Best of 2025 - The Album List

Happy to share our year-end list. This year, the album selection is shorter than usual, while our singles list expands to the customary top 50. Although there were several strong releases, few emerged as defining statements of the year. Still, as ever, the most compelling moments came from artists embracing transformation—through comebacks, reinventions, and subtle evolutions that kept their image engaging. Happy New Year!!

01. Pulp - More [Rough Trade]

Their first album in twenty-four years, More proves that Pulp has succeeded where most bands fail: they’ve returned not to relive past glories, but to thoughtfully extend their story. Jarvis Cocker and the gang gently pull at the past, revisiting the wry observation and the swooning orchestration that defined their peak, yet filter it all through a lens of mature reflection.  The result is a reunion that feels essential, a collection of songs that are both comfortingly familiar and quietly surprising. It doesn’t try to be a new Different Class again; instead, it offers something perhaps more valuable reinventing the band in the 20s.

 

02. Allie X - Happiness Is Going to Get You [AWAL]

In less than a year, Allie X has followed the dark stylish Girl with No Face with a brand-new studio album that boldly reinvents her once more. Happiness Is Going to Get You retains her signature, meticulously crafted synth-pop foundations but brilliantly expands its texture, introducing organic piano textures that add warm humanity to her crystalline electronic world. This sophisticated evolution is matched by a striking visual transformation, a avant-garde homage to the legendary Klaus Nomi. More than just a sequel, this is a daring next act: a record proving Allie X is in a relentless, in her artistic journey.

 

03. The Horrors - Night Life [Fiction Records]

Night Life is the sixth release by The Horrors and their debut on Fiction Records, arriving seven years after their fifth album, V. Once again, the band operates in the shadowy realm of post-punk, delivering a confident and compelling statement from a group that fully understands the dark allure of its chosen terrain. Since Skying (in 2009 undiscovered), every album has successfully charted on our year-end list, cementing The Horrors as one of the most consistent and long-standing favorite bands on Burning Flame.

 

04. Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment [Speedy Wunderground]

Glutton for Punishment is a debut album by Josephine Orme who records under the name Heartworms. Prior to this she released one EP and several singles in the last two years. Her music is rooted in post-punk, but also blends goth, industrial and coldwave. Orme’s voice is commanding rather than confessional, turning restraint into power and tension into atmosphere. Stark, focused and deeply immersive, this is one of the most compelling dark post-punk statements of the year.

 

05. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory [Jagjaguwar]

Sharon Van Etten’s new collaboration with The Attachment Theory, her long-time backing band, now fully credited collaborators, marks another thrilling delivery. This album bridges the brooding introspection of her earlier work and the bold synthscapes of Remind Me Tomorrow with new-found confidence. Slow nocturnal synth-driven tunes retain a deep eighties moodiness, yet are offset by bouncy post-punk elements. The result is a record that feels intimately raw landing less as a retro homage and more as a vital, contemporary chapter in the new wave tradition.

EPs of relevance:

Mothermary - Non-Duality

The WAEVE - Eternal

NightCrawl - Cold War Feeling

NightCrawl - Strange

Automelodi - Cavallo

Out Today: Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory

Sharon Van Etten's highly anticipated return in 2024 sees her stepping into a new musical era with her band The Attachment Theory. This marks a shift from her solo work, bringing a more collaborative and band-driven dynamic to her sound.

Her seventh studio album, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, was first announced with the release of the single "Afterlife" in October and now, with the latest single "Trouble" out, the album’s direction is becoming clearer—melding Van Etten’s intimate songwriting with the energy of a full band.

In Prospect: 2019 Album Releases (First Quarter)

In this first week of January, just after we completed our Top 100 singles list of 2019, time to give you a small digest of some of the anticipated release for the first quarter of 2019. 

The Belgian group Balthazar will return with a new album in January and it will be their fourth release and the follow up to their album ‘Thin Walls’ from 2015. The album will be entitled ‘Fever’ and its release was preceded with the release of the single of the same name in October last year.

Brooklyn based Beirut will return after four years break with a new album in February. The new album will be entitled ‘Gallipoli’ and as the previous two, it will be released through 4AD. Two singles were already issued from "Corfu" and "Gallipoli"were issued in later 2018.

After eight years of hiatus Ladytron will return with the self-titled sixth studio album. The album will be released in February and it was already announced with three singles and two videos in 2018. Sadly the band did not appear in any of them. As per media announcements, the sound on 'Ladytron' will be heavier than on the previous album. 

Sharon van Etten will release her sixth album ‘Remind Me Tomorrow” on Jagjaguwar. The album was preceded by two singles in 2018 and Sharon certainly got big plans for 2019. Yesterday she announced the video for the third single "Seventeen" on Youtube.

White Lies will return with their fifth studio album this year fittingly entitled 'Five' which was preceded by three single releases. The band continues to deliver uplifting and melodic post punk and has also revealed  some interesting artwork material on their album and single releases covers.

Boy Harsher will release their second album this year on February 1st and this will be their first follow up to their debut from 2016. In 2017 the duo released the 'Country Girl' EP which was pronounced as the EP of the year on Burning Flame. So far two singles were announced from the upcoming album.

The Brooklyn based Xeno & Oaklander will release their seventh studio album in March. The album is going to be entitled 'Hypnos' and the first single from the album and the visual concept have already been reveled. "Angelique" is the first lead track for now while the animations were provided by by Mike Meire.