Before 2025 fully wrapped up, we polled our readers to vote for their favorite black metal release from a handful of our nominations.
The winner of The Best Black Metal Album of the Year is…
Morus by Euphrosyne
“If you don’t have money to afford a session with your psychologist, make some music” – a phrase that aptly influenced the somber, yet therapeutic black metal of Euphrosyne‘s new album. Morus revolves around the death of guitarist Alex Despotidis’ mother, taking the form of a musical and cathartic memento mori.
The band shared their north star during the writing and recording for the album was “to describe the rawness of our emotions and the atonement that comes with accepting death rather than the false hopes of an afterlife and that was our truth.”
“You accept a tragedy, and you manage to go on.”
Remarkably, the Greek four-piece beat out some tough competition in the black metal category, yet Euphrosyne admitted to be big fans of the Russian post-black metallers Grima, and they recently was them likes with Ultar in Athens. This year, Grima released Nightside, described as “top tier” alongside Will of the Primordial by Euphrosyne.
After performing at New Long Fest back in July with 1000mods, Calyces, Dephosphorus, Spineless, and more (“we met all the bands, drank beers together and enjoyed metal”), Euphrosyne is now ready for shows with Swallow the Sun and Harakiri for the Sky, as well as a couple new singles to release soon – “despite all the adverse circumstances, we’ll go on making music and sharing our stories.”