strong one all year, and as the year comes to a close, twigs is back for more. Despite the title, twigs intends EUSEXUA Afterglow to be a standalone album, not a deluxe edition of EUSEXUA a refreshing change to the all-too-common opposite scenario. But given the title, it is of course at least connected to EUSEXUA and it comes off as another side of the same coin. EUSEXUA‘s rave-pop vibes are still present on Afterglow, but they’re maybe a bit more atmospheric this time around. If EUSEXUA captured the euphoria of peak rave hours, then Afterglow sets the clock just a few hours after that, when people are still dancing but everything’s getting just a little bit hazier.

Also today, FKA twigs released an alternate edition of EUSEXUA with new artwork, three new songs added (“The Dare,” “Got To Feel,” and “Lonely But Exciting Road”), and three songs from the original LP subtracted (“Perfect Stranger,” “Childlike Things,” “Wanderlust”).

Ben Quad – Wisher (Pure Noise)
The OKC band make another sharp turn on their third major release, this time towards early 2000s emo.

Fifth wave emo is really in its third wave emo era. Between the new Charmer and Arm’s Length albums, parts of the new Anxious LP, and now Ben Quad’s sophomore album Wisher, the latest generation of emo bands really have it sounding like 2002 out here. Wisher is another stylistic leap for Ben Quad, following the mathy Midwest emo of their 2022 debut LP I’m Scared That’s All There Is and the heavy screamo of 2024’s Ephemera EP, they’re now three for three at putting their own spin on different eras and styles of emo. Bits and pieces of ISTATI and Ephemera pop up on Wisher, but mostly it finds Ben Quad updating the sounds of early 2000s bands like Taking Back Sunday and Motion City Soundtrack. It was produced by Jon Markson, who’s helped bands like Koyo and One Step Closer tap into a similar type of well-produced melodic emo, and it’s got guest vocals from two other emo staples: Sweet Pill’s Zayna Youssef and Microwave’s Nathan Hardy. There’s also an appearance by Sam Canty of emo-adjacent country band Treaty Oak Revival on the song “Did You Decide to Skip Arts and Crafts?” (including a funny voicemail skit recorded by Sam), and you can hear how there’s just a little bit of country influence on that song in general. Wisher comes at a time when nostalgia for actual third-wave emo is at an all-time high, and what makes this particular brand of third-wave emo revival so exciting is that Ben Quad (and Charmer, Arm’s Length, and Anxious) are tapping more into the parts of early 2000s emo that were an extension of DIY and hardcore and less into the mallcore nostalgia. They aren’t just imitating 2000s-style emo; they’re bringing new perspective to it.

Ragana & Drowse – Ash Souvenir (The Flenser)
The collaborative album from PacNW artists and Flenser labelmates Ragana and Drowse is a patchwork quilt of black metal, folk, slowcore, and heavy shoegaze.

Black metal/slowcore duo Ragana and Kyle Bates’ shoegaze/slowcore/drone project Drowse (not to be confused with the Philly hardcore band of the same name) are both from the Pacific Northwest, both signed to the great dark music label The Flenser, and a pretty perfect pairing for a collaborative album. Ash Souvenir was named after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, which had a deadly impact on the Pacific Northwest, and you can just feel that PacNW air coming through in these songs. The album is broken up in four tracks, including the 14-minute, three-part suite “In Eternal Woods Pts. 1-3” (and the more interlude-like “In Eternal Woods Pt. 4”), and it’s a patchwork quilt of black metal, folk, slowcore, and heavy shoegaze, with both clean and harsh vocals from the trio coming together in a way that feels greater than the sum of its parts.

Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin – Stygian Bough: Vol II (Profound Lore)
The sequel to Bell Witch and Aerial Ruin’s collaborative 2020 album is a doom album that’s hypnotically slow and almost surprisingly tuneful.

Ash Souvenir isn’t the only collaborative PacNW metal album from a duo and a solo artist that’s out this week. Five years after Seattle doom duo Bell Witch and frequent collaborator Aerial Ruin released Stygian Bough Volume I, the trio are back with their anticipated sequel. The album is made up of four lengthy tracks that clock in at close to an hour, and the most noticeable difference between Vol I and Vol II is that this tends to be heavier–closer to Bell Witch’s snail-paced doom, whereas Vol I was largely closer to Aerial Ruin’s dark folk. Bell Witch’s Jesse Shreibman also says the album is “as close to traditional songwriting as any of us have done together,” and though “traditional songs” are not usually this long or slow, this is indeed some of Bell Witch’s most immediate, melodic songwriting. With tuneful, harmonious riffage and clean lead vocals throughout, Stygian Bough: Vol II feels closer to Pallbearer or Candlemass than to the droning funeral doom bands that Bell Witch have most often been compared to. With riffs as heroic as these, it’s pretty easy to get hypnotized.

Navy Blue – The Sword & The Soaring (Freedom Sounds)
The highly prolific and remarkably consistent rapper is back with another deceptively abstract LP, with an assist from Earl Sweatshirt.

Ever since catching a lot of ears with guest verses on Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE’s respective 2018 albums Some Rap Songs and War In My Pen, indie-rapper Navy Blue has remained highly prolific and remarkably consistent. He’s released at least one full-length a year since 2020’s Àdá Irin, and it’s all in that same deceptively abstract rap realm that Navy Blue and his most frequent collaborators tend to be in. (On this album, the only guest is Earl Sweatshirt.) With production from Child Actor, Animoss, Chris Keys, Gray Matter, Navy Blue himself, and others, The Sword & The Soaring is set to a backdrop of jazzy keys, sweeping string and horn arrangements, warped soul samples, psych-rock and psych-folk loops, and other gorgeous instrumentals. On top of the blissful production, Navy Blue weaves together layered storytelling and poetic turns of phrase that bring real depth to an album that you could mistake for woozy, vibes-first music on a cursory listen.

Colter Wall – Memories and Empties (La Honda/RCA)
The outlaw country revivalist does it again on LP #5.

You have to admire Canadian country singer Colter Wall’s complete disinterest in anything to do with current mainstream country, especially as he keeps getting bigger and bigger. For ten years, one EP, and five albums straight, Colter has tapped into outlaw country as it sounded between roughly 1971 and 1976. The aesthetic is a half-century old, but his songwriting has been timeless and Memories and Empties is no exception.

AVTT/PTTN – AVTT/PTTN (Thirty Tigers/Ramseur/Ipecac)
One of the year’s most unexpected collaborative albums comes from Mike Patton and The Avett Brothers.

There are plenty of musical odd couples out there but Mike Patton and The Avett Brothers just might take the cake. I don’t know who expected the Faith No More/Mr. Bungle singer to team up with the two core brothers of one of the 21st century’s biggest folk rock bands, and what’s even more unexpected is what the collaboration actually sounds like. It ranges from traditional folk to avant-garde rock, and it’s guaranteed to surprise you on more than one occasion.

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Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including The Mary Onettes, The Dears, I Was a King, and The Gnomes.

Looking for more recent releases? Browse the Notable Releases archive.

Looking for a podcast to listen to? Check out the latest episodes of our weekly music news podcast BV Weekly and the BV interviews podcast.

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