The Real Gone End Of Year Round-Up, 2025

We’ve reached the end of another year, and for Real Gone, 2025 was a special one. Not only did we celebrate our sixteenth year online, but we gained a truckload of new and regular supporters – both from an industry perspective and in terms of regular readership. Our visitor stats have seen a huge increase on 2024, and the materials we’ve been sent for review have been more varied than ever.

We’ve heard a lot of enjoyable albums and EPs over the past twelve months, but as is traditional, we’ve whittled our favourites down to ten, and then given a well deserved shout out to a few titles we think are also worth checking out. As always, our picks for the best of the year are limited to releases we actually reviewed – it’s only fair. We hope you’ll check out some of the artists and releases featured below, if you’ve not already done so.

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SYPHA – Borderland EP

The release of their ‘Sober’ single in 2022 heralded Sypha’s arrival on the metal scene as something worth celebrating. That track shared a heavy riff which blended a classic metal sound with a more modern edge, working something that sounded like Shinedown crossed with the swagger of an on form Halestorm. In Alicia Pilling, the band also possessed a hugely melodic talent, and the blend of sounds led to a near perfect slice of chunky yet accessible metal. Subsequent singles proved that this was no fluke: with each successive track, the band flaunted a great sound, and the vocals continued to suggest Pilling would be an asset to the UK’s rock scene.

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