Best of 2025 – Mikael Kahrle

The Best of 2025 albums and songs plus a Spotify playlist from Mikael Kahrle, Release Magazine Editor-in-chief.

Albums

Das Ich: “Fanal”
They release new music after 16 years and sound exactly as they should, both on record and on stage (great performance in Gothenburg).

Sierra Veins: “In the Name of Blood”
No sign of energy depletion.

Emmon: “Icon”
Learn from Emma: go harder and doors open everwhere. Her pop sensibility remains intact though, backed by selected Depeche Mode sounds.

Diary of Dreams: “Dead End Dreams (Chapter 1)”
Powerful, melancholic, cinematic, symphonic, industrial and gritty, at the same time.

Fix8:Sed8: “Octagram”
This brooding, detailed Vancouver-inspired sound is almost a genre these days.

Chris Harms: “1980”
You can try but you will not be able to resist The Lord of the Lost frontman’s over-the-top retro synthpop trip.

Henric de la Cour: “My Bones, My Ashes”
2025 his old band Yvonne reunited live, I caught him twice in Gothenburg plus with Kite during their gigantic headline gig at Way out West. But first and foremost, he dropped this solo album balancing darkness and accessibility.

The Northern Territories: “A Star in Orbit Still”
In the 90:s, their semi-organic dark pop moved some serious music fans, Machinery Records and Covenant included, and now they’re back with more music for late and lonely nights.

The Brides of the Black Room: “Commander”
There are many pop records to chose from, but I keep returning to this one: the vocals from Tom Åsberg (ex-Priest) and Lea Alazam, the cinematic vibes and the sheer variation.

Twice a Man: “The Coloured Breezy Is a New Dimension”
Friends who made music before I was born. Despite the trippy title they line up some good, proper songs here.

Songs

Kite feat. Nina Persson: “Heartless Places”
A surprisingly focused hit, and one for those who think Nicklas’ vocals can be annoying. Hints of the EBM influences that gave me goosebumps later that year at Way out West.

Chris Harms: “Somewhere Between Heaven and Armageddon”
The Lord of the Lost channels the 80:s.

Sierra Veins: “Desire”
I love her formula but here’s some variation with hints of Boy Harsher and Nitzer Ebb.

Minuit Machine: “Queendom”
Sadly, Hélène de Thoury had to step down after losing her left hearing but Amendine Stioui has been hard at work and here, everything falls into place.

Potochkine: “Endorphines”
While Minuit Machine has moved into pop territory, Potochkine remains uncompromising and raw.

Schiller (feat. Frida Gold): “Euphoria: Sieben Nächte”
Effortlessly cool with big, beautiful synths.

Rupesh Cartel: “Hands of Glass”
Mature and advanced synthpop – there’s quite a few Swedish bands with a similar sound (the reborn Code 64 springs to mind).

Zanias: “Human”
Her new sound is more interesting if you’ve heard all her previous genre explorations. Alison is one of the reasons this – and other similar lists – have more and more female electronic artists these days.

Diary of Dreams: “The Chemistry of Pain”
German melancholia that never gets repetetive or boring. I welcome Adrian Hates return to pounding beats and a more powerful sound.

Das Ich: “Was bin Ich”
Der Das Ich Maschine firing on all cylinders.

Tyske Ludder: ”Rosen auf den Weg gestreut”
Volle Kraft voraus with lyrics by Kurt Tucholsky, a German satirist that fled to Sweden and died here in Gothenburg 1935 after taking an overdose.

Rhys Fulber: “New Despotism”
Heavy, hypnotic and wonderfully old-school.

Health: “Ordinary Loss”
They come from a different background and I’m still not sure they know how close they sound to some of the industrial bands we cover in Release.

The Young Gods: “Blue Me Away”
Their trademark industrial rock sound on full display.

Katatonia: ”Wind of No Change”
Lords of really, really dark darkness I have loved since “The Longest Year” blow me away at Metaltown in Gothenburg. There’s also a “Wind of No Change” remix by Karin Park (of all people), which sounds like neither Katatonia nor Karin.