Dear god, it appears we’ve actually reached the end of another year despite ourselves and the world’s best efforts… and for why? Lists. Lots and lots of lists. Inevitable misty eyed waves of nostalgia are soon to kick in too of course, but mostly, we’re thinking about lists.
Since the first couple of Tuesday Music Dumps this year, this moment has been on our minds, but for good reason – there’s been a torrential downpour of excellent releases. At fist, we thought splitting our Top 50 into two parts would give us enough time and breathing room to make the best list possible.
The being said, breaking up the Top 50 Math Rock Records of 2025 into two parts wouldn’t actually solve the year’s biggest problem: there were, simply put, too many great records for a top fifty. So today we compromise by adding TWENTY FIVE more slots. Yes, really. The only real concession is that means, when we say there’s no order to the list, we mean it. More than we ever have.
Preposterous, you say? Greedy, even? We wouldn’t deny it. But the more the merrier we say, and besides, it gives us room to balance 2025’s larger releases with its smaller / indie ones well. As you’ll soon see, there were too many of both. So in no particular order, please enjoy the blog’s first Top 75 Math Rock Records of the year, part one.
50. Adebisi Shank – This is the Second EP of A Band Called Adebisi Shank
More than a delicious bite-sized EP, Adebisi Shank’s surprise return brought a sense of hope and optimism to the year in a way few other bands could. It’s also worth mentioning that each song is totally different, potentially teasing the Shank’s most diverse and exciting era yet. No pressure, guys!
_
49. Iran Iran – Dog Tramadol
For a band that arose during what some might call math rock’s golden age of irony, Iran Iran has shown an insane amount of growth, both instrumentally and conceptually, and it all comes to a head on their latest in grim yet triumphant fashion.
48. Crippling Alcoholism – Camgirl
In the space of three years, Crippling Alcoholism has managed to refine a truly uncanny style, and Camgirl transcends the gnarliest noise rock comparisons through it’s juxtaposition of disturbing, occasionally even shocking, social observations with crushing, undeniable beauty.
47. Challenger Deep – Point of No Return
Sometimes a record comes along that just sounds so good that have to repeat track after track taking in the production, and Challenger Deep’s latest was a blinding blaze of great sounding instrumentals, but also memorable songs we kept coming back to.
46. Car Bomb – Tiles Whisper Dreams
Somewhere between the band’s two previous albums, both of which are classics, lies a precarious space few bands but Car Bomb could mine anything from and survive. Most that attempt such a thing would probably just… explode? Tiles Whisper Dreams is beautifully melodic and unforgivingly brutal in equal measure, but surreal in a way that’s unique to them. Here’s hoping there’s more where that came from!
45. Vøvk – Litera
Truly, this was one of our favorite and most memorable experiences of just sitting down and listening to a record this year. Ukraine’s Vøvk aren’t just waxing poetic with their narratives of perseverance, survival, and optimism, and it shows in the tireless conviction displayed throughout Litera.
44. Turian – Blood Quantum Blues
Turian’s highly unique take on melodic and/or progressive hardcore has been thing of wonder for years now, and on Blood Quantum Blues, the band unleashed a whole new level of power and focus. It’s confrontational, confessional, and raw in the best of ways, and we knew it was going to be one of the record’s of the year as soon as we heard it.
43. Deaf Club – We Demand A Constant State of Happiness
Deaf Club has been consistent since day one in bringing unhinged noise to punk and hardcore, and their latest shows they have no intention of letting up any time soon. That being said, it also shows off a depth they’ve only hinted at before, with multiple layers of production, more melodies, and realistic, even personal concepts. In fact, We Demand A Constant State of Happiness just might be 2025’s most relatable record.
42. Fake Pollocks – Livestock
We can’t think of a single thing we’d change about this record. Each note, each word, each phrase, and every plotted pairing of all of the above punches with authority, but more importantly, authenticity. Who knows what they’ll have us crying over next, but we can’t wait.
41. Algernon Cadwallader – Trying Not to Have a Thought
Algernon Cadwallader’s return to the fold this year had us downright optimistic – the idea of the band coming back at all was objectively good, and they followed through with a record the emo part of us would use the same words to describe.
40. SEIMS – V
Conceptually, SEIMS could have gone with anything for their fifth LP and we’re sure it would have been great, but V’s vulnerability and willingness to expose raw emotion elevates it from great to amazing, easily making for our most-played SEIMS record yet.
39. Yowie – Taking Umbrage
Yowie has a sound that’s almost immediately recognizable, often registering as a sea of morphing textures that grates against the ear drum as opposed to… well, anything remotely normal. But what makes Taking Umbrage such a victory for noisy, incomprehensible music is its commitment to layers. Every time we listen to the album, we have to listen to the whole thing, and every time we do we hear something new.
38. Alpha Male Tea Party – Reptilian Brain
Some would say AMTP took a big risk this year by releasing a vocal-centric album, but the results truly paid off in spades throughout Reptilian Brain. It’s progressive and hard-hitting as ever, with twice the amount of thematic focus. Also, we should find a way to make these things more official, but for what it’s worth, “Battle Crab” is easily our most listened to math rock song of the year.
37. Snooze – I Know How You Will Die
What more can we even say? Everyone’s still talking about it all these months later – Snooze left a mark on multiple scenes in 2025 with their chunky, cathartic masterpiece tale of grief, and simply put, it’s a stone cold 10/10. IKHYWD grips you within seconds and doesn’t let go till the very end, but it does so with layers of empathy, even when it’s all-out brutal. Tuff love, y’all. That’s the stuff.
36. Town Portal – Grindwork
One of Copenhagen’s best to ever do it put out a true ripper this year, showing us that Town Portal’s math rock mining capabilities are far from tapped. To shake things up, the band added string performances, and on paper this could have gone either way, but in execution, the strings take an already lofty achievement to stratospheric new heights.
35. Totorro – Sofa So Good
Totorro came out of the woodworks this year with an album that feels so good to listen to, it’s almost suspect – how did they do it? We’re not sure, but between perfect performances and perfect production on Sofa So Good, the French legends made adding another jewel to their crown look effortless.
34. God Alone. – The Beep Test
God Alone. is one of our favorite math rock bands because each record represents a metamorphosis. Sometimes it’s thematic, sometimes it’s sonic, sometimes it’s both, and The Beep Test sees them roar into high- gear with radiant, unmistakable conviction. It’s party friendly, but heavy, and that’s just exactly what we needed in 2025.
33. NYOS – Growl
The Finnish magic makers hit us with another mystical journey this year, and though the band has grown heavier over the years, Growl actually pushed the dynamic in both directions with some of their most serene and meditative work yet amidst their usual loop-driven madness.
32. Varra – IV
We should have had Varra on one of these lists a long time ago, but that’s not why you’re seeing them on the list in 2025. You’re seeing IV here because it’s an absolute class combination of math rock and jazz fusion that defies belief. Imagine the most accessible works of Dave Brubeck or Allan Holdsworth, but a dash of CHON, and you’re about halfway there.
31. Pavlov’s Bell – Physics Isn’t Fair
Pavlov’s Bell didn’t just cook while they were making Physics Isn’t Fair – they went to the lab and back to create something unwieldily, multi-dimensional, and incontrovertibly excellent. The band’s neon-lit take on the ArcTanGent sound (think Three Trapped Tigers, Gallops, etc.) has always been a thing to behold, but what’s scary is it feels like this is just the beginning.
30. 1inamillion – POPS
POPS does exactly that its entire runthrough – crisp, clean energy courses through the tracks with bits of shred, jazz, and math rock. It’s as diverse as it is consistent as well, with every song offering a different kind of journey, including some alterations to already existing tracks.
_
29. Planets – YAWN
This benevolent sonic assault was just what we needed when we heard it. At once a rejection of norms and a celebration of strangeness, it’s an easy win for math rock fans still wishing for new Lightning Bolt, and if you were quick, it came with a glow-in-the-dark knife that doubles as a USB, making for one of 2025’s most clever physical releases.
28. cloutchaser – SPONGEBOB
At this point, it’s basically irrefutable – cloutchaser are the true spawn of Hella. SPONGEBOB continued the band’s blatant disregard for rules in typical bombastic fashion, and we always knew the guitars would shred, but this time the drums almost steal the show, pushing duo’s dynamics towards the absolute brink.
27. Avec Plaisir – Active Listening / Active Listening (Instrumental)
For a band with such sweet vocals and harmonies, you wouldn’t necessarily think it would be their first (or second) move to release an instrumental version of their highly emotive EP. But upon, ahem, active listening, it’s easy to hear that Avec Plaisir shred emphatically in every department. We’ll take both, please!
26. Guck – Gucked Up
Genuinely one of our favorite releases of the year, Guck hit the spot with dark, classy post-punk riffs and a vocals delivery that gently but firmly hooks into your skin and lifts you to the rafters. In so many words, it’s a perfectly disturbing debut, and we can’t wait to see what happens next.
25. The Armed – THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED
The Armed are a band that we fell in love with conceptually over the years, and upon seeing the title of the new record, we were prepped for another punk-fueled obfuscation of the self. But what we got was a razor sharp reflection of the reality we all share, which only increased our impossible love for the band.
24. Abrupt Decay – The Illusion of Our Choices In A World of No Options
In a year filled with incredible noise rock releases, Abrupt Decay somehow managed to pull the rug out from underneath us with this sincerely bonkers LP. What’s more is that the record feels like an organic expression and not just a tossed salad of guitar riffs and guttural screams – those elements are present, but they’re perfectly contrasted by the destruction around them, so in the end they’re even better for it.
23. Prostitute – Attempted Martyr
The inescapable, oppressive vibe of Attempted Martyr felt a little too close to home this year, but therein lies the revelation of the record itself – we won’t spoil it, but we challenge anyone to listen to Prostitute’s LP and not think about home, family, beliefs, and what it means to share a planet.
22. Zeta – Was It Medicine To You?
Was It Medicine To You was the first time in years we got goosebumps listening to a new album. In a discography filled with incredible records, the fact that they released one of their best so far in to their career is an achievement in itself, but WIMTY also arrives at a critical juncture of tense US / Venezuelan relations, cementing it’s importance as a document of peace, resistance, community, and magic.
21. Fuck Money – Self-Titled
Fans of futuristic hardcore and indefinable sonic grit will fall in love all too quickly with Fuck Money’s S/T, and it’s only the beginning. If you ever miss older stuff from The Armed, but also crave the chaos of Lightning Bolt or Venus Twins, this gives you all of that at once, and we can’t get enough.
20. Mclusky – The World is Still Here and So Are We
If this list could only have a single album on it (it wouldn’t be a list then, would it?), McLusky’s return to the fold just might be the one. It’s brutal, hilarious, fun, and so vicious you’ll need stitches after repeated listens. Few bands adjacent to math rock make us wonder what we’d be like without them, but even if we do get more from Future of the Left, we don’t want to live in a world without Mclusky ever again. Not when we know they’re capable of sitting out for years at a time and coming back with an album so sharp and massive that it dwarfs everything around them.
TO BE CONTINUED ON NEW YEAR’S EVE <3 _ (Thanks for reading! If you’re looking for more music, check out our Bandcamp compilations here. If you like us, or possibly even love us, donations are always appreciated at the Buy Me A Coffee page here, but if you’re in a generous mood you can also donate to folks like Doctors Without Borders, the PCRF, Charity Water, Kindness Ranch, One Tail at A Time, Canopy Cat Rescue, or Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that could probably use it more – click on their names above to check ‘em out if you’re so inclined. Thanks again!)