Spring? What spring? 🌼 April didn’t bloom — it detonated. While the rest of the world was getting excited about daffodils and BBQs, the metal scene erupted into a month-long inferno of riffage, growls, glam, and glorious sonic destruction.
From the return of tech-death royalty to arena-sized Satanic singalongs, here’s your full breakdown of everything heavy, hairy and headbang-worthy that dropped in April 2025.
🔥 APRIL 4 – Sludge, Tech & Mayhem
🐷 Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Death Hilarious
Seven Pigs. One Album. Infinite riff carnage. Newcastle’s sludge rock kings return with their fifth studio album, and it’s an absolute filth-fest. With guest input from El‑P (Run the Jewels) and a fresh lean into chaos, Death Hilarious is part party, part punishment. Just how we like it.
✅ FFO: Electric Wizard, Red Fang, Acid Bath
🎧 Must-Listen: Apocalyptic Laugh, Death Hilarious, No Gods, Just Greggs
🧠 Allegaeon – The Ossuary Lens
Allegaeon are back with more mind-melting tech-death wizardry. It’s their seventh album, and the return of Ezra Haynes on vocals brings an old-school fire. Think philosophical lyrics, neck-snapping riffs, and solos that might accidentally open a portal to another dimension.
✅ FFO: Obscura, Fallujah, Revocation
🎧 Must-Listen: Biogenic Fracture, The Ossuary Lens, Zenith’s Wake
🏴 Bleed From Within – Zenith
Scotland’s metalcore monsters are on the warpath. Zenith blends colossal groove riffs with heartfelt anthems, all delivered with pure fury. It features collabs with Brann Dailor (Mastodon) and Josh Middleton (Sylosis) — and it’s easily their most ambitious album to date. Proper job!
✅ FFO: Lamb of God, Architects, While She Sleeps
🎧 Must-Listen: Cradlebreaker, Rise Through the Smoke, Zenith
🌑 APRIL 25 – Glam, Groove & Glory
👻 Ghost – Skeletá
Just when you think Ghost can’t get any bigger, they go full Papa V Perpetua on us. Skeletá is a glammed-up, arena-rock masterpiece with doom flourishes and pop hooks so catchy they should be illegal. If you’re not humming Satanized in the shower, what are you even doing?
✅ FFO: Blue Öyster Cult, ABBA but evil, Powerwolf
🎧 Must-Listen: Satanized, Peacefield, Kiss the Apocalypse
🔧 Machine Head – UNATØNED
Lean, mean, and not here to make friends. UNATØNED is Machine Head’s shortest album yet, but it hits like a hammer to the jaw. Their first outing with drummer Matt Alston and guitarist Reece Scruggs, and it’s all fire and fury. Critics are split, fans are moshing.
✅ FFO: Slipknot, Chimaira, Devildriver
🎧 Must-Listen: UNBØUND, These Scars Won’t Define Us, Carbon Cage
🕯️ Underground Gems & Genre Benders
🖤 Messa – The Spin
If doom metal put on a velvet dress and read gothic poetry by candlelight, it’d sound like The Spin. Italy’s Messa drop an atmospheric stunner that weaves goth, jazz, prog, and doom into something devastating and divine. Tidy!
✅ FFO: Chelsea Wolfe, King Woman, SubRosa
🎧 Must-Listen: Velvet Circles, Thorns and Thread, The Spin
🌌 Kardashev – Alunea
“Deathgaze” is real, and Kardashev are its champions. Alunea is lush, brutal, and emotionally overwhelming — like floating through space while your heart is being broken by a black hole. Hugely ambitious and stupidly heavy.
✅ FFO: Rivers of Nihil, Deafheaven, Tesseract
🎧 Must-Listen: Multiversal Collapse, Dawnfall, Glass God
💫 Employed To Serve – Fallen Star
These UK heavy hitters just keep levelling up. Fallen Star is their most eclectic album yet, featuring guest growls from Will Ramos (Lorna Shore), Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage) and a grime/metal mash-up with Skepta. Absolute madness — and it works.
✅ FFO: Code Orange, Knocked Loose, Killswitch Engage
🎧 Must-Listen: Starfall, Under Glass, No Salvation (ft. Skepta)
🏆 The Riff Report’s Top 7 – April 2025
| Rank | Album | Why You Need It |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | The Spin – Messa | Doom, jazz & goth in perfect chaos 🕯️ |
| 🥈 | Skeletá – Ghost | Satanic stadium singalongs 🎤🔥 |
| 🥉 | Zenith – Bleed From Within | Scottish steel meets melody 💪 |
| 4️⃣ | Death Hilarious – Pigs Pigs Pigs… | Sludge meets snarl and sass 🐷 |
| 5️⃣ | The Ossuary Lens – Allegaeon | Brain-melting tech-death wizardry 🧠 |
| 6️⃣ | Fallen Star – Employed To Serve | Metalcore with collab carnage 💥 |
| 7️⃣ | UNATØNED – Machine Head | No filler, just fury 🔥 |
🎤 Final Thoughts from the Pit
April 2025 didn’t just drop albums — it delivered experiences. From arena-level bombast to intimate emotional destruction, this month was a genre-smashing reminder of just how weird, wonderful and wild the world of heavy music can be.
We moshed. We wept. We air-guitared until our wrists seized up. And we’re doing it all again in May.
💬 Your Turn, Legends!
What was your album of the month?
Did The Spin mess you up in the best way?
Are you still humming Satanized at work like a possessed ABBA fan?
Let us know in the comments — or scream it at us on @theriffreportuk 📢
Written by: The Riff Report Team
Fueled by riffs, Red Bulls, and mild tinnitus
📸 Tag us in your vinyl hauls: @theriffreportuk
🌐 More chaos here: www.theriffreport.co.uk
Michael is the founder, editor, and chief riff wrangler behind The Riff Report, an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built by fans, for fans. With a lifelong passion for loud guitars, unforgettable live shows, and the incredible community that surrounds rock and metal, he created The Riff Report to celebrate everything that makes the scene special—from legendary headline acts and grassroots venues to rising bands that deserve to be heard.
A familiar face at festivals across the UK, Michael spends much of the year covering events including Download Festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Steelhouse Festival, Firevolt, Plumpton Revival, and many more. Whether he’s battling the Welsh weather on a mountainside, surviving a weekend in a muddy campsite, or squeezed against the front barrier with thousands of fellow fans, he’s always searching for the next great story to share.
As editor of The Riff Report, Michael writes festival guides, breaking news, album reviews, gig reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, nostalgia features, and behind-the-scenes stories from across the rock and metal world. His writing combines honest opinions, humour, and a genuine love for live music, bringing readers closer to the bands, festivals, venues, and people that keep the scene alive.
Michael is particularly passionate about supporting independent artists, local venues, charities, and the wider UK rock and metal community. He believes every band deserves a chance to be discovered and every festival has a story worth telling. Through The Riff Report, he aims to shine a spotlight on both the biggest names in rock and the future stars waiting to break through.
When he’s not writing or interviewing artists, you’ll probably find him exploring festival campsites, photographing live shows, chatting with fellow fans over a pint, or planning the next road trip in search of more riffs, bigger crowds, and unforgettable moments.
Above all, Michael believes rock and metal are about more than music—they’re about community, friendship, and creating memories that last a lifetime. That’s exactly what The Riff Report exists to celebrate.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Always chasing the next great riff. 🤘
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