The Best of All the Things in 2025!
As an semi-retired music journalist, doing some sort of year-end wrap-up feels like a life necessity most years. As an old music journalist who did almost no music journalism this year, I basically feel like I owe the world a recap because I didn’t write up pretty much anything this year. So, to make up for that, here are some kickass things I came across this year that I didn’t write about.
Books
I actually managed to get through a few books this year, which feels like next door to a miracle, compared to the last few years. I read both of Travis Baldree’s first books, Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust, though I don’t have my hands on his new one just yet. People started recommending him to me at Archipelacon in May, so thanks to all the people that did, because he’s exactly what I want and need in my life. Cozy, low-stakes, queer-friendly, with way too many descriptions of pastries, but in a good way.
I also finally finished reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, which I’m pretty sure I started reading in early 2024, loved, but just got about halfway through and stopped reading. Seems reading’s something I need to schedule into my life these days, annoyingly, but I forced myself through this and I really liked how I still don’t really know what’s at play here, despite being a full book into the series. Plus Sand dan Glokta is my new favorite character. Ghatdamn.
I’m also not done yet, but who cares. My pal Kathy Criswell gave me a copy of Women Living Deliciously by Florence Given and I read a chapter every now and then. It’s like therapy for women that men should read too that has genuine actual advice for how to be less depressed than you’ll get from half of the therapists out there. Highly recommended.
Oh, hey, did I also mention that Kathy Criswell released a book this year called Aphrodite Rising? And I was the editor? And it’s delightful!? I have to recommend that one, if you like stories about fantasy and/or grief. Ideally both. It’s a really charming book that I really liked being a part of.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t shout out the first issue of Fabled Magazine, which features me, one of my best friends, and a bunch of people that I really admire. You’ll be seeing me in Issue 2 as well in the spring! I haven’t made my way through the full magazine yet, but it’s full of art, essays, creative writing, and other good stuff, so I really hope you consider crowdfunding the next issue!
Video Games
CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33! Okay I’m done screaming now. But seriously, if you like video games for any reason, please do yourself a favor and play this. I might actually write up a full review of this game because I have so much to say about how much I enjoyed it. Art, music, gameplay, story… everything passed my pretty strict criteria. Square Enix only wish they were this good. I really hope the series continues!
Hollow Knight: Silksong is the long-awaited sequel to Hollow Knight that came out very suddenly and was very affordable and is a MASSIVE LOAD OF SHITE, which means it is a perfect successor to its bullshit predecessor. Yes, these are some of my favorite games, but I am allowed to be butthurt over how bloody goddamned hard this game is. Hollow Knight was hard enough, you didn’t need to make Silksong worse. Good grief. They’re lucky I love the world and the music and the lore so much because the difficulty level does really push my limits. Still better than Cuphead though, heh… I’ll probably write about this one when I finish it too.
I also played and really enjoyed Ender Magnolia: Blooms in the Mist after the makers reached out to me for a review. While the ending was a little weak, it was actually a really solid metroidvania experience and I had a lot of fun playing it. Full review up in the link there.
I ended up playing Lego: The Hobbit at the end of the year and it was absolutely stupid as hell and really fun and I have no regrets. Lego games are really fun if you want to check out for a while and rest, but not be fully braindead.
Because I haven’t started Hades 2 yet, the rogue-lite of the year has been Slay the Spire, which is objectively not as good as games like Dead Cells or Cobalt Core, and I never completed the full story arc because I only liked playing with two of the four characters. That said, it had a fun enough card-based mechanic and enough challenge to make it interesting enough for vegging out and relaxing, or listening to podcasts.
Music
My usual wheelhouse and one where I took a much-needed break this year. Well, in reviews in general, but I digress.
The first album I paid attention to this year was the solo album from Lasse Soundblaster whom I know from Pihka Is My Name. “On tapahtumassa räjähdys” is a really fun electronic album, with my particular highlight being the first single, “PVC 1999,” though I really like the title track and a few others as well. It’s a good album to just put on in the background or to listen to actively.
Not long after came the solo release “Roses from the Deep” by Marko Hietala (Tarot, ex-Nightwish). I also sell merch for him, but I sell merch for him because I like his music, not the other way around. This was one of three albums in my car this year, which eventually retired when I bought Plan Nine’s debut album in September from their show. It’s a banger: “Dragon Must Die” is probably the best track, but my personal favorite is “Impatient Zero” and I have a soft spot for the not-played-live “The Devil You Know,” which sounds like weird fantasy nonsense from an old geek, which of course I love. Naturally, I saw a bunch of shows on this tour as well, though I only wrote up the first leg of the Finnish tour.
Johanna & Mikko Iivanainen also released a new album this year called “Surutuuli.” I really adore those two, they’re such warm and lovely people, and I felt really bad about not writing up the album or covering any of the shows this year, though I did see their Christmas show in Espoo and Vantaa, and I saw them multiple times with Auri, so I hope they forgive me.
Johanna & Mikko Iivanainen, Sellosali, photo by Joanna Orchide
Machinae Supremacy did at least one show in Finland this year — they’re not the most active but they always seem to make time for one tour through Finland each year, which is great and I love them for it. This year it was actually in a good pairing with Italian Master Boot Record, and their first time at the new Ääniwalli venue. Plus, bonus, they’ve announced a new album and tour for 2026, so I’ll definitely be dipping my toes back into journalism for that!
As for the more unusual shows, I upkept my #1 gaming music writer in Finland status by attending the Game On show by the Tampere Philharmonic, which was great. I was also curious to check out the DJ sets from Dj hapan korppu at the national opera & ballet this year, which was a strange new experience for me that I enjoyed.
And while I wasn’t able to make it to Tuska Festival this year, I did still go to Kosmos Festival. Still my most favoritest festival and while I’m pretty sure I won’t be there for the whole weekend in 2026, I do hope to attend at least for one night.
Naturally, the summer meetups and Auri shows were a big highlight from this year as well, though obviously the Ayreon show on the same night as the Plan Nine show was definitely another. These were some of the best shows I’ve seen period, let alone this year!
I really enjoyed checking out both Acanthus and Orbital Decay professionally this year, and my last show that I wrote up was Diamonds Are Forever, a James Bond music show that had my amazingly talented friend Helena Haaparanta as one of the vocalists.
Music I Didn’t Write About
Okay, but that’s all the stuff I’ve already talked about. Let’s talk about the music I listened to but I didn’t talk about. I already mentioned Johanna & Mikko Iivanainen, so I won’t rehash that. However…
Shereign released a new album this year called “Black Halo.” It’s overall a nice progression from their debut album, but I somehow really got hooked on the song “Weak and Bitter” and it’s been one of my most-listened songs all year. Seriously, I can’t get enough of it still. I could play it on repeat all afternoon and not get sick of it.
Ikinä put out a really bold new track called “Jumalatar” with a ton of amazing singers from my era of the Finnish metal scene, give or take a couple new names. Ikinä’s whole thing has always been something I’ve really appreciated but never particularly liked, and the same goes with this song. It’s not my style enough that I want to listen to it, but I do appreciate the work they did with it to show off women in the Finnish metal scene, and I think it’s worth shouting out if you have more tolerance for thrashy music than I do.
Outside the metal scene, both Helena Haaparanta and Johanna von Hertzen—some of my favorites in the Finndie scene—dropped new singles that were really fun, and I definitely recommend them!
Rabbit Cult came out hot and strong in the scene technically last year, but they let loose around four new singles this year, which are all peppered around different playlists of mine. There’s nothing I love more than empowered queer women kicking ass, and that’s pretty much exactly what Rabbit Cult is at its core.
My favorites, Merta, did a great tour this year, but I didn’t write about it. I saw multiple different shows and they released two new singles, “Vikatila” (ft. Hanad) that reminds me of my son and makes me cry a lot, and “Manala,” which is just a straight-up really good track. They’re on a live show break now as they’re working on album #4 but I have enjoyed them about as much as possible throughout this year. I think I missed only one or two of their shows.
I learned about Acanthus this year and a few of their songs were unusual and interesting enough to make it onto my best of 2025 playlist. Cory Marks — my favorite heavy country artist — put out a new single that was fine. Charon released a new single after they called it quits well over a decade ago (and put on a good live show as well!). The melody makes me think of Machinae Supremacy but that’s not a bad thing. I learned about Artkills from the Merta shows and they have some fun music and put on a good show. we came as romans also put out an EP this year that I enjoyed. Oh, and last but certainly not least, Eye of Melian have released two fresh singles, so expect a lot of me talking about that in 2026.
Other Events
I’ve never actually written up the Talvisirkus, neither last year during Fantasia nor this year for Filmi, but this even ranks as high up as Kosmos Festival in things that I enjoy seeing, so I definitely was glad to get the chance to go again this year, very randomly and spontaneously. Thanks again to Helena for inviting me out!
So, I hope you’ve had plenty of things you enjoy in your 2025, even if the year’s been tough for you. And if not, perhaps you’ll find something on this list! Either way, I hope your year has been wonderful and I wish you all the best for 2026. Take care, and stay balanced, my friends ❤️🐻
Auri @ Kiteesali, photo by Joanna Orchide
