As the year comes to a close, Darkenin Heart reflects on the music that kept us alive, or, more accurately, reminded us of why we chose to live beneath the radar. This is a collection of sounds and moments that resonated throughout the year. Songs and releases that stayed with us, echoed continuously, and influenced how we listened and reviewed in 2025.
We continue to function in the underground scene thanks to artists who do not follow trends and instead forge their own directions. Some of these tracks were part of larger releases, while others stood alone as defining statements, but all of them made it into our personal annual memories.
There was the raw, restless energy of Test Plan in Gone, a track that captured movement, darkness and urgency without overexplaining itself. TRAITRS' Burn in Heaven has also been an emotionally charged and intense listen, while Chalice Sect's Sanctify landed with full gravity, blurring the line between post punk and industrial.
Corpus Delicti with Room 36 brought original darkness back to life, demonstrating us how timeless coldwave atmospheres can still feel special as the band made a remarkable comeback. Valisia Odell's Greek darkwave anthem Makria conveyed distance and longing in a very personal way, and Madeline Goldstein's My Own Design was also an intimate endeavor as it expressed a profoundly individual struggle with panic and anxiety.
Bank Myna's The Other Faceless Me explores disorientation, desperation, and rebirth, while Incirrina's ΚΡΥΦO (Hidden) focuses on covertness and fragility, allowing silence and passion to speak loudly. Themes of memory and loss were beautifully interconnected in Deceits' All We Are (Are Memories), a track that struck a chord as a stirring examination on the feeling of being powerless in an increasingly absurd world.
Pinemoon's We’re Not There evoked a tranquil melancholy, while Pink Turns Blue's Stay for the Night provided a recognizable warmth, demonstrating once again their ability to mature gracefully while maintaining their depth of emotion. Lunacy's Frozen In Time felt exactly like the title implies, a shivering, cold, and introspective listen.
Furthermore, David Boring's Nancy Nightmare jumped out as a dark, pulsating highlight, evidently echoing The Soft Moon as a main influence, while reshaping that impact to render it distinct and unsettling.
These songs do not compete against one another. They coexist as pieces of a year spent listening intently and staying linked to the underground shifts that continue to define Darkenin Heart. These sounds stay with us as we move forward.
There is an additional playlist on YouTube featuring the videos that we enjoyed throughout the year.
As we transition into the new year, HEARTS OF 2026 is already taking shape, featuring tracks from upcoming releases. Steadily, it will be filled with the songs we listen and cover on Darkenin Heart.
Love forever,
Iri
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