Intro
I really enjoy doing these wrap ups. In fact, I really enjoy writing overall. You wouldn’t think with how infrequently I update this site, but, eh, I have reasons. Or excuses. Either way. I enjoy doing these wrap ups. Or as Apple likes to call it – “Your Apple Music Replay”™. And to be fair, its a great name when it comes to wrapping up your music history. You’re replaying your greatest hits. Get it? It’s like a music pun, because it is! Anyways…
While the season for Replay and Wrapped has long since passed, I need to get this out of the way so that I can get back to doing the monthly Sort-Of Music Reviews. And the monthly Replays. And all the other blogging I have planned. In fact, this may be my return to writing consistently. Only don’t call it a comeback.
Now, let’s wrap up this replay! Prepare yourself to judge my listening habits over 2025.
Previous years saw me drop the whole replay overview right at the beginning of these yearly posts and this year seems like as good as any to change it up. No more leading with the spoiler right off the bat. Especially now we have this handy side menu where you can just jump to the last section aways… Is this a sneaky tactic to keep people reading for longer? Maybe? Is it done so you an experience my new site more? Possibly. Either way, enough of the warm up act. It’s time for the headliners to take center stage!
Top Artist
Honestly is this even a surprise anymore? Good ole Eluveitie, as always, remain on top, and for a very good reason too. Apart from being simply exceptional, their latest album, which just so happened to come out in 2025, saw them dial back their experimental foray into black metal, and put the folk back in folk-metal. What a return to form! Honestly, Slania is a hard record to beat, but boy, do they try. I’ll have to do a review of Anv at some point, because I have thoughts. Oh, such thoughts do I have.
But what’s this hanging out at number 2? Why it’s Metallica getting silver on the podium! What is even going on here? Demon Hunter and Slipknot remain staples – Demon Hunter because of their new album, while Slipknot came in at number 4 for the simple reason that Slipknot ‘99 remains undefeated as one of the greatest debuts ever put to plastic. And rounding out the top 5 we have Machine Head. Of Kingdom and Crown was exceptional, and they followed it up with a very good, although not as ground breaking, Unatoned. Don’t get me wrong – I still love their new direction, but OKAC was just that good that anything after was bound to be a bit of a return to earth.
Digging into the Artist by Month and it’s very scattershot. From death metal one month, to hard rock the next, then thrash… It seems like I almost had ADD. But you see, there’s a very good reason for this eclectic listening habit of mine. You see, I was training for The Great Ocean Road Half Marathon, and doing 75 Hard Part 2 Times 2, so my playlists were a bit all over the place, with me listening, on average, to about 120 minutes of music a day during the week. Surely my total minutes will then jump up compared to last year? Let’s wait and see…
We kicked off January with Paleface Swiss and if you haven’t heard of these guys yet, you’re missing out. Think early Slipknot with a Mexican twist. You know, just to get you intrigued, whet the appetite and all that. Then of course Demon Hunter because these guys are just phenomenal. Metallica crept in, as their 72 Seasons album had me going back to Hardwired… To Self Destruct. That says something, but what exactly, I’ll leave up to you.
Looking at July, is there any reason why it wouldn’t be Ozzy. The Prince of Darkness, The Oz-Man. I wish I had beautiful words to convey just how much of a gift you imparted not just on me, but on the world. You lived. Truly lived. But let’s move on before this turns into an obituary.
Compared to my Replay from last year, shows just how much more Eluviete was played overall. And I don’t regret a single second of it! This is a solid jump of an extra 87 minutes compared to last year which equates to almost 13 hours of one artist! Not too bad at all, considering just how large my entire library is, all the new music that comes across my playlists and going back to old favourites.
Top Album
If the top artists weren’t a surprise, well then Top Albums is where I find another very interesting story. Will it be new music? Will it be something old? Either way, you can always tell how good of a year it was when you look at your top albums for the year.
What if every album coming out was a dud? Then we go back to the tried and true. Was it a banger year where every album slapped, every track a vibe, and every riff slaps? Then it’s going to be heavy on the new albums. And if it’s just middle ground, well then you get a good mix of old and new. So what was it for 2025?
October 2024 saw Memphis May Fire come out swinging with Shapeshifter. But it wasn’t until this year that I actually sat down to listen to it. What. An. Album! It’s so good, in fact, that I’m going to do a good ole fashioned Sort-Of Music Review for this. AND I got to see them live, when they toured with Atreu, and boy, these guys sounded just as good as their album. Like really, really good. The live show had energy, it sounded amazing, and this was even in an infamous venue where sound quality is not even a consideration! In fact, it’s so good, it made my top albums on 2 separate months!
As I said before, Eluvietie came out with a new album – Anv. So of course that was on repeat while I digested the new offering from my favourite band. And what can I say? Its good. It’s great. I’d love to see these guys live again. If you haven’t already, go listen to Premonition. It could have come straight from 2008 in the best way possible. Folk metal at its best. Even better than best.
Sitting at number 3 for 2025, is a band that came out of nowhere. A band I can’t even Google – Sons of Glory. They’ve taken the Psalms from the Bible, and put it to metal. Like why hasn’t this been done before? A part of me think’s these guys are A.I. music, as there’s nothing about them online. It would be a pity if they were, but we wait and see. And if they are, well, it’s still very good. Which makes me slightly uncomfortable. But! We’re not here to get into an existential crisis. Or at least not so early into the wrap up!
Machine Head followed up Of Kingdom And Crown with Unatoned, and it’s a very good continuation of that vein. If you like OKAC, then you’ll like Unatoned. Not much else to say about it here, apart from I really like the new direction Machine Head is going in. Less nu-metal and more black and heavy metal. Oh yes. Sign me up! I love it when the old boys show up with newfound aggression just to remind the young’uns who’s really in charge (for now at least).
Orbit Culture continue to melt faces with their incredible intensity, and Death Above Life is no exception. Honestly, these guys are masters of their craft, and if you’re looking for heavy, you won’t regret putting these guys on at all. In fact, balancing heavy and listenable is something Orbit Culture do very well.
Demon Hunter’s new album is a bit of a slow one – not my favourite that they’ve ever put out, and maybe in time it will grow on me. But as of now, I find myself going back to their older stuff. But I will say – if you have not heard Bloodywood yet, what even are you doing? Indian folk metal that’s as hot as the curry they make. Nu Delhi is a good offering from the sub-continent and I look forward to their next album!
Top Songs
Top artists, albums and songs being all different? Oh my, what do we have here? Further to the twist in the tale, we have PRESIDENT sitting pretty at number 1. If you haven’t heard of PRESIDENT then you probably haven’t spoken to me in a while. This band is really something super special! They’re so open, so honest with their music in a way I haven’t heard in a very long time. Maybe I just have a thing for masked bands… Hmm…
Chaotic comes in as number 2 for a simple reason – it’s the opening track for Shapeshifter, which also happens to be an amazing track to open a record with. Chaotic gives you a very good taste for what to expect from the rest of the album, and I have said before, this album is about a 9.5/10. In fact, I need to get my review of it out! Maybe after this come out?
The Partisan by Mick Gordon inspired my short story, and it’s an amazing track. Let’s take a side note here of how this song came to me. Queue the flashback wavy lines and the blurry camera…
Between the cold concrete and unforgiving iron of the carpark gym, this song started, playing from my New Music Mix. It was the time of year when the shadows grow longer, when the sun shows his face later every morning, when brown leaves start to huddle in the gutters. In the gym, under the parking lot, with no insulation, just myself, my thoughts, and the cool breeze of 5:30 AM, the song started. Slamming into the sensory wall that is this song, my mind and my body was forced to a stop in appreciation of the auditory journey. The sweat of industry, dripped down my back, cooling against my skin, but I couldn’t notice, so captivated by this song was I. I ensured to then have this song on repeat for the remainder of the gym session. Then again at home. Then again while I made my way to work. It burrowed into my skin, entering my psyche, and became a part of me that morning. And I cannot wait to sit down with my boy and have him experience this song for the first time when the time comes.
Now if that doesn’t make you want to listen to this song, well then there’s no hope for you. Its honestly one of the best songs I have ever heard, and I cannot state this strongly enough. Now, snap back to reality.
Again we have PRESIDENT at number 4, and Memphis May Fire at number 5. But before we move on, theres another song I want to highlight – Love Burns by Paleface Swiss. This song is good, but not great, it’s almost nothing special, apart from the second half. It starts off as your typical angry Slipknot-lite, which is not a great way to frame it as they are heavier than Slipknot, but when you listen to it, you’ll understand. But then it changes. In a good way! The song slows down, and allows the drums to shine through. Suddenly, you’re not listening to the guitars or the singing, you’re getting a drum lesson, and just as you get into it, it ends. I really wish they let the last half song play out for a bit (a lot) longer.
Looking to the top songs by month, the one call out I want to make is the return of Mudvayne in August. Yes, they’re back and yes, they’re fantastic with this single. It makes me super excited for their next album. Who would have thought that 10 years later, Mudvayne would be putting out new music? I am here for it! Although I would advise against going to their live shows. When I saw them live with Coal Chamber, they left me disappointed. Maybe they need to get concert fit again. Maybe it’s just old age, but the energy just wasn’t there. Hopefully this new music revitalizes the band!
Genre Breakdown
The genre breakdown is interesting in the way it never changes. Hey, I like what I like and after 40 years on this spinning ball, I doubt I’ll ever change. And if I do, well then drive me to the ER for a cat scan because then I have a brain tumor. Metal leads the way (as it’s supposed to), hard rock coming in second was not on my bingo card, but I blame the way Apple Music categorizes some very clearly metal outfits as Rock or Hard Rock or Alternative. In fact, I think I should be in charge of the genre classification at Apple Music! I understand they have to find a way to get to 5 to make it oh so visually appealing, but come on – grouping black and death metal together? Cardinal sin over here. Its like grouping showering and drowning as swimming…
If I have any feedback for Apple Music (and I do have a lot), this is almost top of the list. Get your categories for the subgenres right please!
Milestones
I love these milestones. It’s like achievements for listening to music! And you don’t have to do anything apart from enjoy the music to get these. I hit 10,000 minutes in April, 2,500 songs played in and 1,000 Artists played in June as well. And to round it out, 25,000 minutes in September. I realise there’s some spoilers in these milestones for when it comes to the end wrap up, but its worth showing these off. I only wish we could add these to my Apple Music Profile…
Total Minutes
Also known as how much of my life I had music playing in or around my general vicinity…. I will say most of this was active listening – where you sit down to listen and appreciate the music – and almost less than half was passive listening – listening while on a jog for example. Are you ready?
My total minutes for The Year of our Lord, 2025, was 36,583! That’s two million, one hundred and ninety four thousand, nine hundred and eighty seconds (2,194,980), 609 hours, 25 point 4 days, 3 point 6 weeks and 0.8 months’ worth of music! For comparison, last year (2024) was 23,377 minutes, 389.62 hours, almost 17 days, or just over half a month. This is the most music I have listened to since I became an adult and had a job where I couldn’t listen to music during the day! It also helps that I was running heaps, gymming even more, music on the daily commute, and music while sitting on the couch to listen to music.
Without a doubt, I made sure my Apple Music subscription was worth it this past year, and I hope I helped at least one artist buy a Happy Meal with all my streaming.
Wrap Up
All in all – a very good year for music. I saw bands I never thought I’d ever see. I got into new bands, rediscovered old music, enjoyed new releases, and just really enjoyed every minute with these people who choose to pour out their feelings to the world. I am very grateful for this genre of music in ways I cannot fully express or even comprehend.
And now that the replay is done, lets gets back to the album reviews! I have a lot I want to say, and I am already behind in months. And I’ll bring back the monthly replays as well, so make sure you check out the new KyleDunkerley Dotcom at least once a month for all my music goodness.
Oh, and one more thing… I have a little project I’m working on. Something I hope you’ll like. It’s not ready yet, but when it is, I hope you’ll be as excited by it as I have been creating it. #noSpoilers
And as always, here’s my replay playlist on Apple Music. Feel free to ad dit to your library if that’s your thing.