CD Odyssey Disc 1905: Billy Bragg

This next artist is more folk/rock than indie folk and so our streak of alternating folk/metal records comes to an end at seven.

How do we know it is rock and roll? The guitar, mate!

Disc 1905 is… Brewing Up with Billy Bragg

Artist: Billy Bragg

Year of Release: 1984

What’s up with the Cover? Industrial town spewing some on one panel, and dude looking out a window thinking deep thoughts on the other. That sums up Billy Bragg about as well as a cover could.

Have you ever sat at a window looking out at a factory spewing smoke and had deep thoughts? Reader, I have. Those deep thoughts took me on a most unexpected journey.

But this is not about my story, it’s about Billy Bragg’s stories, so let’s stop all this wistful digression and return to the main plot.

How I Came To Know It: I first heard this record one night at my friend Nick’s house when he played his vinyl original. I loved it, but it took a few years before I got around to buying it. Then, I did. My copy is a re-issue with a bonus disc of extra music, but more on that later.

How It Stacks Up: I have nine Billy Bragg albums. Competition at the top is fierce and finds “Brewing Up” locked in a dead heat with “Tooth & Nail” for the third spot. They are very different from each other, making comparisons tricky, but despite my iconoclastic leanings to give the win to the underdog, I will place “Brewing Up” where it belongs, in third.

Ratings: 4 stars

“Brewing Up” introduces itself to the listener with a barrage of brassy guitar that reverberates with a power that makes your bones shiver. It lets you know this is not a record inclined to say “how do you do?” so much as to shout “hey!”. It’s a greeting, but also a call to sit up and pay attention.

This is early Billy Bragg at his best, his busker guitar skills – honed to cut through traffic noise and conversation – translated to the recording studio, creating a sound that is loud at any volume. Turn it down all you want – it will make itself heard.

This is the punk undercurrent to Bragg, and his playing and singing style (also bold and rich) adds extra angst and emotion to every word he utters. It provides a visceral quality to everything, but with folk overtones that express themselves in melodic decisions that you won’t find in punk rock. The crossover is a natural fit, each influence enriching the other, and sounds just as fresh 40+ years later.

There is also an old school Chuck Berry feel in places, notably in the guitar riff that launches “From a Vauxhall Velox” which clarifies that this, despite all counter influences and flourishes, is a record celebrating rock and roll. The song benefits from having very little going on other than guitar. Yeah, there’s a bass down there in places, but this is mostly just Bragg giv’n ‘er. You will air guitar along with it because if you don’t want to air guitar along to this song, you should pawn that thing. (n.b. – you will likely not get much from the pawnbroker for an air guitar. I’ve tried it and it never goes well…).

Like the approach to his guitar, Bragg presents stories that are unabashed, raw, and direct. The style lends itself equally well to protest and heartbreak, and he goes deep in both directions.

The record begins with “It Says Here” an attack on newspaper bias, and an invitation to read your morning news with a critical eye. Bragg invites you to pay attention, see that bias, and draw conclusions as you will. He draws a few himself, but this is a music review, not a critique of newspaper bias, so let’s move on to…heartbreak!

My favourite of these on “Brewing Up…” is “The Saturday Boy” a heartbreaking tale of the romantic and strangely noble fools we make of ourselves pursuing unrequited love. I’ve done it a few times, and on “The Saturday Boy” Bragg captures the experience of the early and awkward lessons we learn in these moments in a way that takes you right back to being 15 again. Best line:

“She danced with me and I still hold that memory soft and sweet
And I stare up at her window as I walk down her street
But I never made the first team, I just made the first team laugh
And she never came to the phone, she was always in the bath”

Having once literally been told on the phone by a mom that the girl of my affections was washing her hair, I can relate. If you can’t, well, you’re in very rare company and probably ridiculously handsome. Congrats!

“Brewing Up…” is a classic in the folk/rock/punk genre that Bragg helped to create and a must-have if you like his work.

Bonus Disc:

A quick note on my copy of this album, which is a re-issue that includes a bonus disc of additional material which is a delight, partly because of the range of material (including the best version of “Which Side Are You On?” in my collection), but mostly because the label wisely puts all these tracks on a separate disc. This means I can choose to listen – or not listen – without wrecking the original structure of the album. Kudos!

Best tracks: It Says Here, Love Gets Dangerous, From a Vauxhall Velox, The Saturday Boy, Like Soldiers Do

From the Bonus Disc: Talking Wag Club Blues, Which Side Are You On?

CD Odyssey Disc 1904: Savage Master

Welcome back to more music reviews! If you’re here for cooking tips or investment advice you are 100% in the wrong place.

The streak of albums alternating between obscure metal and indie folk/country extends and is now up to seven!

Disc 1904 is… Dark & Dangerous

Artist: Savage Master

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? Early Savage Master albums featured cool artwork, but starting with 2022’s “Those Who Hunt At Night” they switched to live action “scenes”. This decision represents a notable drop-off in quality, but what these covers lack in professional quality they make up for in kitsch.

On “Dark & Dangerous” we have lead singer Stacey Savage going full high priestess cosplay, complete with fancy dagger and a bouquet of black roses. Behind her there’s a cultist with a candelabra, presumably letting her know dinner is ready.

After dinner there’s going to be a live-action murder mystery night using the rules to Vampire: the Masquerade, followed by a midnight showing of “Only Lovers Left Alive”. Delightful!

How I Came To Know It: I read a review of this record on Angry Metal Guy and decided to give them a chance. I liked it a fair bit (more than the Angry Metal Guy reviewer did) and bought it straight away.

How It Stacks Up: I have started digging through Savage Master’s back catalogue since my discovery, and now have three of their albums, with two more on my “to get” list. Of the three I have, “Dark & Dangerous” comes in at #3. Hey, something’s gotta be last.

Ratings: 3 stars

Do you like heavy metal from the mid-eighties? Because if you don’t, then “Dark & Dangerous” might not be a record for you. Fortunately, I have been around metal long enough to pick up what Savage Master are putting down. This, their fifth full length album came out in 2025, but if you thought it came out in 1985, you could be forgiven the mistake. These guys are so throwback it’s like they just emerged from cryogenic freezing.

There were a few kinds of metal, even back in the days of the eighties, and Savage Master is the kind that generated mass appeal at the time. Think Ratt or Motley Crue, and you’ll have an approximation. I didn’t have any Ratt or Motley Crue in the day, but I liked it, and I made up for it with Dokken, Krokus, and Quiet Riot to name a few. This is straightforward metal, so easy on the ears that if it weren’t for the guitars being turned up you might mistake it for – gasp – hard rock.

Back in the day, that argument could get downright heated (my brother and I called Def Leppard “tinsel” to indicate our disdain for their lack of heaviness, and fans of Metallica and Cirith Ungol looked down on Quiet Riot). It was a crazy obsessive genre parsing that we metalheads can never seem to shed.

But I digress – back to Savage Master’s latest record, which ticks a lot of boxes for me. It has mid-tempo guitar riffs that are great for driving, moshing and throwing up devil horns to (please do not do all three of these things at the same time -it’s dangerous).

It also has a charismatic lead singer in the person of Stacey Savage. Savage will not blow you away with range or power but she sings with gusto and the songs aren’t written with vocal gymnastics in mind anyway. Middle of the road metal that dares you to call it hard rock. As noted above it’s on the edge, but I’m going to take a stand like I used to do back in the day and say…metal.

It also sings about what I will loosely label as “cool stuff” like runnin’ with the devil, vampires, and death. Again, middle of the road topics but there’s a reason these topics get a lot of time on metal records of all subgenres: they’re nifty.

The lyrics on this record are not great. There are more than a few strained and obvious rhymes and not enough creativity in the imagery or metaphor.

As for the playing, these guys are tight and do what they do well. The songwriting (principally bassist Adam Neal and lead guitarist Nicholas Burks) isn’t Rush – it is stuff you can play if you know how to play. This is not a criticism – everything doesn’t need to have a weird time signature to be good. The guitar solos are straightforward, but they are played with joyful control, and know when to cut back to the chorus before you get restless – something many a soloist should learn early on. Leave ‘em wanting more…

While mostly this record is just well-liquor hi-balls, there are bright spots along the way that kept me entranced. In fact, they save the best for last, with the relatively slowed down “Coldhearted Death”.

In addition to being one of the three cool topics noted earlier, “Coldhearted Death” is easily the longest song on the record, its six-plus minutes being almost double most of the other tunes. I didn’t mind, though – it has the most interesting arrangements on the record, and Stacey Savage’s vocals get shown off here in a way that the previous “gruff anthem” styles don’t allow for.

“Dark & Dangerous” is not a record that breaks new ground. Hell, it unabashedly explores very old ground at every turn. It isn’t even Savage Master’s best record, lacking some of the fiery edge of the band’s earlier efforts.

But sometimes you just want songs that land on the beat and feel good. That’s this record. These guys can play, Savage can sing, and it has the good sense to end on a high note. Did it reach for that third star I gave it? Sure, but it got there all the same.

Best tracks: I Am the Black Rider, The Edge of Evil, Coldhearted Death

CD Odyssey Disc 1903: Courtney Marie Andrews

The streak of albums alternating between obscure metal and indie folk/country is now up to six.

How does that happen, you ask? It’s random. Identifying a pattern is just a thing that makes your brain feel better, and maybe generate a little small talk in the teaser section.

Disc 1903 is… Old Flowers

Artist: Courtney Marie Andrews

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover? Courtney looks cold in this picture, and maybe a little miffed. Like the photographer has taken her out to the foothills and over several hours had her pose, trying to get the perfect shot.

So much time has gone by that it’s now dark, and so she’s just said “fine – the next one is it, and let’s go back to town!” as the photographer futzes with some lighting equipment he’s haphazardly pulled out of the back of the Jeep.

Alternative viewers may see a different tale. Perhaps Courtney and her partner have earlier murdered a hitchhiker on a lonely stretch of road. All the hitchhiker had was $23 in loose bills and an iPhone 6 with no minutes on it, and Courtney is pretty upset with the take, not leastwise because she only got $11 of it.

They’ve been digging a grave just off the road since the late afternoon and it has fallen dark. Courtney thinks the hole is deep enough given the isolated location. Her partner has insisted going down a couple more feet just to be sure the coyotes don’t dig him up.

In both scenarios Courtney is cold and would like to go back to town but doing it right – whether it’s a photo shoot or a murder scene – takes time.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Courtney Marie Andrews since she released her 2016 masterpiece, “An Honest Life” (see review back at Disc 1081). When she releases a new album I tend to buy it, and that’s what’s happened here.

How It Stacks Up: I have six Courtney Marie Andrews albums (I just picked up her 2026 record, “Valentine” this weekend). “Old Flowers” ranks at #2.

Ratings: 4 stars

The worst thing about Courtney Marie Andrews’ voice is that you can only experience it for the first time once. “Old Flowers” was my fourth album by her, and that ship had long sailed. However, even after many years and many albums, there is still no way to fully prepare to hear her sing. Each and every time it is revelatory.

After a bit of extra production on “May Your Kindness Remain” “Old Flowers” has a sound closer to “An Honest Life” and this is a good thing. The songs are simple and sparsely arranged, and perfect vehicles for delivering Andrew’s vocals. Soft and sweet, with a controlled quaver and hurt for days, Andrews has a voice that makes you stop what you are doing, turn your ears to the stereo in a slow and deliberate way and fall forward into the experience.

At its heart, the secret is vulnerability. Andrews sings like she’s experiencing heartbreak for the first time. The miracle is that somehow this wholly committed emotional journey has a wisdom in it you would associate with someone much older. She’s a reminder that when life isn’t a thing that washes over you, its something you immerse yourself in – become part of – and that’s a good thing.

The album is aptly named, with the imagery of flowers featuring on many tracks. “Burlap String” starts the record off, situating us in a small west coast town with a moseying country-styled guitar strum. Like a lot of Andrews’ songs, this one is the end of a relationship. It’s a song of reconciliation, though, as she muses:

“If I could go back now
I'd pick you wildflowers
Tie 'em in burlap string
Tell you what you mean to me”

It’s not a rekindling of the relationship – that’s over –it’s regret of the missed opportunities to express love when it was new and fresh.

Fast forward to the title track, and the theme has shifted, but the flowers have remained. The wistful guitar strum is replaced with the purposeful rhythm of heavy piano chords and snare drum. This one is a slow and sorrowful march. The refrain “you can’t water old flowers” reflects the other side of a neglected and unkind relationship which is over. “Burlap String” has a kindness to it. “Old Flowers” isn’t cruel, but it is resolute. It is bags-packed and walking out the door feeling good about something for the first time in years.

These are just two songs, and while you won’t find flowers featuring in every song, you will find a bouquet of hurt and wisdom at every turn. Andrews has a generational voice, and she deploys it with an easy grace. Listening pulls you into yourself, pushes you into the innermost places where your guard is down, and shows you the beauty you’ve been hiding from yourself in there.

“Old Flowers” came out in July 2020, at a time when most of us were locked in our houses, the pandemic deepening, and wondering what would come next. Andrews’ answer is simple – we’ll never know what comes next, or what cruel or capricious turns await us on life’s road, but one thing we do know – there’s always love.

Best tracks: Burlap String, Guilty, If I Told, Old Flowers, Break the Spell, How You Get Hurt

CD Odyssey Disc 1902: Ancient Empire

I seem to be bouncing between indie folk and obscure metal lately. Two of my favourite kinds of music, so not surprising.

Disc 1902 is… Wings of the Fallen

Artist: Ancient Empire

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? Metal albums consistently have the best covers, and this is no exception.

Warrior angels descend to an apocalyptic world, and contemplate the devastation. This angel doesn’t look angry at all the death around him, just disappointed.

Meanwhile, the two angels in the sky behind him are giving off decidedly “can we go now?” vibes as this whole “let’s descend into orbit and check out a planet!” proposal has not lived up to the hype.

How I Came To Know It: About ten years ago I found my love of metal rekindled through a subgenre called NWOTHM, or the “New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal”. One of my early Youtube discoveries in the genre was Ancient Empire’s “Other World”. This led me to their Bandcamp site where I’ve been stalking (and occasionally buying) more records from their back catalogue over the years. The most recent of these is “Wings of the Fallen” which I couldn’t get on CD (yet!) but now have via download.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Ancient Empire albums. Of those, I must reluctantly rank “Wings of the Fallen” at #3.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

I cannot confirm if Ancient Empire play tabletop war games, but if they don’t I feel they’re missing out on a natural outlet to their interests, because these guys love science fiction, particularly of the “epic battle” variety.

“Wings of the Fallen” is no exception, with the band delivering another concept album around lost worlds, endless wars and generally depressing stuff wrapped up in deliciously tasty power chords to help it go down easier.

This one involves angels, or not. The deeper thinking here appears to be the dangers of religious wars rather than anything spiritual. I admit I’ve listened multiple times and never sat down and did a deep dive on what is going on. There are discoveries of ancient weapons, and lots of hopeless “is this our last chance at survival?” conversation, but that’s pretty common stuff for these guys. They tend to tilt toward the bleak in their outlook.

What’s important are the riffs, which are not incredibly imaginative, but are timeless and played with gusto and precision, just as heavy metal riffs should be played. The band is tight and they have a late eighties Iron Maiden vibe to them that features an ever-rising melodic structure and a bit of gallop to keep the blood flowing. Think “Somewhere in Time” or “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” stylings and you’ll be in the post-apocalyptic ballpark.

Lead singer Joe Liszt is no Bruce Dickinson, but while his range is limited he does have a good tone and delivers the band’s sci fi mayhem with dedicated sincerity. The rest of the band also plays well, capturing the soaring anthemic style critical to Ancient Empire’s sound.

Things generally go poorly for the combatants on an Ancient Empire record, and “Wings of the Fallen” is no exception, with horrific weapons of destruction consuming all life. Somehow, the band always makes their tragic epics sound uplifting. I guess it is hard for power chords to get you down without that minor third.

I enjoyed the guitar work overall, but the mid-record instrumental “Seraph Requiem” lost me. The playing that to this point has been holding down the bones of the record with energized riffs, here becomes unhinged and exposed when soloing.

Fortunately, the band immediately recovers on the next track, “The Last Survivor”, an epic six plus minutes of heavily themed goodness. Mixed in with a bit more structure, the guitar soloing also elevates.

Sure, “The Last Survivor” recounts the end of the human race, but if you are an Ancient Empire devotee (and I am) this is very much par for the course. You will throw your fist in the air, and you will mosh in ecstasy to these riffs, but all the while bad things will be happening to the characters in the story.

Ancient Empire rarely blows me away with innovation, but they are solid players (once again Steve Pelletier’s drums provide a reliably furious thump), and it is always a good time. This record felt a bit “more of the same” when compared to earlier work, but I knew that going in and so - unlike the poor bastards described in the lyrics - I had a good time.

Best tracks: A New Dawn, Wings of the Fallen, the Last Survivor

CD Odyssey Disc 1901: Carolyn Mark

Due to the random nature of my album selection, it’s been almost five years (Disc 1484)  since I reviewed an album by this next artist, but she’s always been in my heart.

Disc 1901 is… Nothing is Free

Artist: Carolyn Mark

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? This is one of the best album covers in my collection, so kudos to artist Kelly Haigh, who is also a singer I plan to learn more about…

Here we have our heroine, chained up on the outskirts of town and apparently intended as an offering for a demonic badger. Badgers don’t usually behave this way, but the skulls in the foreground suggest this one didn’t get the memo.

In the distance we have some industrial development pumping pollution into the dusky sky. Was it some nefarious Captains of Industry, bent on silencing our pesky folk singer by throwing her to the badgers? Will our chanteuse enchant the creature with her guitar playing and narrow-corseted waist, or will she disappear without a trace?

Well, not without a trace. Again, the skulls.

How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a fan of Carolyn Mark for a long time (first introduced to her by my friend Casey). This was a record I found on one of my innumerable searches through the CD stacks. I knew any Carolyn Mark album would be good, but let’s be honest – I would’ve bought this one for the cover alone.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Carolyn Mark albums, and “Nothing is Free” comes in at #1. I know the early stuff will always gain a glory for being first, but this record is simply lovely.

Ratings: 4 stars

A Carolyn Mark record is sure to feature some great folk songs, and likely a few chuckles as well. “Nothing is Free” has plenty of both, with Mark’s songwriting prowess on full display.

The musical structures are pure Canadiana folk, with touches of fiddle and mandolin filling in the space between Mark’s relaxed guitar strumming. The songs lilt along somewhere in the no-man’s land between weary and content. It’s a fine time exploring themes that are heartfelt, with a helping of brazen and a touch of naughty.

Mark’s vocals suit the space well, with a healthy handful of gravel in her tone, but a light sweetness in her high head voice. She deploys the tension well, a girl who’ll give you a sweet smile and then tip your macchiato into your lap for fun. It isn’t cruel or malicious, just playful. Besides you had it coming dragging your macchiato-sipping ass into the imaginary gin joint a Carolyn Mark song calls home.

A great example, these opening lines from “The One That Got Away (with it)”:

“There’s 2 kinds of women you let in your life
Exciting New Mistress and Boring Old Wife
There’s the 1 that got away
And the 1 that’s here to stay
I just want to be the 1 that got away with it.”

To say it is self-deprecating is to miss the point. Yes she plays around with her predilection for sin, but it isn’t with shame, it’s with celebration; a common thread through her many excellent records. Relationships are hard, and rather than feeling sorry for yourself, it’s OK to celebrate the mess of it all.

While I love the song, I do not love the dodgy use of numerals in place of words that is littered throughout the liner notes on this record. I must assume Mark was listening to a lot of Prince at that time.

Mark does not have blow-the-doors-off vocal power, but that’s not necessary for these songs. Successful delivery of tunes so laden with a barrage of clever words, requires air-tight phrasing, and in that department Carolyn Mark has talent to spare. She trills lightly across the top of the instrumentation or fills in the gaps in staccato faction as the song’s structure dictates, never losing musicality or tone through all the gymnastics. You may not notice it, but that feeling like she’s always landing the perfect punchline? – that’s what it does.

Near the end of the record Mark takes a slight detour into Vaudeville with “Poisoned with Hope”. I know the rhymes in this song are designed to be strained, but I didn’t love the effect, intended or otherwise, and missed the musical trill that gives the rest of the record its easygoing charm. A minor quibble, and not enough to knock a star off – just keepin’ it real.

Otherwise, not much to complain about on this record, which showcases an artist at the height of her talent, writing timeless folk songs that make you smile, nod knowingly, and feel small shivers of discomfort in all the good ways.  

Best tracks: The Business End, Happy 2B Flying Away, 1 Thing, Pictures at 5, The 1 that Got Away (with it), Pink Moon and All the Ladies

CD Odyssey Disc 1900: The Lamp of Thoth

Sometimes to know a band, it helps to know the band they were before.

Disc 1900 is… Cauldron of Witchery

Artist: The Lamp of Thoth

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? A creepy, eldritch bit of stylized art of what I presume is a witch (because of the album title).

No cauldron in evidence, but the witch does look she has been doused with water.

How I Came To Know It: I am a big fan of the band Arkham Witch, and The Lamp of Thoth was the precursor to that band. Knowing this, when I saw a used copy last Saturday in my local record store I lost all composure, snatched it out of the miscellaneous “L” section, and carried it, giggling with glee, to the checkout.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Lamp of Thoth album – and an EP at that – so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

How serious can you take a band where the lead singer goes by the moniker “The Overtly Melancholic Lord Strange” and the drummer is “Lady Pentagram”? As serious as you like, I say. If nothing else, Lamp of Thoth is seriously heavy, and in the world of metal that’s a good place to start.

Rounding out the trio is guitarist “Randy Reaper” (who has the least fantastical name in the band) and the amount of noise and thump these three make is impressive. Say what you will about some of the dodgy production value on this record (likely made on the cheap) but these guys manage to land some serious low-end rumble.

The musical style of the Lamp of Thoth is something of a cross between Black Sabbath and Black Flag. These guys love their old school doom metal, but they also have a frantic punk sensibility that gives things a bit of snarl and snap.

The album’s opening track, the eponymous “The Lamp of Thoth” is also the record’s best, and proof that any band starting out that works hard enough has one classic song in them. “The Lamp of Thoth” is that song for this record. This tune has it all, anthemic guitar riffs that make you feel like you’re on an epic adventure, and a deliberate Bill Ward style drum thump from Lady Pentagram that lets you know said adventure will be perilous. “The Lamp of Thoth” is a true headbanger of a tune and shows off Lord Strange’s vocals. Strange (who will go on to make many a killer Arkham Witch record) hints at his future greatness here.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot to recommend on the record beyond their brilliant opener. “Sunshine” shows the band’s fealty to Black Sabbath a bit too much, with an opening devil’s brew of three chords that is two-thirds Black Sabbath’s title track, with the other third not different enough to count as special. Later in the same song they throw in an Ozzie-like “all right now” straight outta “Sweet Leaf”. It’s clearly an homage that is born of love for the original masters of reality, but I found myself wanting more.

The other great song on the record is a cover of Cirith Ungol’s “Frost and Fire” which is anything but derivative. Twice as long and just as nasty, Lamp of Thoth’s cover is an homage to the original, reimagined like it were played on an alternate earth where gravity makes things three times heavier.

Here ends the studio experience on the record, as the final two songs are both live cuts, “Blood on Satan’s Claw” and “Into the Lair of the Gorgon”. These songs land the visceral quality of a punk show, and along with it, the requisite dodgy recording quality.

I am a bit of a production snob, and so while I can’t deny the Thothers 100% committed to their punk sensibility on these tracks, I wanted it to, you know, sound better. It’s not as annoying as someone posting whatever their raised iPhone managed to record while blocking your view (nothing is). However, it does sound a bit like it was recorded through the wall of the venue so you could avoid the cover charge.

For “Blood on Satan’s Claw” in particular, I found myself wishing I had the original studio version which was recorded for their demo record released the previous year (the hilariously named “I Love the Lamp”). Something to search the record store for in future.

Whatever else, you have to love the Lamp of Thoth’s energy. I’m thankful that later they would transform into the more fully developed Arkham Witch I’ve come to know and love, but I’m also happy to have this early effort, uneven though it is, as a keepsake of their early sound.

Best tracks: The Lamp of Thoth, Frost & Fire

The Best Albums of 2025

This is the latest I have ever shared my Top 10 albums. It took longer than I thought to sort through the options, and I’ve been working to avoid – as much as possible – later edits as I rethink my choices as I get to know these records from 2025 better (and discover new ones I missed earlier.

I found 113 albums I enjoyed enough to buy (or put on my purchase list) and I considered every one of them while making this list. 2025 was a good year for music, just like every other year. It is OK to take those old records off the shelf, but finding new ones is also worth your time.

As I’ve done previously, I’ve included a link to albums I previously reviewed that you can read more about it. I’ve also provided a youtube link to a song of note for each record in the Top 10.

10 The Doohickeys – All Hat, No Cattle

-          Yes, these old school throwback country songs can get a bit kitschy, but this record is fun without ever sacrificing clever. Music is supposed to be fun, right?  Here’s “This Town Sucks”

9 Nite – Cult of the Serpent Sun

-          Nite was one of my happier discoveries of 2025, with their old school metal vibe and creepy cultist vibe – these guys get better on every record. Here’s “Crow (Fear the Night)

8 CMAT – Euro-Country

-          In 2022, CMAT first landed on A Creative Maelstrom’s Top 10 list with an honourable mention, but in 2025 she takes the next step. Think Chappel Roan, with a bit more country and you’ll have an idea. Clever and vulnerable with lots to say, here’s an example with “Take a Sexy Picture of Me”

7 Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter

-          Every Tyler Childers album is different, as he routinely pushes the boundaries of the country genre. “Snipe Hunter” has a very traditional sound, with some sneaky and thoughtful songs nestled like Easter eggs amidst the plain brown packaging. Here’s Oneida

6 Panopticon – Laurentian Blue

-          Long-time Panopticon fans who have grown used to the band’s clever blending of bluegrass and black metal might feel left behind by this record, that doubles down on the bluegrass and leaves behind the double bass drumming and growling. Don’t be fooled, though, as this record has metal sensibility at its heart, and is as moody and black as anything they’ve done to date. My favourite is “An Argument With God” but I’m going to go with the also awesome (and more accessible) “Ever North” in a shameless attempt to get your attention

5 Craig Finn – Always Been

-          I’m a sucker for the hardscrabble stories that Craig Finn spins (he also made the Top 10 in 2022). This year we have a thoughtful collection of songs that once again peer deep and uncompromisingly into the human heart. Here’s The Man I’ve Always Been

4 Geese – Getting Killed

-          Along with CMAT, Geese is a band that this year will get more notice than for their previous releases. While I first encountered Geese through their 2021 album, “Projector” “Getting Killed” takes them to a whole other level. While not my usual scene, it is so innovative and amazing that it can’t be ignored Here’s Au Pays du Cocaine

3 Kora Feder – Some Kind of Truth

-          From my review: Kora Feder is a singer-songwriter with a young heart and an old soul. Listening to her records is like receiving a confessional from a close friend or curling up on the couch with a book of poetry for an afternoon of feeling the feels. Here’s the sad and thoughtful In a Young Person’s Body

2 Julien Baker and TORRES – Send a Prayer My Way

-          When I reviewed this last July I boldly claimed it would be making the Top 10, and here it is. I’ve always been a TORREs fan, and what she does in collaboration with Julien Baker is simply sublime – the whole better than the sum of the already amazing parts. Here’s Bottom of the Bottle

1 Ken Pomeroy – Cruel Joke

-          Ken Pomeroy straddles the line between folk and country, which is the perfect vehicle to deliver songs that are intensely personal, and grounded in natural space and place that puts substance and gravitas to her self-exploration. Like all great works of art, “Cruel Joke” taps into something that makes the personal into the universal. Here’s a live version of Coyote to show that all Pomeroy needs is her voice and a guitar to summon greatness

Honourable Mention – all great, but fell short because I could only pick a top 10. Here are 5 more in no particular order in the event you aren’t sated by the official winners:

• Annahstasia – Tether; Cory Hansen – I Love People; Wet Leg – moisturizer; Lommi – 667788; Master Spy – Maze Runner

And for those new to the Top Ten Experience, click on the year below to get the full from that year (I’ve proved #1 as a teaser):

Best of 2024 (#1 was Amyl and the Sniffers)

Best of 2023 (#1 was Boy Golden)

Best of 2022 (#1 was Grace Cummings)

Best of 2021 (#1 was Lucy Dacus)

Best of 2020 (#1 was Katie Pruitt)

CD Odyssey Disc 1899: Bella White

I usually get two or three playthroughs of a record before I review it, but fate conspired this week to keep this album in my car longer than usual. By the eighth or ninth consecutive listen there was no question whether I liked it or I didn’t. Verdict: I did.

Disc 1899 is… Among Other Things

Artist: Bella White

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover? Bella has fallen backwards in her deck chair. Often falling backwards in your deck chair is a moment of hilarity for all concerned, but in this case it looks to be more of a romantic swoon.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review on Americana Highways and thought she sounded pretty good. Good enough to go find the record, in fact.

How It Stacks Up: I have both of the albums that Bella White has released so far. “Among Other Things” is the better one, so #1.

Ratings: 4 stars

I woke up today feeling my age, my back out of alignment, and cankers lining my mouth screaming in rage whenever I dared to eat or drink or speak. I admit my soul was tired too.

Fortunately, I’ve had just the right soundtrack for the moment. Bella White’s twangy folk/country mix is just the tonic for the world-weary. Not because it provides a balm, but because it reminds you that it is OK to feel the feels and encourages you to do some thinkin’ while you’re down there.

Putting on “Amongst Other Things” is a lot like stepping to a too-hot bath; at first a shock to the system, and then relaxing and meditative as you sink into it. White’s vocals are bright and penetrative and jump out at you with a burst of energy like she’s breaking the tension of silence over and over again.

Sounds painful, but it is quite the opposite. Her voice helps the stories she tells penetrate in deep, thoughtful thrusts that heal, rather than hurt. Kind of like the musical equivalent of acupuncture (I could use some of that today…).

White is also a talented guitarist, and her playing is similar to her singing, with deliberate and sometimes heavy picking in a bluegrass style that aligns well with her vocals, taking a back seat, but providing mood and structure back there.

The way she arranges the two instruments together was intriguing, with her vocals having short bursts that often alternate with the guitar, making her voice feel almost a capella in places, and lending itself to very creative phrasing choices that make the songs feel conversational, and full of asides. The effect pulls you in and helps to find the soft and caring content under the sometimes sharp peal of her delivery.

The songs are full of heartache, and a restless wandering quality. Many are about transition and change whether in a shifting or broken relationship, or the broader “what next” we all feel when we’re young. White is young (she made this record when she was 23) but you don’t have to be young to get it – that restless feeling sits inside all of us, all the time. Sometimes we need to access it - not necessarily to wander, but just to remember what it feels like. It’s therapeutic.

Alternating with the folksier tunes are those that fall into line with more traditional country arrangements. Overall I like these ones slightly less, but they are critical to the record (especially if listened to multiple times in succession), offering a different aspect to White’s voice and songwriting.

The record is chock full of great stories, but my two favourites are “Marilyn” and “Rhododendron” (not to be confused with the Hurray for the Riff Raff song of the same name).

“Marilyn” is a character study of a horrible sexist POS character, seen through the titular victim of his casual and not-so-casual cruelty. This song’s walkdowns and minor notes are perfectly matched to White’s mournful warble as she reminds us that out in the world there are women like Marilyn, enduring shitheads in silence behind the closed doors we drive by every day.

The other stand-out is “Rhododendron”, which meets the other main album theme – the inner exploration of the restless soul. The opening two stanzas are sublime – I reprint them here. Note the restless uncertainty created by putting the active verb at the end of the line. Cool, and three times more impactful when delivered by White’s exceptional vocal:

“As I look out my window, all I can see
Is a bush of rhododendron flowers staring back at me
And a mama robin, she is always working
Bringing worms and bugs to feed her young
While the snakes and house cats are lurking”

“All this time I've spent inside my head
Well, I've been hurting, Is the world still turning?
For this weight I bare leaves me so damn scared
I guess we've all been hurting like a little bird I'm learning”

Ever spent an afternoon looking out at the world thinking deep thoughts and feeling the feels (you know you have). Well, this song is for you. You’re not alone – get up, stretch the stiffness out of your neck, and get back to it.

I’m off to take Bella’s advice, and I wish you a pleasant and thoughtful journey, full of cares or free of them, as the day finds you.

Best tracks: Flowers on My Bedside, Marilyn, Rhododendron, The Best of Me, Among Other Things

CD Odyssey Disc 1898: Grendel's Syster

I come refreshed from an evening of music with friends. Since I never listen to the radio, friends is one of the great ways I learn about musicians and bands I have not previously heard of. Other sources include reviews, coworkers and even random people I meet in my day-to-day life. “What kind of music do you like?” is a question I don’t need much prodding to ask.

Disc 1898 is… Katabasis into the Abaton/Abstieg in die Traumkammer

Artist: Grendel’s Syster

Year of Release: 2024

What’s up with the Cover? Cyril is a squirrel not to be messed with. Here he brandishes the femur of some creature, while sounding a barbarous yawp – presumably celebrating finding that tasty acorn in his other paw.

The rest of the animal kingdom should take note. This mighty little bastard appears to have already brained a predator, leaving the skull to bleach in the sun as a warning to others.

As for the bird, she’s having none of it and is beating a fast retreat after realizing Cyril is having one of “those” days. You know how he gets.

How I Came To Know It: As noted above, I discovered this band on Angry Metal Guy and then bought it through Bandcamp.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only album by the band, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 3 stars

This ain’t your dad or grandad’s metal music. Your great grandpa didn’t have metal music, but if he did it would probably have sounded like this. Such is the wonderful, unexpected weirdness of Grendel’s Syster.

The strangeness starts with the album title. I think of myself as having a pretty solid vocabulary, so it’s not often that an album title has not one but two words I need to look up. Turns out an abaton is a “sacred, often restricted place” and a katabasis is a “descent into the underworld – like that whole thing with Odysseus and Tiresius, for example.

If you don’t know that last reference, please look it up or maybe read some of the classics – they’re classics for a reason…

‘But what about the music?’ you ask, impatient to learn more about the record and slightly peeved with being upbraided for your reading decisions.

Grendel’s Syster is a German folk metal band, with a healthy dose of staccato almost martial melodic structures. There’s also a bit of math going on. This is metal music with a lot of right angles and sharp, precise playing.

The album consists of 16 songs, which should violate my “14 maximum” rule, except in this case it is 8 songs in English, and then the exact same 8 songs, but sung in German. More on this in a moment.

Lead singer Caro (I don’t know her last name) has that heavily enunciated style common to traditional folk music and she says every word in perfect time. It makes for a deliberate, urgent delivery. A lot of “listen to me very carefully, son” vibe in there.

This would be a better experience if things weren’t so…weird. I didn’t love the poetry here, and it felt more like a download of information – most of it bizarre and fantastical – than a poem set to a melody. I like weird topics – if I didn’t metal wouldn’t be a genre for me to begin with – but it helps when they come with a more emotive delivery that helps transport you to another time and place.

For this reason, the record is immeasurably better in German, where I don’t have to know what Caro is going on about and can just accept that it is some kind of strange folksy tale made even more eldritch and curious because of its mystery. I think the songs are faithfully translated, though, which means if you speak German this method won’t work for you.

Rather than quote anything in either language, I give you the song title names (in English) which include “Boar’s Tusk Helmet”, “Night Owl’s Beak” and “In Praise of Mugwort”. Very specific and very much topics you are unlikely to hear discussed around the water cooler come Monday.

Grendel’s Syster is not for everyone, but I loved the novelty of this record, and while the band’s very deliberate playing style is an acquired taste, you can tell it is by design, not lack of skill. They throw in a few tasty guitar riffs along the way just to remind you they aren’t a novelty act, and like the squirrel on the cover, they are dead serious about their craft.

Best tracks: Eberzahnhelm (Boar’s Tusk Helmet), Die Burde des Schwarzkuntslers (The Plight of a Sorceror), Nachteulenschnabel (Night Owl’s Beak)

CD Odyssey Disc 1897: Jack White

Before sitting down to write this review I first restored the wiring to an unplugged speaker and then went down the hall where I exclaimed (not for the first time), “stop knocking over my Doo Wop collection!”

Having two kittens in the house is not always music friendly…

Disc 1897 is… Lazaretto

Artist: Jack White

Year of Release: 2014

What’s up with the Cover? Blind Guardian showcased Morgoth on his throne with three Silmarils and a dancing elf, (Disc 1820) and Big Daddy Kane had a plate of fruit (among other attractive features) on “Long Live the Kane” (Disc 1108).

Jack White is not to be outdone in the game of thrones, depicted here surrounded by a host of angels, going so far as to use two of them as armrests.

Jack also has the best suit of these three covers, with this resplendent sharkskin suit that falls somewhere between Kane’s minimalist toga and Sauron’s protective but uncomfortable plate mail.

How I Came To Know It: I like most of what Jack White does and was eager to buy his second solo album as soon as it came out. So I did.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Jack White albums and “Lazaretto” comes in at #3. Nothing wrong with it – just stiff competition.

Ratings: 4 stars

In 2012 Jack White did his first “solo” album, having worked at his art first through the White Stripes and then the Raconteurs. That first record – “Blunderbuss” - is a blues-rock masterpiece and was well received by the adoring public as well. I like to imagine how that commercial and artistic success gave White the artistic license to see just how far he could push his unique approach to rock and roll. The result is the brilliant and sometimes overblown “Lazaretto”.

White starts off playing it “straight” or at least as straight as his twisted genius will allow. “Three Women” is a reimagining of a blues song by Blind Willie McTell called “Three Women Blues”. You could argue he steals the idea, but that would not do justice to just how different this song is. It may be inspired by McTell but this is White’s signature “blues twisted like wrought iron” sound through and through. It is a great song, and not even one of the record’s best.

From here, White starts to take flights of fancy along many different paths. The title track follows, a tune that deploys White’s oft-used funk-crunch sound, alongside his best staccato delivery. The song is the musical equivalent of a street rat with a wad of twenties – brave and reckless and flashing green in a way that’s not entirely safe. The song is so all over the place it practically fidgets, changing speed and course two thirds of the way through before giving way to the tortured fiddle of Fats Kaplin. It’s a lot, but also just the right amount.

“Temporary Ground” follows, with a folksy number that feels like when Zeppelin takes a break, only less borrowed. Few artists can take very old musical structures and traditions and twist them into something as new and innovative as Jack White, and Lazaretto is chock full of such examples.

I also love the piano trill of “Alone in My Home”, paired with Fats Kaplin’s mandolin and the occasional drum thump, it is a syncopation-fueled dream. There is also some great loose harmony with a singer I was delighted to discover (for the first time) is none other than Lillie Mae Rische.

I ‘discovered’ Lillie Mae quite independently from this and never put two and two together, even with Jack White producing her album “Forever and then Some” (reviewed at Disc 1379). She’s great, and a welcome additional voice on the record.

For 80% of this record, White is delivering 5-star glory all over the place, and the only time things fall down, they don’t so much as fall as stagger under the weight of their own ideas. The instrumental “High Ball Stepper” is a drunken master of a song but while innovative and filled with energy, has one too many “band warming up” moments to stick the landing.

I had to dig pretty deep in the tracks to find that gripe, however, and generally the weirdness that makes it hard to love every song on this record is part of what makes it better on repeat listens.

Best tracks: Lazaretto, Temporary Ground, Alone in My Home, Entitlement, The Black Bat Licorice, I Think I Found the Culprit