My Top 25 Favorite EPs From 2025

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · January 19, 2026

The year 2025 has been a massive year for new music, all erupting out of he heavy underground. After 150 plus album reviews for this year, I doubled my production for listening and reviewing bands. I am continually amazed at the surmounting number of releases coming out every single week. I participated in the grueling year end list with Dan Sierras on The Heavy Desert Podcast. You can listen to the episode here from either Apple or Spotify. I also listed my 25 Favorite Albums from 2025 in a post here. While the main focus for exceptional music was on full length albums, we must not forget the EPs that emerged also.

The way I categorized on what constitutes as an EP was by two factors. The first criteria is that the record must be somewhere between ten and thirty minutes long . Typically the runtime does not exceed over thirty minutes. The second factor is whether the band has labeled the release as an EP. The Florist record is a good example where it lasts thirty minutes and could be considered an LP but the title is literally called Adrift EP. In this case, I accepted it as an EP. There might be a couple of three song singles that I lumped into this category too. I state my case with Astroqueen. The Rufus Rising single includes three tracks that I couldn’t resist having on my list. I decided to place them higher on my top 25 but based on sound and quality, they are a top tier band! The same goes with Ultra Death Cult, who also released three songs earlier in the year that are just crushing. Another remarkable inclusion on my list is the multi-talented musician and one man wrecking machine, Otu. His main band Kaiser is amazing and Otu is such a gifted and authentic musician. The Apocalypse and Apocalypse Aftermath are two separate entities that sound cohesive together. I really enjoy Otu’s take on the more nasty and aggressive music and these two EP’s are great examples of his abilities to authenticate those styles.

I have always been a huge fan of EPs, which stands for “Extended Play”. Typically they are between fifteen and thirty minutes in length and it usually garners frequent and multiple listens. It can provide a greater connection with the music because it’s short enough to re-listen to and keep it repeating. A band can really make a huge impact with an excellent EP. There have been so many awesome EPs released this year and I didn’t want to ignore them. I can see great things happening for a lot of these bands listed here, based on their incredible music.

All of the reviews of each record are linked with the title. I encourage you to check these out. As I compile this list, the order is what it is on this particular day. The frequency of how often I listened to something and the personal connection to it, are the basis for the order. There were so many other EPs that I didn’t hear in time or not at all. Here is a list of my 25 favorite EPs from 2025 that resonated with me the most. Thanks for reading and dig it!

25. OTU – APOCALYPSE