#NewMusicFriday: December 12th 2025

With plenty of end-of-year lists popping up and office Christmas parties happening, it’s no surprise that this will be the last #NewMusicFriday update of 2025.

In my opinion, releasing a new album or EP so late in the year is a brave move. However, some names feel confident enough to attempt to grab a spot in your end-of-year list. Among today’s releases, HEALTH (released Thu, Dec 11th) continue to solidify their spot at the top of the industrial metal table with their bleak-yet-cathartic sixth album, ‘CONFLICT DLC’. Read our review of it here.

Fellow Los Angeles group, Volumes, digitally drop their new album, ‘Mirror Touch’ today. Despite line-up changes throughout their decade-and-a-half of activity, the quartet have comfortably found their spot. Lying somewhere between progressive metal and metalcore, their latest outing offers some promising moments. For instance, ‘Sidewinder’ is a rampant, monstrous opener, shuddering with intent. ‘Bad Habits’ and ‘S.O.A.P’ are also noteworthy tracks. Yet for all the chunky, groove-laden riffs, tracks such as ‘California’ and ‘Stitch’ comeoff as routine modern metalcore. Thankfully, ‘Suffer On’ (featuring Black Sheep Wall) provides one final meaty blast in what is mostly an indifferent record.

Elsewhere, German “genre-fluid” rockers Lord of the Lost end the year with the second volume of their ‘OPVS NOIR’ trilogy.  Derby’s alt-rock-pop maestros LostAlone pull together fan-favourites and rarities on ‘Memories Under A Microscope’. Whereas Irish math-rockers Adebisi Shank have treated fans with a surprise Christmas album.

If you’re looking for rap/rock to kick off your weekend, then Zero 9:36‘s ‘They Were Always Here’ is one for you. Kansas pop-punks Stay The Course bring a fair amount of “easycore” intensity on their debut album, ‘Red Flag’. Meanwhile, hardcore legends Converge have released their ‘Audiotree From Nothing’ session. It comes as they prepare to release their new album, ‘Love Is Not Enough,’ on February 13th. Whereas Thrice have put their name to an EP of lo-fi reworkings from Less Gravity.

You can also hear new releases from HUM, The Five Hundred, Second Harbour, and more today.

What is out on #NewMusicFriday?

Albums

Rock / Alternative Rock / Hard Rock

Lord of the Lost – OPVS NOIR Vol. 2
LostAlone – Memories Under A Microscope
Zero 9:36 – They Were Always Here
HUM – three

Alternative / Indie / Post-Rock

Adebisi Shank – This is the Christmas Album of a band called Adebisi Shank
Dark Sky Burial – Sacred Neurotic

Emo / Pop-Punk / Pop-Rock / Punk / Post-Punk

Stay The Course – Red Flag
Half Dizzy – Yard Sale
Fanatisme – Tro, håp og kjærlighet
FUCKFUCKFUCK – FUN

Post-Hardcore

The Danger Of Falling – lost/found
Softspoken – Candyland Sessions
Stain The Canvas – Honey Rot

Metalcore

Volumes – Mirror Touch
The Five Hundred – Ghostwriter (Instrumental)
Abyss, Watching Me – Solis
Without Me – Ashes

Hardcore

Hell Can Wait – My Will Won’t Be Broken

Metal

HEALTH – Conflict DLC
Berried Alive – Kiwing Spree
Breaths – Violescent
SOWA – Gdansk Macabre
Sacred Leather – Keep The Fire Burning
CoreLeoni – Live At Hallenstadion Zurich

Death Metal / Deathcore

Lust Of Decay – Entombed In Sewage
Der Rote Milan – Verlust
Atavistia – The Winter Way (Reforged)

EPs

Converge – Converge | Audiotree From Nothing
Thrice x Less Gravity – Lofi
Second Harbour – Coalesce
SUCKERPUNCH! – Go Big Or Go Home
Brain Leak – Put Back Together
Lovely Colours – Live at Bear Creek

Reissues and Compilations

Static-X – Wisconsin Death Trip (25th Anniversary Edition)
Caliban – Back From Hell (Deluxe Edition)

If you think I’ve missed something or have a new album/EP/song to tell us about, tell us about it here.

Follow the #NewMusicFriday playlist on Apple Music

If you’re looking for the latest tracks focusing on rock, punk, hardcore, metal, emo, and everything in between, then check out our ‘Newish Music’ playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.