September 2025 Best Heavy Metal Albums

Here are our picks for September 2025’s best heavy metal albums:

1. Paradise Lost – Ascension (Nuclear Blast)

Paradise Lost‘s 17th album is Ascension, the proper follow-up to 2020’s Obsidian. Ascension finds the band in what most would consider to be familiar territory, something that should be obvious as soon as you take in album opener “Serpent On The Cross.” Layered and moody guitars assist vocalist Nick Holmes to punctuate the air with his signature growl while the guitars of Gregor Mackintosh and Aaron Aedy perform their well-known sonic ritual.

Bands like Paradise Lost don’t come around too often, offering a sense of sonic singularity, a band is only ever truly compared to itself, a litmus test that Ascension passes. It’s hard to believe that this band has made 16 records before this and can still release what might be their best album this century. Ascension is an album that holds itself firmly against the band’s best and one of the top albums of 2025. It’s our pick for September’s best new album.

2. Green Carnation – A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores Of Melancholia (Season Of Mist)

Green Carnation‘s sound has varied over the years, shifting from death metal to death-doom to gothic to hard rock. After a long absence, they released Leaves Of Yesteryear in 2020, which was in the gothic/prog metal vein. They continue on that path with A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores Of Melancholia, the first in a planned trilogy.

The album is pretty streamlined at 42 minutes, but each of the six songs is expansive. Green Carnation allow plenty of time for each track to develop and change, with progressive forays balanced by catchy melodies. The arrangements are layered and intricate with plenty of atmosphere, especially tracks like “In Your Paradise.” There’s variety in intensity as well, transitioning from the mellow “Me My Enemy” to “The Slave That You Are” that has a heavy, black metal style intro and some harsh vocals from Enslaved’s Grutle Kjellson before the melodies kick in. Closer “Too Close To The Flame” has some of the record’s most progressive sections. A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores Of Melancholia is very engaging, with skillful songwriting and top-notch musicianship, creating even more anticipation for the trilogy’s next releases.

3. Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Innern (Season Of Mist)

Der Weg Einer Freiheit have evolved so profoundly that each album feels like a bold new step. What began as a solid black metal project expanded into bleak, atmospheric soundscapes and eventually embraced progressive elements, creating a sound that is immersive, intoxicating, and deeply impressive. Innern, the band’s sixth studio album, stands as the culmination of this journey — courageous, refined, and strikingly cohesive.

The record unfolds with “Marter,” a ten-minute opener that sets the existential tone of the work. From there, “Xibalba” dives into theatrical intensity, before the closing track “Forlorn” delivers a sorrowful yet imaginative and striking finale. These songs form a dramatic arc that lingers in the listener’s mind long after the album ends. Balancing the roots of black metal with modern and progressive sensibilities, Innern captures an effective duality. It feels both timeless and forward-looking. Though its runtime leaves you wishing for more, the impact is undeniable. Innern is not just another step in the band’s evolution; it is a near-masterpiece, destined to be remembered as a modern classic.

4. Between The Buried And Me – The Blue Nowhere (InsideOut)

Between The Buried And Me are back with The Blue Nowhere, and the band couldn’t have offered more changes. If Colors II was a return to the band’s old days, this new album again shows that the band is constantly changing, this time diving into more unconventional and almost quirky territory.

The musical prowess is more present than ever, but the songwriting is more mature than before. The album is long and demands a lot of your attention. It’s not an easy listen. It requires patience from the listener. Unpredictable changes and flashy ideas are still the rule, so it’s not a total breakaway from the norm — but expect the unexpected with The Blue Nowhere!

5. Castle Rat – The Bestiary (King Volume)

Castle Rat‘s sophomore record The Bestiary promises more fantasy doom metal than their debut. Castle Rat are well known for their costumes and stage antics, but behind all of that are some solid musical chops, some that would draw comparisons to contemporaries like Lucifer. Killer guitar hooks and the powerful vocals and rhythm guitar of The Rat Queen (Riley Pinkerton) build a sense of the ethereal as the leads lay down some serious hooks on “Wolf I.”

On “Siren,” Pinkerton does her best impression of the infamous winged creatures that historically eliminated sailors with another impactful use of vocals with a heavy driving riff bringing the action to a close. Some tracks slow the album’s momentum in a transitional sense as you get a sense of the band traveling to their next sonic locale, allowing you to collectively catch your breath. Castle Rat’s magical mystery tour version of doom metal is a fun romp, leading to one of the year’s most fun records.

6. Mors Principium Est – Darkness Invisible (Perception)

Darkness Invisible is album number nine from Finnish band Mors Principium Est, a furious but multi-faceted full-length that blends black metal, death metal, thrash, prog and neoclassical metal. Going deeper, tracks such as “Monuments” and the cheery “All Life Is Evil” feel gripping and epic. In Ancient Roman mythology, Avernus was the gate to Hell – so it should come as no surprise that “The Rivers of Avernus” is sonically brutal.

On the other hand, “An Aria Of The Damned” contains some haunting female chanting. Blastbeats, harsh vocals, melody, synths, violins, piano — the album has it all. And despite all these layers and mood — or perhaps because of them — Mors Principium Est have crafted a striking album that deserves to be anything but “invisible.”