“In defiance of the shit burger we’re all eating every day while we wait for the AI drone war to start, 2025 was my best year in a while.” An oddly optimist AMG Himself has written a list.
Wytch Hazel
Steel Druhm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2025
Steel Druhm descends from his lair atop Mount Crumpit to deliver his Top Ten(ish) of 2025. Prepare to be carved like a roast beast.
Who Are These Clowns and Where Did They Put My Flesh Stapler? The AMG Staff Pick Their Top Ten(ish) of 2025
The AMG Staff Lists are ready for review, examination, and ultimately, rejection.
Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations Review
“The Lords of easy-breezy 70s/80s metal return to the chapel of riffs once more to pay their respects. Over the course of 4 albums, Wytch Hazel have perfected their stripped-down, bare-bones take on 70s rock and infused it with just enough metallic oomph to make it stick. Their music is more about joyous worship of nature and higher powers than despair, anger, and hostility, and it feels like a breath of fresh air from a sun-kissed meadow. Albums like III: Pentecost and IV: Sacrament were loaded with power rockers full of riffs, vocal harmonies, and choruses that hit just right and burned into the memory. There was no reason to expect anything different on V: Lamentations.” Wytch trials.
Satan – Songs in Crimson Review
“One of the great mysteries in life is how an 80s NWoBHM act with limited success in their heyday could become such a reliable source of righteous metal thunder 40 years later. Satan was an original member of the British metal explosion, but despite a solid debut and follow-up, greater glory eluded them. after 1987s Suspended Sentence, they folded up shop and moved on. It wasn’t until 2013 that Satan rose again with a shockingly vital and all-around badass opus called Life Sentence. It sounded like a NWoBHM product but everything was dialed to 12 and the writing and playing were razor-sharp and uber infectious. Thus began one of the greatest comebacks of all time.” Godless endeavors.
Warlord – Free Spirit Soar Review
“And the cannons of destruction have begun… anew! Long ago in a very different time, guitarist Bill Tsamis and drummer Mark Zonder (later to become a member of Fates Warning) joined forces tro create a new heavy metal project. Warlord was a little band with a huge potential, and their early demos quickly caught the attention of Metal Blade Records. Their 1983 Deliver Us EP made an impression on the scene, offering regal, semi-progressive American power metal with hooks, pomp, and polish. Despite the promising start, lineup issues and the odd decision to use a live performance recorded and filmed in an empty theater as their full-length debut hurt their momentum. And though And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun… was a solid piece of 80s metal with some major high points, it gained limited traction and left a confused public wondering what to make of it. Further lineup issues quickly undermined the band’s resolve and Warlord came to an ignoble end all too soon. The band’s cult mystique endured however.” Return of the Warlord!
Steel Druhm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2023
The List of Steel is upon you!! Now you will know trve power and glory as Steel Druhm’s Top Ten(ish) unfolds and expands to fill all the metalverse.
By Fire and Sword – Glory Review
“When Steel sees a band calling themselves By Fire and Sword with an album bearing the simple title of Glory, grand visions of an armored titan hacking his way through demon hordes on a burning, blood-drenched battlefield come to me. Thusly brimming with barbaric bloodlust, your Beloved Lord of Viking Primates seized the full-length debut by these mysterious men from Boise, Idaho. But a funny thing happened as I girded my hairy loins and sharpened my remorseless war grinder. You see, By Fire and Sword aren’t about the kinds of glory attained by disdaining fortune and splitting skulls.” No one expects the Boise Inquisition!
Wytch Hazel – IV: Sacrament Review
Steel and Maddog unite in the name of the Lord for a double review of IV: Sacrament by Wytch Hazel. Brace for grace!
Satan – Earth Infernal Review
“Satan is the original Benjamin Button band. By this I mean the older they get, the better and more youthful sounding their output becomes. Part of the original NWoBHM phenomenon, their 1983 debut Court in the Act made the rounds at Casa Druhm back in the days of denim and high tops, but I was never especially taken with their sound, which felt like a less catchy version of Diamond Head or Angel Witch. I didn’t bother with their 1987 follow-up, Suspended Sentence, and I all but forgot about them as I got deeper into thrash and more extreme styles. Fast-forward 26 years to 2013 and they made a comeback with Life Sentence, and virtually nothing about them sounded the same.” Satan is real.
