A Riff Report Round-Up for Riff-Raging Maniacs
May isn’t just for bank holidays and dodgy barbecues – it’s for mosh-pit madness, blast beats, Satanic singalongs, and comeback carnage. This month delivered a glorious mess of melodic thrash, doom-soaked drama, and a cheeky post-hardcore resurrection from Cymru’s finest.
Here’s the official Riff Report breakdown of May 2025’s metal and hard rock madness. Hold onto your horns. 🖤
🔥 MAY 9 – POST-HARDCORE, BLACKENED BLASPHEMY & SARCASM
🏴 Mclusky – The World Is Still Here and So Are We
Two decades later, Mclusky rise from the pub ashes with a post-hardcore sledgehammer that’s just as sarcastic, spiky and gloriously chaotic as we remembered. It’s noisy, it’s furious, and it’s 100% Cymru powered. Welcome back, you beautiful noise merchants.
✅ FFO: Fugazi, The Fall, Future of the Left
🎧 Must-Listen: Unkillable Me, It’s Not the Same Without the Panic, Good Grief, Part 2
🔥 Behemoth – The Shit Ov God
Nergal and the blasphemous lads are back with a title that’s 10/10 offensive and an album that’s 11/10 apocalyptic. The Shit Ov God is blackened death metal at its most majestic — choirs, fire, blast beats, and riffs like Satan’s own chainsaw. Their finest since The Satanist? Probably. And it’s still catchy as sin.
✅ FFO: Dimmu Borgir, Vader, Belphegor
🎧 Must-Listen: Sanctified In Sulphur, Blood of the Martyrs, Ov Thrones and Shit
⚔️ MAY 23 – LEGACY THRASH & SONIC NIGHTMARES
⚡ Onslaught – Origins of Aggression
40 years in the pit and Onslaught are still swinging with both fists. Origins of Aggression is a double-threat: re-recorded classics (and they slap harder than ever) + a tribute disc of punk & metal covers paying homage to their roots. Bonus point: frontman Nige Rockett beat cancer and came back swinging. Proper warrior stuff. 💪
✅ FFO: Slayer, Exodus, Annihilator
🎧 Must-Listen: Let There Be Death (2025), UK82, Metal Church (cover)
🌊 Swans – Birthing
Swans don’t do albums. They create sonic black holes that pull you in and spit you out two hours later wondering what year it is. Birthing is their 17th (!) studio release — a doom-folk-industrial drone nightmare that may or may not be the musical equivalent of a collapsing cathedral. Haunting, hypnotic, heavy AF.
✅ FFO: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Neurosis, the sound of your soul dying
🎧 Must-Listen: Cathedrals Burn Slowly, Born of Bone, Sun is a Lie
🧨 MAY 30 – MELODIC THRASH FROM THE NORTH
🇸🇪 The Haunted – Songs of Last Resort
Sweden’s melodic thrash kings return with album #10 after eight years of radio silence — and they came back furious. Songs of Last Resort is all groove, scream, and icy Scandi fury. Less experimentation, more blunt-force riff trauma. Exactly what we needed.
✅ FFO: At The Gates, The Crown, Soilwork
🎧 Must-Listen: Warhead, Exile’s Anthem, In Fire Reborn
🩸 UNDERGROUND INSANITY – RIFF REPORT’S RAW PICKS
🕯️ Nightfall – Children of Eve
Greek blackened death with poetic flourishes and gothic energy. Imagine if Paradise Lost took a trip to Hades, got drunk on wine, and rewrote the Book of Revelation.
✅ FFO: Septicflesh, Moonspell, Paradise Lost
🎧 Must-Listen: Seraphim Wounded, Of Heresy and Hunger
⚰️ Acherontas – Nekyia: The Necromantic Patterns
Occult, ritualistic, and deeply atmospheric. This is black metal for candlelit tomb rituals, complete with chants, eerie melodies, and guitar work that’ll hex your spine.
✅ FFO: Watain, Deathspell Omega, Behexen
🎧 Must-Listen: Nekyia I: Temple of Earth, Lunar Bane
🌫️ Cwfen – Sorrows
Brand-new on the scene and already haunting our dreams. Cwfen deliver doomgaze/post-metal melancholy at its finest. Heavy, hazy, heartbreaking. Only in Wales, mun…
✅ FFO: Chelsea Wolfe, Slowdive meets Amenra
🎧 Must-Listen: Silt, Drowning in Slate, Yr Hen Gofadail
🏆 The Riff Report’s May 2025 Top 7
| 🔥 Rank | Album | Why You Need It |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | The Shit Ov God – Behemoth | Blackened brilliance from Satan’s house band 👹 |
| 🥈 | Songs of Last Resort – The Haunted | Melodic thrash that knocks your fillings out 🪓 |
| 🥉 | Origins of Aggression – Onslaught | Old dogs, new bangers, eternal fury 🔥 |
| 4️⃣ | The World Is Still Here… – Mclusky | Welsh chaos with riffs and wit 🏴 |
| 5️⃣ | Nekyia – Acherontas | Occult audio ceremony from hell 🔮 |
| 6️⃣ | Sorrows – Cwfen | Doomgaze beauty from the valleys 🕯️ |
| 7️⃣ | Birthing – Swans | Soundtrack to your next existential crisis ☠️ |
🎤 Final Thoughts from the Pit
May 2025 hit harder than a runaway festival bin. 🤘
We got satanic spectacle, Scottish sarcasm, Greek black magic, and Welsh doom beauty — a genre-spanning barrage that made one thing clear: metal is more alive, diverse, and deranged than ever.
So light a candle, strap in, and keep spinning the madness. Because if this is what May looks like… June better bring body armour.
💬 What Say You, Legends?
What album blew your socks into next week?
Did Shit Ov God convert you?
Still stuck in Cwfen’s fog?
📣 Drop a comment below or scream into the social void @ @theriffreportuk
Written by: The Riff Report Team
Fueled by riffs, caffeine, and at least one dodgy kebab from outside Clwb Ifor Bach
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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