PODCAST: Best ov 2025 (January/February 2026 Episode)

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*Due to an ongoing tech issue with Mixcloud's uploader, the tracklist and time-stamping are missing on their app and website, but you can still listen to the show there and find the tracklisting here. All will be fixed as soon as their tech team figures it out. 

Welcome to the 'Best ov 2025' edition of "Out ov the Coffin," my annual collection of the best in Goth, post-punk, deathrock, darkwave, film scores, dark metal, and beyond.

This first episode of each year serves as a sonic time capsule of the previous year's greatest moments: The albums, songs, films, and shows that shaped the year that was 2025, and then stuck with me. While I always delay this episode into the new year, so I can include releases from November and December, which so often get overlooked, this episode's launch was further delayed by the late January ice storm that held Nashville in its grip, causing most of us to lose a week or two of productivity (or worse). 

That said, it's here! Instead of ranking my "Best ov" choices, I play them in an order that flows smoothly between the various styles, like a normal episode, and the talk breaks are backed by soundtrack selections from some of the year's most memorable films, as well as some of my favorite dark ambient releases. The result is a specially curated collection of the sounds that made the strongest impressions, or were attached to the defining moments of the year. And while the accompanying graphic certainly includes the cover art from a lot of my personal highlights, it acts as more of a representative collage than a chart. Think of this episode as a highlight reel to enjoy in retrospect.

As with every year, there are some releases included here that were not previously covered on the show. Either they either slipped through 2025's proverbial cracks, or they emerged late in the year. So, as you've come to expect each month, you are also getting some brand new music on this episode, including debuts from: Víz, Heimberg, DakhaBrakha, Silver Rein, The Tear Garden, Esses, Eros Necropsique, Mary Mortem, некрохолод (Necroholod), Zéro Absolu, and the score to "Stranger Things 5." 

So, without further ado, welcome to the "Out ov the Coffin: Best ov 2025" Episode. I hope you enjoy this extra-long mix, and if you like what you hear, please share the link online, or pass it along to your like-minded friends. As always, I hope you dig further into these artists and support them by using the linked band names on the playlist below, which most often link directly to their Bandcamp sites.

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PLAYLIST BEGINS HERE
Format: Band Name - Song Title [Album Title, Year]

(each band name is also a website link)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)

"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
  THE BEST ov 2025 Special!
  Show recorded on: February 8th, 2026

 

Opening Theme: 
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me [from "Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack), 1994]

 

The Cure - I Can Never Say Goodbye (Paul Oakenfold Cinematic Mix)  [Mixes of a Lost World, 2025]
-
Víz - Tűz Tó  [Danse des Larmes, 2025]
-
Isolated Youth - Underlandet  [Miserere Mei, 2025]
Alice Kean - Half Dead  [single, 2025]
Altar de Fey - Obituary  [Under A Waxing Moon, 2025]
Body Maintenance - Symphony of Bliss  [Far From Here, 2025]
Ritual Howls - Enter the Recuser  [Ruin, 2025]
Heimberg - It Keeps Me Up (All Night)  [Faceless, 2025]
Natures Mortes - Bruises  [Blind Submission, 2025]
Ostatnia Klatka - Sen ofiary  [Nie Dotyczy Mieszkańców, 2025]
Corpus Delicti - Room 36  [Liminal, 2025]
-
Vilde Tuv - Blomsterdansen  [Songs for The Ugly Stepsister, 2025] 
-
Peter Murphy - The Meaning of My Life  [Silver Shade, 2025]
DakhaBrakha - Plach  [Ptakh, 2025]
Silver Rein - Solstice Kiss  [single, 2025]
ROME - In Brightest Black  [Civitas Solis, 2025]
The Tear Garden - In the Name of  [Astral Elevator, 2025]
Liza Padliza (ЛІЗА ПАДЛІЗА) - збираю по клаптиках тіні (I gather the shadows in pieces) [Вхід у свідомість (Entry into Consciousness), 2025]
Tears for the Dying - Nazi Goths Fuck Off  [single, 2025]
Silver Tears - Again  [Silver Tears, 2025]
Astari Nite - Unisex Games  [single, 2025]
-
Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay, Zach Cregger - Main Theme (from Weapons)  ["Weapons" (soundtrack) 2025]
-
Calabrese - I Was a Teenage Deathstalker  [No Return from Darkness EP, 2025]

Fantasma Negra - Bliss  [L.U.S.T., 2025]
Edna Frau - The Laundry of Sins  [Slow, Be Gentle I am Virgin, 2025]
Creux Lies - Apocalypto  [single, 2025]
The New Romantics - Don't Hear You Laughing Now  [No Life, 2025]
Panic Priest - Empty Rooms  [Once Wild, 2025]
John Murphy - LuthorCorp  ["Superman" (soundtrack) 2025]
Saint Vengeur - Immaculata  [Sex And Repression In Higher Society, 2025]
Mourning Candle - NOS4A2  [single, 2025]  [N]
-
Alexandre Desplat - Frankenstein / Laying to Rest   ["Frankenstein" (soundtrack) 2025]
-
Esses - Three Sisters  [Pain at the Altar of Jest, 2025]
Eros Necropsique - En quarantaine  [Dépression, 2025]
Ludwig Göransson - Thy Kingdom Come (exc.)  ["Sinners" score, 2025]
Mary Mortem - A Long Crawl in For You  [Phantoms of the Fall, 2025]
SVRM - Вічність (Eternity)  [Скорбота (Sorrow), 2025]
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - Red Portal Opens  ["Stranger Things 5" (soundtrack) 2025]
Amalekim -  Chant V: Tanur Nitzchi  [Shir Hashirim, 2025]
Barshasketh - Charnel Quietism  [Antinomian Asceticism, 2025]
Hrishikesh Hirway - Sunscreen  ["Companion" (soundtrack) 2025]
Drudkh - The Thirst  [Shadow Play, 2025]
-
некрохолод (Necroholod) - Nóvember / They Stayed There Forever  [Khladna reka, 2025]
-   
Zéro Absolu –  La saignée  [La Saignée, 2025] 

 

 

[N] = Nashville artist.

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PODCAST: December 2025 Episode

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:

Welcome to the December 2025 Episode, closing out the year with a mix of new music, a few holiday songs (look, there are 12 days of xmas, ok?), and a couple of long looks in the rear view as the year winds down. 

We begin, though, with another sad loss to this music community: Perry Bamonte, longtime member of The Cure, who died from an undisclosed illness over the Christmas holiday. Perry first served as a guitar tech for the band from 1984-1990, before being made an official member in 1990. He wore several hats in their live line-up, playing guitar, bass VI, keyboards, and percussion, and appeared on all of their albums from 1992's Wish, to the self-titled 2004 album, The Cure. He last returned to the fold as a surprise live member for their Lost World tours from 2022-2024, and I'm thankful we got to see that happen before he was gone. As a small tribute to his contributions to the greatest of all bands, this episode begins with two songs that felt right to me, "Want" from 1996, and "The Big Hand," a Wish-era b-side which former bandmate Pearl (Porl) Thompson used in his own tribute to Perry this week. Rest in peace, sir.

Perry Archangelo Bamonte 
(3 September 1960 – 24 December 2025)

 

The first full set of the show begins with a debut from UK newcomers Mouth Ulcers, who have created a buzz for themselves by playing actual instruments while starting out in post-punk and goth music -- which should be a low bar, but the results are pleasing, and that bar is getting higher these days. We then dive deeper into the latest from French goth legends Corpus Delicti, before featuring another debut, this time from Spanish darkwave act Huir. Luxembourg's hardest working musician, ROME, comes in next with a song from one of his TWO new full-lengths albums, The Tower and The Hierophant, leaning more into the folk side of his neo-folk roots this time. Over to Australia next, from which we pluck a debut from Life Cult, before rounding out the set with another new '80s cover from modern darkwave champs Twin Tribes., who this time spotlight the influence of original French coldwave legends Asylum Party.

Set two turns our focus, briefly, to this holiday season -- so jump ahead about 20 minutes here if you wish to be spared, but otherwise, stick around for a few treats. We start with a musical explanation of the cover art for this month's episode, some music from the 1965 Ukrainian film, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors." The image you see depicts the result of the ancient Ukrainian custom of leaving offerings for wandering souls who may visit you during the nights of the Christmas season. Fitting for this time of year, and a nice way to mark the 60th anniversary of the film.

From there, the holiday set features a very traditional new Christmas single from The Cruxshadows (available as a pay-what-thou-wilt offering here), after which we visit Twin Peaks for a pair of lighthearted (goofy, even) holiday classics from 1990, before continuing with the mirth by playing the latest Venture Bros. holiday single, this time featuring the forced-duo of Dragoon and Red Mantle. Finally, the holiday set closes with 45 Grave, covering "The Snow Miser Song" (from the 1974 Rankin/Bass Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus). And, if you listen closely in the talk breaks before and after this set, you'll note that I even managed to sneak in some score music from "The Muppet Christmas Carol," (hah!), AND a 40th anniversary soundtrack salute to one of my all-time favorite movies, "Clue," which first saw the dark of stormy night in December of 1985. 

Set three returns us to new, non-holiday music (but the holiday vibes didn't kill you, now, did they?), beginning with the latest single from Italian darkwave act This Eternal Decay. We then throw the spotlight on Knoxville, Tennessee's own The New Romantics, with a taste of their just-released full length No Life, before falling all the way down the Ukrainian music rabbit hole for an obscurity dating back to 1995. That was the year the Сховайся cassette-only compilation came out, highlighting the country's newly-free underground musicians, like the darkwave-esque Квітчала в Серпні (Bloomed in August). From there, we check out the latest entries from east-coasters Amulet and Swedish newcomers White Birches, before closing the darkwave doors with the latest from Lycia alumnus David Galas, who has turned in a full goth rock album this time with The Nihilist. 

Set four, of corpse, delivers us to the dark metal zone, where we open our now-burnt hymnals to the book of Abysmal Grief, who give us a lesson in Italian Horror Doom with a cut from their new album Taetra Philosophia. ("disgusting philosophy," heh). We then explore some new Finnish black metal from Victimarum, followed by some US black metal that sounds highly Scandinavian, courtesy of Virginia's Skaldr. The set wraps up with a dual 30th anniversary salute to two formative Euro black metal acts, first Naglfar's Vittra LP, and then the perennial, thorned snow-flower that is Summoning's Minas Morgul, both of which came out near the end of 1995's banner year for black metal. 

We then let the third point in this month's Ukrainian trident guide us to the end of the show, where we find the unlikely pairing of WWI-themed Ukrainian act 1914 and ROME's Jerome Reuter, who provides guest vocals on a solemn track from the band's new Viribus Unitis album. It's a sad reminder that although you may have had a happy Christmas, war is certainly not over. 

All of that PLUS: New soundtrack work from Edo Van Breemen's "Keeper" and "IT: Welcome to Derry" part 2 by Benjamin Wallfisch; a new ambient xmas track from The Legendary Pink Dots; and more!

Ready to hear the show?
Stream it or grab the podcast file?
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PLAYLIST BEGINS HERE
Format: Band Name - Song Title [Album Title, Year]

(each band name is also a website link)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)

"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
  December 2025 Episode
  Show recorded December 29th-30th, 2025

Opening Theme:
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me ["Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack) 1994]

The Cure - Want  [Wild Mood Swings, 1996] RIP Perry Bamonte
The Cure - The Big Hand  [A Letter to Elise (single), 1992] RIP Perry Bamonte
-
The Legendary Pink Dots - Carol Singers  [The Legendary Pink Dots Xmas Special 2025]

-
Mouth Ulcers - A Perfect End  [single, 2025]
Corpus Delicti - It All Belongs To You [Liminal, 2025]
Huir - Storm  [single, 2025]
ROME - The Gods Are Slow to Forgive  [The Hierophant, 2025]
Life Cult - Death Bell  [Death Bell / Life is Love, 2025]
Twin Tribes - Play Alone  [single, 2025]
-
Miles Goodman - Ghost of Christmas Future  ["The Muppet Christmas Carol" (soundtrack) 1992] 
-
Miroslav Skorik - untitled ["Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (soundtrack) 1965] 
The Cruxshadows - The First Noel  [single, 2025]
Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Christmas Greeting  ["The Twin Peaks Music Archive" (comp.) 2011] 
Cast of Twin Peaks - The Twelve Days of Christmas  ["Feel The Warmth Of Kevin & Bean’s Wonderful World Of Christmas (The White Album)" (comp.) 1990]
Dragoon and Red Mantle - I Like Life  [Venture Bros. Holiday Album 14, 2025]
45 Grave - The Snow Miser Song ["Punk Rock Christmas" (comp.) 2015]
-
John Morris - Mr. Boddy / Ending B / Mrs. White  ["Clue" (soundtrack) 1985]
-
This Eternal Decay - Kiss Me I'm Dying  [single, 2025]
The New Romantics - Low Stakes  [No Life, 2025]
Квітчала в Серпні (Bloomed in August) - Untitled [Сховайся (Hide) (comp.) 1995]
Amulet - So Cold (Frozen Phoenix)  [Purification, 2025]
White Birches - Primal  [A New Reign, 2025]
David Galas - The Nihilist  [The Nihilist, 2025]
-
Edo Van Breemen - Lure / Trespass / Eons  ["Keeper" (soundtrack) 2025]
-
Abysmal Grief - Taetra Philosophia  [Taetra Philosophia, 2025]
Victimarum - Alkusoitto / Hovissa yön ruhtinaan  [Seitsemän soihdun valossa, 2025]

Skaldr - Storms Collide  [Saṃsṛ, 2025]
Naglfar - Enslave the Astral Fortress  [Vittra, 1995]
Summoning - Marching Homewards  [Minas Morgul, 1995]
-
Benjamin Wallfisch - Ceremony  ["IT: Welcome to Derry" Part 2 (soundtrack) 2025]
-
1914 - 1919 (The Home Where I Died) (feat. Jerome Reuter)  [Viribus Unitis, 2025]

________________

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PODCAST: November 2025 Episode

 

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:

Welcome to the November 2025 Episode, sliding in just under this month's wire, but ready for any autumn night you should choose. We begin with a double-shot of Dead Can Dance, in honor of the 40th anniversary of their second full-length, Spleen and Ideal, released in late November of 1985. The album saw the band transitioning from their traditional post-punk roots into the tree-of-many-roots that they would become, as they gathered seeds from a multitude of different styles to create something uniquely powerful.

 

The first full set kicks off with new music from Portland's Nyx Division, who have returned with more of their catchy blend of post-punk and rock n' roll shine on Midnight Lights. We then delve deeper into the latest from deathrock legends Altar de Fey, before hearing from recently resurrected Los Angeles post-punks, Pins And Needles, who have returned from a nearly 20 year break with the Witch EP. Dipping into the Tennessee Vaults of 2018, we hear when members of Knoxville acts New Romantics and Attic Eyes collaborated on a one-off track under the name Stepfather, and then we close the set by reaching further back for some 1996 shoegaze-goth from Lowsunday, whose Low Sunday Ghost Machine debut has been reissued by Projekt Records in honor of its upcoming 30th anniversary. 

 

Set two begins with another taste of Ritual Howls' new Ruin album, before letting Twin Tribes throw us a brand new curve ball with their cover of the 1984 song "Lobo-Hombre En París" (Werewolf in Paris) by Spain's La Unión. We then hear the latest single from Germany's Attic Frost, the anthemic "An Outcry," before debuting a track from the new  Vacíos Cuerpos album, La Cruz De Mi Conciencia. Finally, Ukrainian post-punk act Morwan returns as a full band with a song from their new album, Vse po kolu- znovu (all over again).

 

Set three begins with a more post-punk leaning new song from Germany's Diary of Dreams, who incorporate several new sounds on their Dead End Dreams EP, but still manage to retain their signature electro-goth sound in the end. And while we're feeling electronic, even industrial, we come face to face with the latest from Steven Archer's Stoneburner, Post Industrial Occult. Taking a moment to breathe in the atmosphere, we then hear a selection from Azam Ali's latest ethereal electronic collection, Synesthesia, before spinning an expansive debut from Canadian darkwave/electronic act, S1R1N. And what better way to close out the set than with a neo-folk rarity from ROME's vaults, taken from the recently compiled Terres De Sang - Rarities And Unreleased Tracks 2005-2025.

As we reach set four, the tide turns in favor of dark metal, beginning with new gothic doom from Spain's Sun of the Dying, then slipping into some new death/doom from Aduanten's Apocryphal Verse. We then take the first of two trips to the late '90s dark metal vaults with a deep cut from Katatonia's Discouraged Ones album, simply because it's that time of year, but follow it up with something relatively new from Ukraine's Life is Hell (a more "crust"-leaning project from the same mind behind SVRM). If you were holding out for classic '90s Norwegian black metal, we then salute the 30th anniversary of Mörk Gryning's debut album Tusen år har gått ("A thousand years have passed"), before closing the set with another debut, this time from New Zealand atmospheric black metal act Olde Throne. After a quick break, the show winds down with your first taste of Lamp of Murmuur's new LP, The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy.

All of that PLUS: New soundtrack work from Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein" by Alexandre Desplat and "IT: Welcome to Derry" by Benjamin Wallfisch ; new ambient works from Ansiktsløs, Steve Roach & SoRIAH, and Ukraine's Bohdan Stupak; and more!

Ready to hear the show?
Stream it or grab the podcast file?
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PLAYLIST BEGINS HERE
Format: Band Name - Song Title [Album Title, Year]

(each band name is also a website link)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)

"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
  November 2025 Episode
  Show recorded November 30th, 2025

Opening Theme:
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me ["Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack) 1994]

Dead Can Dance - De Profundis (Out Of The Depths Of Sorrow) / Avatar  [Spleen and Ideal, 1985] 40th anniversary!
-
Bohdan Stupak - Movement I  [Book of Sorrow, 2025] 
-
Nyx Division - Black Glass  [Midnight Lights, 2025]
Altar de Fey - Judith With The Head Of Holofernes  [Under a Waxing Moon, 2025]
Pins And Needles - Stranger  [Witch (EP), 2025]
Stepfather - Dead Reflection  [single, 2018]
Lowsunday - Spiders Web  [Low Sunday Ghost Machine, 1996 (2025 remaster)]
-
Benjamin Wallfisch - Teddy, Phil, and Lilly / Derry / Mean Girls  ["IT: Welcome to Derry, Vol. 1" (soundtrack) 2025]
-
Ritual Howls - Digging for My Spirit  [Ruin, 2025]
Twin Tribes - Lobo-Hombre En París  [Ecos (single) 2025]
Attic Frost - An Outcry  [An Outcry, 2025]
Vacíos Cuerpos - Entre Sombras  [La Cruz De Mi Conciencia, 2025]
Morwan - Не чекай  [Vse po kolu- znovu (all over again), 2025]
-
Alexandre Desplat - Everything is New / Elizabeth Meets the Creature  ["Frankenstein" (soundtrack) 2025]
-

Diary of Dreams - Tomorrow's Past  [Dead End Dreams (EP) 2025]
Stoneburner - Witching Weather  [Post Industrial Occult, 2025]
Azam Ali - To Pieces  [Synesthesia, 2025]
S1R1N - Voodoo Doll  [single, 2025]
ROME - Der Brandtaucher (Stringed Version) [Terres De Sang - Rarities And Unreleased Tracks 2005-2025 (comp.) 2025]
-
Steve Roach & SoRIAH - Stars of Darkness  [Curandero, 2025]
-
Sun of the Dying - Of Absence  [A Throne of Ashes, 2025]
Aduanten - Decameron  [Apocryphal Verse, 2025]
Katatonia - Nerve  [Discouraged Ones, 1998]
Life is Hell - Вінець буття (Crown of Being) [Вінець буття , 2023]
Mörk Gryning - Tusen år har gått  [Tusen år har gått, 1995] 
Olde Throne - Primordial Realm / The Most Elder Days  [Megalith, 2025]
-
Ansiktsløs - It Reveals  [Sideworlds, 2025]
-
Lamp of Murmuur - The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy Part III - The Fall  [The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy, 2025]

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