Another year of great releases hit the writing team of Louder Than War this year and we’ve all found it difficult to keep up with the endless wave of music cramming our earlobes yet again. Our top twenty covers some of the usual suspects and some great new bands we’ve discovered along the way. Eclectic as ever and agree of disagree, this list will divide opinion or spur you on a new musical adventure to guide you into 2026…
(Louder Than War have announced their first festival next year – line and tickets here )
20. Jamie Perrett: Nepo Baby.
Jamie Perrett is probably the most under-rated guitarist, producer and songwriter in the country. Born into Dickensian squalor and branded with the name of an infamous parent, a God-like Genius to many, but an absent father due to addiction, Nepo Baby is the whole story, exorcised and dramatized in a stunning song. (Ged Babey)
19. The Dirt: Chaos
Chaos is brilliant. Another nod to Joy Division here backed with some classic lines from Jack, with that now familiar psych sound from the sublime fuckery of Sachiko’s crazy pedal collection. It’s an angry bastard and full of invention from the dynamic duo. (Wayne AF Carey)
18. House Of All: The Good Englishman
The Good Englishman is a classic, lyrically and musically. You may of course, disagree. But you’d be wrong. It’s fantastical and explores numerous ideas about identity and history and makes sense only to someone on the same wavelength as its author…. ( C’mon, I’ve never pretended to be Mark Fisher…). (Ged Babey)
17. Dead Pioneers: My Spirit Animal Ate Your Spirit Animal.
This single carries on in a similar vein from earlier work with the influence of Circle Jerks, MDC and Rage Against The Machine still present. The song title My Spirit Animal Ate Your Spirit Animal sets the tone as Deal ridicules and attacks another example of Native culture being stolen and appropriated. Anger turns to scathing sarcasm and humour: “Burning sage because you think we do, Thinking you just had a breakthrough” (Nathan Brown)
16. Sun O))): Eternity’s Pillars.
SUNN O)) returned with a unannounced 12″ single on their new home Sub Pop Records; three tracks clocking in just shy of 30 minutes form the core duo set-up of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, this release could represent a back-to-basics approach – it is crushingly heavy, and sees SOMA and The Lord lock into the zone, as ever there is no discernible rhythm, maybe the feedback at the top end could be construed as melody… somehow it seems to get heavier as the track builds before concluding with what sounds like the sky falling in! (Phil Newall)
15. Lisa O’Neill: The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right.
The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right is quite possibly the saddest song you will hear, a lament for mans inhumanity to man. It has a religious, hymnal quality… and soul… and compassion… and will, in time come to be regarded as a song as great and important as ‘Shipbuilding’. Or maybe even ‘Strange Fruit’, even though it is not as subject specific, more wide-ranging. (Ged Babey)
14. TV Face: Happy New Year.
Scuzzy guitars, crunching drums, dirty bass and a catchy chorus was how I described it back in September. It’s all that. (Wayne AF Carey)
13. Gina Birch: Causing Trouble Again
Causing Trouble Again is a shapeshifter of a namechecking song which I revealed here, yet after a few more listens I’ve noticed it’s a completely modern take on She’s Lost Control – Joy Division. Just listen and tell me I’m wrong. Curtis will be dancing in his grave and Hannett will be bodypopping on his mixing desk. It’s an angry futuristic feminist anthem. (Wayne AF Carey)
12. Charlie XCX & John Cale: House
John Cale is still pushing the envelope in his eighties with his ongoing solo career and the recent, remarkable track he recorded with Charli XCX. (John Robb)
11. The Divine Comedy: Achilles
This song grasps the biggest nettle. War and rumours of war define our times, but it’s not Neil Hannon’s style to address present-day conflicts with some straightforward protest song. Instead, Achilles is a meditation on warfare through the ages, mapping ancient Greek legend on to the trenches of 1914-18. Ultimately, it’s a song about mortality, whether we face it on the battlefield or pass away in peace. “One day I will be nothing/Think how funny that will feel/For we, the living/Death is the Achilles heel.” (Robert Plummer).
10. The Cords: Fabulist
For me the first time I heard the single, and opening track to the album, Fabulist, I was taken back to hearing The Primitives for the first time. I can vividly remember laying on the living room floor, a 16 year old watching the video to Really Stupid on Whistle Test on a Tuesday evening. Obviously younger pop fans won’t care about old reference points such as this: what they will hear is the sound of two young women doing something utterly exciting: playing loud guitar and loud drums, creating immediate and infectious pop tunes. (Iain Key).
9. [slab]: Holding Pattern.
At LTW Towers we are loving the new single from Manchester based post punk crew, [slab]. With the smouldering piledriving dynamics of Pixies, the songwriting chops of Sleater Kinney and the post rock dark energy of shoegaze at its shimmering best [slab] have found their own space and new single Holding Pattern, released 3 October 2025, with its perfect production from Simon ‘Ding’ Archer at the local 6DB Studios is their best yet. (John Robb).
8. Suede: Antidepressants.
Antidepressants is a dark gothic number with a foreboding Osman bass line and Anderson combining spoken word with his trademark vocals and meaningful words that hark back to the sound of Teardrop Explodes and even a bit of The Horrors with a great drum beat crashing around with Oakes’ jangling guitars. (Wayne Carey).
7. dull: Spilling.
Fuckin ‘ell! If you’re missing the mighty sound of JOHN x 2 then get your ears around this mighty bastard! dull, a power duo from Lancaster galloping out of the stables of Cracked Ankles Records who can’t do anything wrong at the moment when spotting loud as fuck talent. Pile driving riffs and sonic noise backed with a powerful drum / vocal onslaught. What’s not to like? (Wayne Carey)
6. Self Esteem: The Deep Blue Okay.
I’d encourage anyone unfamiliar with Self Esteem to begin by watching the performance of A Complicated Woman’s closing track, The Deep Blue OK, on Jools Holland. It’s got to be one of the powerful and moving performances that the little pianist has had the fortune to feature. This should hook you in. (Iain Key). Shits all over Taylor Swift! (Wayne AF Carey)
5. Benefits: Divide.
The anger slightly surpressed, bottled up yet ready to burst. That inevitable explosion comes with the arrival of Divide. Accompanied by Middlesbrough-based rapper Shakk, the band tear the roof off with a fully-certified BANGER. (Andy Brown).
4. Sleaford Mods: The Good Life.
The Good Life tells you what to expect. It features kindred spirits Joe Hicklin and Callum Maloney, otherwise known as fast-rising post-industrial funk-punks Big Special, while sci-fi actress Gwendoline Christie provides a furious cameo. Williamson disses rival musicians who “wear crap clothes like Jasper Carrott”, then Hicklin and Maloney’s crooned chorus bemoans the elusiveness of liberty: “The good life feels like it must when you’re free.” (Robert Plummer).
3. Dead Pioneers: Post American.
Po$t American could not be more on point. The music almost takes a back seat so as not to interfere which backs up Gregg Deal’s strident polemic. Musically it is a slow rhythmic plod with perhaps a nod to Lard while a short fast middle eight is more in the vein of jerky hardcore perfected by the likes of Minutemen. As we’ve come to expect Gregg holds up a mirror to white Amerikkka. Although written 6 months ago on “White people’s day of Independence, July 4, 2024” it really captures the mood under the new President, making it highly topical in a way that is reminiscent of Dead Kennedys, DOA and Crass in the 80s. Here’s just a snatch – the line “All the white folks get a clean slate” could so easily be about the recent pardoning of the 6th January rioters. (Nathan Brown).
2. Wet Leg: Catch These Fists.
Wet Leg divide the opinion of our writers as usual, yet this year they’ve clearly excelled with their album of earworms Moisturiser reviewed here. Voted en masse by our writing team you just can’t ignore them unless you choose to bury yourself in a deep sandpit. Gregg Deal from Dead Pioneers has their back if that’s going to sways you. MK Bennett said: Catch These Fists, a literal gut reaction to unwanted attention: “I just threw up in my mouth when he just tried to ask me out.” (Wayne Carey).
1. Viagra Boys: The Bog Body.
Viagra Boys were our winners hands down this year. A snarling punk tune that dates back to The Pistols at their height. A tale of a love affair with a peat bog lady? Infectious as fuck and a thrill to the ears for me. (Wayne AF Carey). The Bog Body may be a short essay on beauty standards, or it may be completely literal, but importantly, it does feature a full verse on the difference between a swamp and a bog, so it’s at least educational. Resolutely old school musically, it’s beautifully bass-heavy and from the Pistols/Dead Boys/Damned school of acceleration and also has a brilliant and pointed video worth watching for the genuine unsettling strangeness of the Bog Lady alone. (MK Bennett).
The Top 20 tracks were compiled by our album review editors Wayne Carey, Nathan Whittle, Ged Babey, Iain Key and Robert Plummer, with votes from John Robb, Nigel Carr, Neil Crud, Mark Ray, Sean Millard, Andy Brown, Keith Goldhanger, Phil Newall, Nathan Brown, Robin Boardman, Ian Corbridge, Gus Ironside, Neil Chapman and Adam Brady.
For the rest of our tracks voted this year, check out our playlist. Apologies to any bands not featured. We go on writers votes and can’t cram everything in we’d like to. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years to all our important readers. Enjoy!
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