THEEDADROCK.BLOG 2025 Retrospective
2025 is wrapped up and what a year it was! The tidal surge of alt rock revivalists reached new heights, and sounds of the underground percolated with elements of new wave, 2nd wave ska, heavy metal, and raucous punk. Big name legacy acts including Deftones and The Hives released monumental slabs, and fiery newcomers Die Spitz, Rocket, Lambrini Girls, and Spiritual Cramp pressed their way to the front of the pack. N8NOFACE, Wet Leg, and Blackwater Holylight reaffirmed their positions as innovators with releases that challenged expectations and pushed boundaries in thrilling new directions. Here’s a rundown of some of THEEDADROCK.BLOG’s top albums of the year, and a playlist that collects this year’s best tracks.
Die Spitz - Something To Consume
Die Spitz is no fucks given maximum rock n roll personified, distilled to the highest proof and shotgunned in the back seat of Bandit Trans-Am on a full throttle hellride into oblivion. This year’s breakthrough on Third Man rips with an unabashedly female perspective and made a nuclear grade impact, leveling everything in their blast radius to reshape the very landscape of 21st century heavy music.
Read the show recap here. Follow Die Spitz on Instagram.
Flatwaves - Tell Me Secrets
Philly fourpiece Flatwaves unleashed their sophomore LP, Tell Me Secrets, a colossus of alt-shoegaze immensity that rolls and pitches with the elemental fury of primordial gods bending the forces of nature into beautifully rendered and endlessly expansive soundscapes.
Read the full review here. Follow Flatwaves on Instagram.
Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Trash Classic
Trash Classic a zeitgeist record that confronts hot button topics from economic malaise to technological paranoia with the fervent insistence of sonic revolutionaries slicing at the soft underbelly of modern day culture with intent to disrupt, deflate, and depose institutionalized inequalities that repress the human spirit with soulless indifference. But despite all the heady proclamations, Frankie and the Witch Fingers keep the proceedings buoyant, imbuing the band’s colossally dense helter-skelter psychedelia with a macrodose of DEVO-esque new wave mania and a propulsive sensation of unstoppable forward momentum that blazes like an array of scattershot fireworks.
Read the release show recap here. Follow Frankie and the Witch Fingers on Instagram.
Home Front - Watch It Die
Releasing late in the year, Home Front dove deeper into shadowy new wave with a greater emphasis on cinematic compositions and dramatic flourishes with Watch It Die, echoing the stylistic of perspectives of alt-rock pioneers The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen with a distinctly hardcore accent that flexes with muscular confidence amidst the billowing gloom.
Follow Home Front on Instagram.
L.A. Witch - DOGGOD
DOGGOD represented a dynamic turn for L.A. Witch, as the band continues to move beyond the heady but nearly obfuscating reverb of their self-titled debut LP, embracing cleaner production that showcases their growing technical prowess and confessional songwriting. On DOGGOD the band has nearly completely shed all but the most fundamental elements of that original sound, realigning their approach with the architectural, high-contrast brutalism of post-punk and darkwave’s haunting angularity.
Read the full review here. Follow L.A. Witch on Instagram.
Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out
On their debut LP, UK riot grrrls Lambrini Girls have crafted a full-bore modern punk record that tackles hot-button issues with the head-on intensity of a rogue heat-seeking missile covered in hastily scrawled Sharpie tags and splattered tip to tail in vitriol soaked rainbow glitter. Who Let The Dogs Out is unabashed 21st Century Brighton rock, blasted at maximum volume from the boardwalks to the back alleys, championing working-class struggles that radiate outward from a resolutely feminist origin into biting commentary on modern existence that addresses a broad spectrum of societal maladies.
Read the full review here. Follow Lambrini Girls on Instagram.
Native Sun - Concrete Language
New York’s Native Sun have been causing a ruckus for some time, building a notorious reputation for wild live sets and a dynamic sound that fuses uncompromising fury with textual nuance. With the long awaited release of their debut full-length LP, Concrete Language, Native Sun have proven themselves worthy of cementing their hard earned place at the forefront of modern alternative rock.
Read the full review here. Follow Native Sun on Instagram.
Rocket - R Is For Rocket
R Is For Rocket stands on a hopeful platform. Vividly composed tales of youth and young adulthood on the precipice of the unknown swirl and and burst with fiery insistence and optimistic intent, resolute in the face of turbulence on the path towards a future of one’s own design. It’s a timeless perspective, and one that neatly compliments Rocket’s approach to using distinct sounds to craft stories that rise above passing trends to tap into the wider communal experience of growing up that remains a common thread across the generations.
Read the full review here. Follow Rocket on Instagram.
Spiritual Cramp - RUDE
Rude sands off some of the harder edges and direct references to the band’s immediate influences, but in doing so makes room for Spiritual Cramp to find space for their own identity to flourish in between, like tenacious vegetation working itself into the cracks and cavities of the hard paved surface of the urban landscape. Building on the muscular blitzkrieg of their self-titled LP, Spiritual Cramp lean hard into big guitars and driving rhythms, embracing a more straightforward approach as the core pillar of Rude’s rock n roll circus.
Read the full review here. Follow Spiritual Cramp on Instagram.
Wet Leg - Moisturizer
Moisturizer doesn’t break the mold, largely because it doesn’t need to. Wet Leg’s breakout debut was a lightning rod of boundary pushing, zeitgeist shifting alt rock that crackled with a timeless immediacy resonating far beyond the frequencies of most buzzy young bands. Seemingly aware that lightning doesn’t often strike twice, Wet Leg bottled that initial spark and went to work harnessing the resulting electricity, honing their sarcastic edge to stadium-sized proportions while amplifying the furiously beating heart that drives their inexhaustible appeal.
Read the full review here. Follow Wet Leg on Instagram.
Honorable Mentions
Deftones - Private Music
The Hives - The Hives Forever Forever The Hives
Pink Floyd - Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII