25.12.2025 – Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen – A Singer Must Die

I can't believe I haven't put Leonard Cohen in one of these yet.
"Discovering" (of course I had heard of him but I never really listened to his music) and falling in love with Cohen in 2025 was one of the best things that have happened to me. His music speaks to me on such a intimate level. And I don't even care how pretentious that sounds.

24.12.2025 – Winter music #7: Chelsea Wolfe

Chelsea Wolfe – Cousins of the Antichrist
Honorable mentions: Chelsea Wolfe – Benjamin, Advice & Vices, Fang, Noorus, Halfsleeper (The Grime and the Glow), Chelsea Wolfe – Sick (Pain is Beauty), the entire 'The Grime and the Glow' album

I'm so mad that I didn't realize sooner how well Chelsea Wolfe fits into this series!
Especially her first album is peak winter music.

23.12.2025 – Winter music #6: Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree – Arriving Somewhere But Not Here

I'm trying not to put too much death-doom into this series, but what can I say? It's the music of the season.
That being said, have some progressive rock! My treat.

I started listening to Porcupine Tree in April of 2024. (The first time I listened to them according to last.fm is June 2024, but only to one song and after that only like twice every four months)
I definitely have to listen to more material of theirs, I have basically exclusively listened to the Deadwing album.

22.12.2025 – Winter music #5: Opeth

Track of the Day

Opeth – Advent

This is another easy entry in the winter music series. I could've pumped this TOTD entry full of honorable mentions from Opeth's Morningrise, Orchid and Blackwater Park albums, but honestly every Opeth song deserves to stand alone and share none of its glory.

I could've seen Opeth in concert this year but I put off buying tickets for so long and often that the concert happened without me noticing :/

21.12.2025 – Winter music #4: Katatonia

Track of the Day

Katatonia – Cold Ways
Honorable mentions: Katatonia – Scarlet Heavens, Katatonia – Saw You Drown, the entire "Discouraged Ones" album

This is the first album after Katatonia shifted their sound away from death doom, softening their sound into what I would call "doom rock" with a pinch of doom metal.
But this is still a great album. This era of Katatonia, the one after "early Katatonia" (maybe "middle Katatonia"?), gave us such bangers as Discouraged Ones and The Great Cold Distance. And while I would give a lot for more "early Katatonia", I'm happy these albums exist.
It's only once we talk about what came after The Great Cold Distance that I get a little sad.

But I'll talk more about that and early Katatonia in future TOTDs, so stay tuned.

20.12.2025 – Winter music #3: Swallow The Sun

Track of the Day

Swallow The Sun – Fragile
Honorable mentions: Swallow The Sun – Through Her Silvery Body, Swallow The Sun – Ghost of Laura Palmer, Swallof The Sun – Out Of The Gloomy Light, Swallow The Sun – The Morning Never Came

I couldn't decide what to pick today and I realized how few opportunities I have left for winter music. (winter ends on the last day of the year after all)
I ended up picking my favourite track from Swallow the Sun. Their albums "Ghosts of Loss" and "The Morning Never Came" are both in the top 100 albums chart that I mentioned three days ago.
I really couldn't decide on a track and the more I listened the more unsure I became. I ended up just sticking with "Fragile", since it was my first pick and thinking any more about this would only make me more unsure.
"Fragile", "Through Her Silvery Body" and "Ghost of Laura Palmer" are my favourite songs from STS, but "Out Of The Gloomy Light" and especially "The Morning Never Came" are arguably more "winter music".
But even though "The Morning Never Came" is more winter music, "Out Of The Gloomy Light" is just the better song. You see now why you should never put me in charge of making decisions quickly?
Oh well, just listen to them all.

17.12.2025 – Hypocrisy

Track of the Day

Hypocrisy – Self-Inflicted Overload
Honorable mention: Agalloch – In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion

I was tempted to continue winter music, but then Self-Inflicted Overload came on and I had to choose it for today.

I hope I can see Hypocrisy live next year, they're a bit too far away to justify going there alone (or are they?), but if it all works out I'll go there with a friend and we might get highspeed-rail tickets for the trip back.
(Thinking about it, if I get a cheap highspeed-rail ticket back I can just as well go alone in case it doesn't work out with him)

16.12.2025 – Winter music #2: Agalloch

Track of the Day

Agalloch – Not Unlike The Waves
Honorable mentions: Agalloch – Limbs, Agalloch – Falling Snow, Agalloch – I Am The Wooden Doors, Agalloch – The Hawthorne Passage, Agalloch – You Were But A Ghost In My Arms

Agalloch is the first thing I had in mind when thinking about what "Winter music" is to me.
I have plenty of other "winter music" in mind though, so hopefully it doesn't take me another five days to write the next entry in the series. See you then.

"The Hawthorne Passage" is a beautiful instrumental, so give it a shot if the vocals aren't really your style.

11.12.2025 – Dissection & Winter music #1

Track of the Day

Dissection – Where Dead Angels Lie

Happy late birthday to "The Somberlain" and "Storm of Light's Bane"! The Somberlain came out on the third of december 1993 and marked the first Dissection studio album, while Storm of Light's Bane came out in November 1995, on the 17th.
Happy very late birthday I guess. I'm not good with birthdays, btw. I just needed an excuse to talk about Dissection, anyway.

09.12.2025 – Jack Off Jill & Spotify Wrapped

Track of the Day

Jack Off Jill – My Cat

Jack Off Jill is another all time favourite of mine. The first draft of this post had a bunch of honorable mentions by them but I decided it's better to use them on later days and that it wouldn't really do them justice to just bunch them all up here.

Spotify Wrapped

Spotify Wrapped came out a few days ago! I was very excited, because I had the feeling I listened to even better music than usual this year.
And I was right! I have such good music taste. I am amazing. I know.