May 2025 Release Radar
Summer is coming
The exciting part about May in New England is watching the world come alive as warmth returns. In the world of music, it’s your queue to be on the lookout for the album that will provide your summer soundtrack.
Albums On Deck
There are three additional albums not included below which are completed and scheduled. Even with those out of the way, eighteen albums remain in my queue.1
Coheed and Cambria - The Father of Make Believe
Steven Wilson - The Overview
Rwake - The Return of Magik
Japanese Breakfast - For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)
Bloodywood - Nu Delhi
Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco - I Said I Love You First
The Cat Empire - Bird in Paradise
Alison Krauss & Union Station - Arcadia
Lucy Dacus - Forever is a Feeling
Elvenking - Reader of the Runes — Luna
Epica - Aspiral
The Man-Eating Tree - Night Verses
Bon Iver - Sable, Fable
Messa - The Spin
Julien Baker & Torres - Send a Prayer My Way
Eluveitie - Ànv
Wu-Tang Clan - Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman
Ghost - Skeleta
Coheed and Cambria provided my summer soundtrack in 2022, so while this one has been out for a bit already, I’m excited to finally be getting to it. Right behind it, of course, is the Master of Prog, himself, Mr Steven Wilson. These two have been at the top of my list since I found their release dates, so it’ll be fun to finally tear them apart.
We have three offerings on the Symphonic Metal front in the queue now: Elvenking, Epica, and Eluveitie, so I’m looking forward to walls of strings and brass and soaring vocals. But I’ve already seen some mixed responses to the last two, so I’m mildly concerned.
This Wu-Tang Clan release will be my first proper experience with them. This one is officially billed under the abbreviated name Wu-Tang, which is something they typically do when not all Clan members are involved; yet all nine living members are included on this release, so I’ll need to dig into the why.
Then, of course, there’s Ghost, the Heavy Metal and Rock act that ticks off “true” metalheads for being too poppy and also makes Christians clutch pearls for their anti-Catholic imagery and theming.
I think they’re fun.
May Release Radar
5/2
Lights
Eric Church
5/9
Sleep Token
Maren Morris
M83
5/30
Miley Cyrus
Once again, we’re looking at a scant month, with only six releases on my personal radar, mostly because I’m playing catch-up, so I’m less willing to pull in unknown artists.
I did grab one, though: M83. I like the name and some electronica sounds good, especially if it adheres to the space-theming with the act’s name.
First up, though, coming out tomorrow, May 2nd, are Lights and Eric Church.
Lights is one of my absolute favorite pop acts, and her last album, Pep, was an all-timer. If you’re looking for upbeat summer anthems, this one is likely to provide.
Eric Church, on the other hand, is a country artist who toes the line between Nashville and Alt; he has openly decried the genre’s politics-at-large, and strikes a solid balance between the modern mainstream and the true, old-school spirit of the genre. His last album was a double: Heart and Soul were released a week apart back in 2021. Each half was thematically focused, and each had songs that blew me away alongside a couple of duds. I expect at least a handful of great songs on this one.
Alongside M83 on the 9th, we’re getting the next release from Sleep Token. And, if I’m being honest… I’m nervous.
See, the last album (which was my 2023 AOTY) concluded a trilogy. All three albums were very cohesive in lyrical theming and sound. I’ve been of the opinion that the specific genric mix used for those albums should probably not be recycled; carry some elements forward, sure, but this next trilogy needs its own sound in order to be as successful as the last. For that reason, I was hoping we wouldn’t see this one for another year to ensure the band had adequate time to cook. But maybe they’ve pulled through. We’ll find out in a week or so.2
Like Lights, Sleep Token is also being accompanied by a Country artist: Maren Morris. Morris’ last outing, 2022’s Humble Quest, wound up on that year’s Honorable Mentions list. It was a great album, and just seeing the title puts its title track on blast in my head. If you like Pop Country, you can’t go wrong with Maren Morris.
Lastly, we’ll be closing out the month with a Miley Cyrus album. And hopefully, this one will be better than the last. Don’t get me wrong: “Flowers” and “Jaded” were phenomenal songs, but that’s about all that Endless Summer Vacation had going for it. There is hope, though: Miley’s camp has revealed that the album takes a lot of inspiration from Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and it’s a visual album, to boot. I’ve been saying for a while now that Miley would be better suited as a rock artist, so maybe we’ll get something kind of in that direction.
Beyond May
The full radar is always available, and lists offerings which are still months away. Here are five things to expect in the coming months:
Katatonia’s next album will be out on the first Friday of June, joining Lil’ Wayne, and those two will be damn near polar opposite vibes.
Fans of Psychedelic and Prog, get ready — King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are dropping their next album on June 13th. I’m a recent convert for this act, but they’re fucking phenomenal.
Babymetal was scheduled to release on June 13th, but they’ve delayed to the 27th, so we’ll be waiting two more weeks for our J-Pop/Metal fusion fun.
One of the Big Four of Power Metal, Helloween, has announced an album for August 29th, joining Nova Twins in kicking off the super-hot two-month stretch of releases through September and October.
We still don’t have release dates for Brad Paisley or Run the Jewels. I’m gonna start meming them at this point.
This would be easier if I didn’t need a day job. If anybody wins the lotto, keep me in mind?
I typically don’t listen to an album for the first time until I’m getting close to it in the queue, but I do occasionally make an exception. This will be an exception.