With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 (Part 4) December 15, 2025

Filed under: Album Of The Year — justwilliam1959 @ 8:56 pm
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The revelation of Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 is now nearing the top. In past years it has only ever been a top 20, but it was hard to whittle the original list of 60 down to 20, so we kept 50 of them! So far we have given you parts 1, 2 and 3 which cover positions 21 through to 50. Now we reveal the numbers from 11 to 20 in part 3.

Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out parts 1, 2 and 3. (Just click on the numbers). Part 5 which will reveal the top 10 will arrive very, very soon! Are you looking forward to the countdown? There will be a 50 song play list when Part 5 arrives! Here comes numbers 11 to 20.

11 Cut & Rewind – Say She She – “Classy old school R&B driven into the 21st century with soul, funk, style, perfect vocals and confidence”
12 West End Girl – Lily Allen – “Low key, break up, personal themes document the return of Lily Allen”
13 Parasites & Butterflies – Nova Twins – “A fearless, thundering collection of songs from perhaps the finest band of their generation. The Nova Twins are heading for super nova status!”
14 Bin Juice – The Lovely Eggs – “This lot can turn the every day mundaneness into fiery, exciting punk songs”
15 The Clearing – Wolf Alice – “This mighty fourth album sees a good band metamorphosing into a great band. Ellie Rowsell’s vocals are superb”
16 Lotus – Little Simz – “This is her sixth album and she gets even better each time. On this she bares her soul through anger, fragility and she begins to translate the ciphers that hide real life”
17 MAD! – Sparks – “Formed in L.A. more than 50 years ago the brothers Mael continue to produce fabulous music, this is perhaps their best of the 21st century”
18 Euro-Country – CMAT – “A dark pop classic from CMAT with some brutally honest lyrics”
19 Pillow Talk – Party Nails – “The perfect blend of synth filled electro pop from the delightful Party Nails”
20 Antidepressants – Suede – “The best new material since they reformed? Probably”

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Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 (Part 3) December 12, 2025

Filed under: Album Of The Year — justwilliam1959 @ 8:46 am
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The revelation of Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 is now past the halfway point. In past years it has only ever been a top 20, but it was hard to whittle the original list of 60 down to 20, so we kept 50 of them! So far we have given you part 1 and part 2 which cover positions 31 through to 50. Now we reveal the numbers from 21 to 30 in part 3.

Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out parts 1 and 2. Parts 4 and 5 which will reveal the rest of the top 50 very, very soon! Are you looking forward to the countdown? There will be a 50 song play list when Part 5 arrives! Here comes numbers 21 to 30.

21 The Passionate Ones – Nourished By Time – “Baltimore-born artist Marcus Brown, via his alter ego Nourished By Time, continues to search for the meaning of life with this astonishing album”
22 Can’t Lose My (Soul) – Annie and the Caldwells – “I am still an atheist, but this stunning gospel album perhaps brought me closer to a God than I have ever been”
23 Showbiz! – MIKE – “Modern hip-hop at its best. This album has jazz, weirdly wonderful samples and loops and it oozes with emotion”
24 Who Is The Sky? – David Byrne – “An incredibly uplifting album from the genius that is David Byrne”
25 Getting Killed – Geese – “This music sits at the cutting edge of exciting, exhilarating, experimental rock. A sonic masterpiece”
26 45 Pounds –YHWH Nailgun – “Post Punk, Funk and so much more blended to create a towering rock album”
27 Lux – ROSALÍA – “This is a true opus that is cinematic in its ambition and scale. It makes all of those classic rock operas look a little insipid”
28 Golliwog – Billy Woods – “Horror, ambient jazz and droning noise brought together to create an unsettling and powerful record”
29 Only Dust Remains – Backxwash – “Rap/ Hip-hop but with electronic, industrial, orchestral, gospel and rock elements. A hauntingly magnificent album!”
30 I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me – Lorna Shore – “Deathcore metal at its finest. Intense, dark melodic metal”

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Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 (Part 2) December 3, 2025

Filed under: Album Of The Year — justwilliam1959 @ 10:25 pm
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The revelation of Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 is underway. In past years it has only ever been a top 20, but it was hard to whittle the original list of 60 down to 20, so we kept 50 of them! Last week we gave you part 1 which included positions 41 through to 50. Now we reveal the numbers from 31 to 40 in part 2

Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out parts 1, 3, 4 and 5 which will reveal the rest of the top 50 very soon! Very soon! Are you looking forward to the countdown? There will be a 50 song play list when Part 5 arrives! Here comes numbers 31 to 40.

31 ‘A Paradise In The Hold’ – Yazz Ahmed – “Telling wondrous stories via her middle eastern heritage with an injection of gorgeous jazz“
32 ‘Essex Honey’ – Blood Orange – “Dev Hynes a.k.a. Blood Orange delivers and ethereal, emotional, melancholy masterpiece”
33 ‘EUSEXUA’ – FKA Twigs – “Twigs the wonderkid strikes again with an album that combines, pop, dance and what the mainstream media calls ‘adult themes’!”
34 ‘DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’ – Bad Bunny – “I knew nothing about him until the Super Bowl furore. This album is infectious and is the definition of perfect rhythms”
35 ‘Addison’ – Addison Rae – “Sensual, confident and perhaps the introduction of a future superstar”
36 ‘THE BPM’ – Sudan Archives – “Sublime electro R & B, Sudan Archives continues to grow”
37 ‘Like A Ribbon’ – John Glacier – “More spoken word than rap, Glacier holds the torch for great British music. This is an album that could only come from the UK!”
38 ‘That’s Showbiz Baby!’ – JADE – “A supremely confident debut album from a former member of Little Mix that makes Pop cool again”
39 ‘The Bad Fire’ – Mogwai – “Deep, dark, stunning, synth soundscapes that in my opinion should only ever be played at maximum volume!”
40 ‘A Complicated Woman’ – Self Esteem – “Anthemic superior sounds and songs from an entertainment and artistic polymath”

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Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 (Part 1) November 26, 2025

Filed under: Album Of The Year — justwilliam1959 @ 8:34 pm
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Here it is, we are finally ready to reveal Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025. In past years it has only ever been a top 20, but it was hard to whittle the original list of 60 down to 20, so we kept 50 of them! This is part 1 which covers positions 41 through to 50. Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 which will reveal the rest of the top 50 very soon! very soon! Are you looking forward to the countdown? There will be a 50 song play list when Part 5 arrives! Here comes numbers 41 to 50

41 ‘The Sky, the Earth & All Between’ – Architects – “A metalcore masterpiece from Architects, one of the finest bands in the UK”
42 ‘Music Can Hear Us’ – DJ Koze – “DJ Koze creates music that takes you to a wonderful happy place with some help from his mates!”
43 ‘The Collapse Of Everything’ – Adrian Sherwood – “The Doyen of Dub and the Master of Mixology delivers his opus!”
44 ‘Sad And Beautiful World’ – Mavis Staples – “86 years old and making some of the finest music of her career. I hope I age that well!”
45 ‘Metalhorse’ – Billy Nomates – “An immaculate return to form for Billy Nomates“
46 ‘A Fine African Man’ – Knucks – “A sizzling sophomore release from ace London rapper Knucks”
47 ‘Faux Animaux’ – Blue Violet – “Their music has a dark and mysterious pop rock style and is loaded with great hooks.“
48 ‘Lost In Good Intentions’ – Fishing 4 Compliments – “A band that state their intent with passion and fire“
49 ‘Dreaming In Stereo’ – Jellybricks –“Everyone needs some Jellybricks in their life. Why not build your music house out of Jellybricks?”
50 ‘Naked Truth’ – Autumn Dawn Leader – “If Jim Steinman had ever decided to produce a more considered and less bombastic album than the type he did with Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler and employed Philip Glass and Brian Eno it might have sounded a little like ‘Naked Truth’.“

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Mayhem’s Top 20 Albums Of 2024 (Part 2) December 11, 2024

Filed under: Album Of The Year — justwilliam1959 @ 11:01 pm
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Here it is, we are finally ready to reveal part 2 Mayhem’s Top 20 Albums Of 2024. Yes this is the top ten! Who is number one? Read on to find out. Have any of your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? It was very close at the top with Mr. Cave just scraping it Check out the list below and feel free to let me know what you think via comments, socials or email. You will find a Spotify playlist below which contains one track from each album that made the top 20. If you would like to check out positions 11 to 20 click here!

1 Wild God – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – How does this man produce so many masterpieces?
2 Evil Hate Filled Female – Delilah Bon – No sophomore slump from Delilah, this is magnificent
3 9 Sad Symphonies – Kate Nash – One of the most beautifully sounding albums of 2024
4 Wake Up, Shut Up, Work – Millie Manders and the Shutup – Millie is not afraid to open her heart
5 Hot Singles In Your Area – Scene Queen – This album made me smile from start to finish
6 Yummy – James – This is one of their best and they have been around for ages
7 Songs Of A lost World – The Cure – I have never been a huge fan of the Cure, but this is sublime
8 BRAT – Charli XCX – BRAT ruled the world for a bit this year, and rightly so, this is damned good
9 The Mess We seem To Make – Crawlers – A stunning record
10 Traumatic Livelihood – Jazmin Bean – Weird, wonderful and everything in between

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Mayhem’s Top 20 Albums Of 2024 (Part 1) December 9, 2024

Filed under: Album Of The Year,Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 8:29 pm
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Here it is, we are finally ready to reveal Mayhem’s Top 20 Albums Of 2024. This is part 1 which covers positions 11 through to 20. Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out part two which will reveal the top 10 very soon! I had the list almost complete and then just to make life difficult Not Now Norman and Carol Hodge both released new albums and they appear at number 16 and 20 respectively. Are you looking forward to part 2? There will be a 20 song play list when Part 2 arrives!

11 Cartoon Darkness – Amyl and the Sniffers – Perfectly crafted cartoon punk.
12 What Now – Brittany Howard – What a fucking voice!
13 POST HUMAN: NeX Gen – Bring Me The Horizon – They have evolved into something very special!
14 Where’s My Utopia? – Yard Act – A stunning sophomore release.
15 The Past is Still Alive – Hurray For The Riff Raff – This captures the simplistic beauty of great music!
16 Go HARD or Go HOME – Not Now Norman – They went very hard and we didn’t go home!
17 EELS TIME! – Eels – Mr E once again produces a sublime collection.
18 66 – Paul Weller – He is my age and can still turn out a great album, unlike me!
19 Another Nice Mess – Curtis Eller’s American Circus – A gorgeous slice of American music.
20 EffortLess InSecurity – Carol Hodge – The Hodge pulls off yet another towering album.

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