Tag Archives: AOTY

ALBUM REVIEW: Chat Pile – Who Loves the Sun

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In many ways, Chat Pile’s new album Who Loves the Sun (The Flenser) ironically feels like their Sunbather (Deafheaven). The album will elevate them to a new level as artists not made for radio airplay. You might even think these guys are going to take Noise-Rock to the mainstream. Still, it has pivoted from the hard and fast definition of that genre as a grim post-Grunge sonic effigy of society’s collapse, to one that these songs blame apathy for being the chief motivator. Maybe there is some truth to that theory, but to be honest, I don’t care.    Continue reading →


END OF YEAR STAFF LIST: Wil Cifer’s Top 20 Albums of 2025 and 2026 Predictions

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I know you’ve already read at least 10 top lists for the year, and I’ve written at least 20 of them in various corners of the internet for different genres. So what I’ve done to keep things fresh is make this a look at the top 2O artists whose albums set the bar in their respective genres for 2026, and the bands most likely to rise to the occasion and take the top spots for 2026. Being neuro-spicy, I of course had to arrange them ranked by how many times I listened to each album, so thanks to Last FM, the total plays of each album are included as an additional data point, in case you have an official ranking kink. So here’s my top 20 albums for the year and my hopes for the bands to watch in 2026. 

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Ghost Cult Magazine’s Top 75 Albums Of The Year 2025

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Clockwise as the seconds tick away, I make my move today… Time and life, life and time, to have and hold and sometimes find… Time… Marches on, and on, and on… flies eternally…

Once more ’round the sun we go again…

And here we are, a year closer to oblivion, and with all the chaos, and craziness, and biiiig riffs that has been 2025 now in the rearviewmirror. At the dying of 2025’s light, all the sailors of the good ship Ghost Cult have come together to cast their votes independently and agenda-free to crown our collective Top 75 albums of year, and ultimately, the overall official Ghost Cult Album of the Year for 2025. To find out more, venture forth, dear reader… Continue reading →