That Nine Inch Nails have executed a stunning return is a given, but the size and scope of this particular victory – this double victory, actually – should not be overlooked.

The end result is maybe not as coherent as Race The Night, but it’s every bit as fun. Almost 30 years since Ash named their debut album 1977, after the year that Star Wars was released, the Force is still strong with these ones.

The Spiritual Sound is a fathomless pool worth hurling yourself into, a shimmering, shattering new landmark on heavy music’s mind-expanding outer limits.

If you want The Art Of Drowning-era iteration, then they’re still there on record forevermore. This is the AFI of 2025, though – older, bolder, hairier and doing things their way – and authenticity never goes out of style.

A truly thrilling record on the most basic level; boasting a set of classy songs that are half-brains, half-brawn and all-absolute-bangers.

It’s a bold, fresh effort full of tunes that are simultaneously immediate and deep.

As their most mature and focussed album yet, Tomorrow We Escape shows Ho99o9 can go the distance to rage on and burn bright well into the future.

This is surely one of the year’s most important records.

The soft strummed title-track is saturated with heartbreak and rage. By the time the downbeat End Times Sermon dissolves into its ponderous parting sample, it’s hard not to feel drained and dejected, but also utterly connected to the chaos of the world falling apart around us.

Everest remains Halestorm, yes, but in dazzlingly diverting ways that are gonna take you time and several plays to appreciate properly.

In a time where it seems everyone wants to make noisier music as an act of defiance against an increasingly cruel world, Jehnny Beth has found a way to stand out. She’s real, she’s raw, and everything here has such a strength of spirit to it that it feels truly alive.

A musical purge of trauma patterns, depression, love, loss, and of course, ego, the wit and honesty of Hayley’s lyricism is the shining star of this work. It’s an unboundless exploration of a life lived under the scrutiny of misogyny and in the public eye from one of our time’s most creative and fearless artists.

Georgia’s bass tone, not only disgustingly good, is a storytelling tool: in one instance it’s slurring and drenched in gloopy, thick fuzz, and then in other pockets it snaps awake, crunchy and computerised, but alive like a robot driven on revenge. Amy experiments with classical operatic vocal wails on opener Glory, while elsewhere her vocals become like fight talk, are enunciated with the confident cries of the Supernova era.

This latest offering is as uncorrupted a rock album as any released this year, 33 minutes of breakneck, tyre-screeching anthems.

Fuelled by personal tragedies and savage times, this fifth album is understandably dark in tone, but never feels too austere to engage.

Even in the scheme of one of modern rock’s most consistent and treasured back catalogues, Private Music is in the upper most tier, a record that succeeds where its predecessor didn’t quite.

So while this is a familiar, albeit more polished ride, it’s replete with beautiful moments, such as Black Crown and Gold Long Gone, that stay with you and work on you; it’s music that lovingly infiltrates hearts and minds rather than bludgeoning you over the head with its message.

They’re still the same fiercely independent band that can run rings around an oddball time signature, just now they’re trusting their chemistry and melodic instincts to take them in any direction they wish – and the results kick ass.

There are some lulls, mind. Sometimes the moodiness threatens to drown the melody, and not every track earns its philosophical baggage. .... But Learning Greek is never boring. It's chaotic, clever, and just unhinged enough to charm the eyeliner off your face.

There are moments of genius here. In forging new bonds and attempting to break new ground, METAL FORTH's intentions are noble and the executions occasionally excellent.

Uninterested in taking over the airwaves or lighting up the charts, it is art at its unapologetically visceral peak. More than that, it’s vitriolic fresh proof that absolutely no band is more vital, and that maybe we really would be better burning it all to the ground.

At its best, it’s pure, soul-soothing escapism. And yet, this is only the start – as she grows, she'll evolve and mould everything she’s absorbed into an even more individual sound.

At its best, I Beat Loneliness is revelatory. Elsewhere, sadly, it’s rote. Gavin may claim to have beaten loneliness, but he’s been thwarted by his own ambitions.

We’re left with something that isn’t Volbeat’s best album, but is a candidate for their most interesting.

It’s a go-getter of a record that pays homage to the greats whilst still feeling brand new. YUNGBLUD’s outlandishness makes him a hard pill to swallow for some, but his guts, drive, and devotion to his craft cannot be denied.

21st Century Fiction somehow manages to feel filthy, sexy, and tender all at the same time. In need of an existential crisis but want to feel like a hot rock star at the same time? Please get acquainted with your latest soundtrack to life.

It could slot into the soundtrack of anyone’s life, it has that sort of everyman, indie movie quality. But it’s for him first, and it’s an incredibly pure distillation of who Finn is when he’s not on camera.

Turnstile are ahead of the curve once again and showing what’s possible when you follow your own path.