The Heavy Desert Podcast – My Top 10 Favorite Albums of the 2nd Quarter (April, May, & June) of 2025

I had the pleasure of being a guest, for the second time, on The Heavy Desert Podcast with Dan Sierras. We recorded the episode on Sunday, July 6th and it aired on Tuesday, July 8th. You can listen to it on either Spotify (here) or Apple Music (here). It was a very deep quarter of exceptional releases and quite frankly, very difficult to narrow it down to only ten albums. I started compiling my list a couple of weeks in advance and I kept changing it, almost daily. It was a challenge for sure because there have been many amazing records that came out in that time span. As I mentioned on the show, my order is not set in stone, and will change periodically as I discover new releases or depending on my mood. I feel grateful to be able to share my love for the heavy underground rock music scene, with my blog reviews, and my discussions with Dan, on his excellent podcast. I decided to list off my top ten in this post, along with a bunch of honorable mentions. Some of these bands and records were not mentioned on the episode but I wanted to share them here. I encourage you to listen to the podcast and discover some amazing new bands that just might end up being your next favorite band. I have mad respect for all of the talented artists that create, record, and perform their respective music. I decided to include the links for the albums that I reviewed, in hopes to make it easier to read and discover new talent. I really enjoyed being on the podcast and want to thank Dan for having me as a guest. I encourage everyone to check out The Heavy Desert Podcast, where Dan interviews bands, promoters, record labels, and other personnel that are involved in the heavy underground. He usually airs an episode every Tuesday and sometimes an extra one on Thursday. So without further delay, here are my top ten and the honorable mentions from April through June.

10. AAWKS – ON THROUGH THE SKY MAZE

9. MISS LAVA – UNDER A BLACK SUN

8. LO-PAN – GET WELL SOON

7. EARL OF HELL – SELF TITLED

6. DEAD SHRINE – CYDONIA MENSA

5. HANDGEMENG – SATANIC PANIC ATTACK

4. KOMATSU – A BREAKFAST FOR CHAMPIONS

3. MOOCH – KIN

2. HOLYROLLER – RAT KING

1. KAL-EL – ASTRAL VOYAGER, VOL. 1

HORORABLE MENTIONS: (In No Particular Order!)

CRYSTAL SPIDERS – METANOIA

TURTLE SKULL – BEING HERE

DWELLERS – CORRUPT TRANSLATION MACHINE

FRANKIE & THE WITCH FINGERS – TRASH CLASSIC

THIS SUMMIT FEVER – SELF TITLED

APEWARDS – LIMINAL CHOICES

PARALYZED – RUMBLE & ROAR

TIER – BACKWOODS BLUES

WHITE NOISE GENERATOR – MYRIADS

TEMPLE FANG – LIFTED FROM THE WIND

BLEETH – MARIONETTE

SKYJOGGERS – 12021:POST-ELECTRIC APOCALYPSE

BLACK HONEY CULT – SELF TITLED

FUSSKALT – FACELESS MAN

HEXECUTIONER – TORNIT

There you have it! A list of 25 of my favorites from the second quarter. I have already discovered a few more that I will be reviewing soon. Please feel free to comment and share some albums that I may be missing. Please check out all of my reviews to see everything that I have available. Thanks for reading and supporting the heavy underground music universe!