Under the Radar: Five UK Hidden Gems of 2025

Happy New Year! 2025 birthed some fantastic releases in the heavy music world, and I've picked out five hidden gems from the English circuit that may have flown under your radars. We've got a melting pot of groove metal, sludge, death metal, and all of the above in my recommendations, which mostly saw the light of day over the second half of last year. I want to use this to thank everyone who sends me their music for review. I would love to give space on my blog to every artist who emails or messages me if there was an extra six hours a day and an extra three days a week to make that happen. These five here, though, are genuinely worth your time if you care about grassroots heavy music. We're all excited to see what 2026 brings.

Drēor - Hell's Kitchen

Rising Nottingham old school death metal trio Drēor (meaning 'blood' in Old English, or 'gore') released their sophomore EP in June, an unapologetic slab of classic OSDM. Dripping with blood and guts, and drawing heavily from the genre's 1980s foundations, the EP blends aggression with slower, menacing passages, brought together by a grim atmosphere and a thicker, bass-heavier mix than the band's previous work.

The Devil's Feast sets the tone immediately with a frantic blast of evil riffs, vicious vocals and a foreboding atmosphere, before collapsing into slower, intimidating heaviness that allows the gnarly bass tone to shine at the end. Much of the EP's strength lies in Drēor's balance of speed and weight, although the evil crescendo towards the end of Three Man Roast is fantastic and Blood & Bourbon utilises a fucked up, off-time main riff to emphasise the griminess of the overall atmosphere.

My favourite part of this mini-album comes at its end. Pancreatic Parfait stands out for its genuinely demonic vocal layering and adventurous structure, reinterpreting the dark motif as the song progresses structurally and rhythmically. With a strong sense of narrative and flow, it's a well-written death metal blast. Closer Legume Lobotomy, the EP's longest track, rounds things off on an especially grim note. Building on the overarching narrative with a clear and foreboding vocal delivery, the song has a noticeably epic feel with obvious attention to its structure - capped off by a particularly brutal scream near the end.

While the song titles and concept nod to horror cinema and tongue-in-cheek gore, Hell's Kitchen is about delivering buzzsaw riff-driven death metal without frills or pretension. Beneath the butchery is a loose allegory about class and disposability, but the focus remains firmly on tight, intelligent compositions executed with confidence. All three members contribute vocals in a focused, potent and unapologetic worship of the classics with enough personality to stand out on its own.

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Vulture God - No Easy Answer

Bristol prog/death metallers Vulture God may have existed in earlier forms, but their decisive rebirth twelve months ago saw them re-emerge with a striking visual identity ahead of any music. No Easy Answer is an ambitious debut EP that leans into atmosphere, magnitude and instrumental prowess.

After the melodic guitar runs in intro Murmur set the tone, One Size Fits All establishes the band's sound through big grooves, layered guitars and keys. Unfolding patiently, the track prioritises clever instrumentation and mood before the vocals fully settle in. Time changes, melodic passages and dynamic shifts give it an epic feel, with moments of calm clean guitar contrasting before a soaring prog-metal solo takes centre stage. A lot happens across its six minutes, but it effectively introduces the band's aesthetic and ambition.

Safe Haven takes the listener into a more melodic and emotive space, driven by strong drum work and a verse reminiscent of Gojira's more atmospheric moments. It's steadied with tremolo-picked nastiness and a flash of subdued clean vocals for an extra layer of fervour. The title track No Easy Answer opens with a direct, frenetic death metal riff before locking into a jaw-contorting groove. With the keys given room to add colour and depth, it ends up a tightly written, compacted composition. A devastating late-song breakdown delivers a highlight of heaviness across the whole EP before a melodic solo helps to wrap things up.

Vulture God's polished instrumental performance is driven by technical guitar work, embellished by natural and artificial harmonics, tapping and pick scrapes. The rhythm section is equally outstanding, with grooves that reward repeat listens. Vocally, Milo's screams have a raw sludginess to them, leading the pack with conviction. A fully formed, promising first introduction, No Easy Answer hints at a band with a bright future.

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Mufunta - Mufunta

Mufunta's filthy debut album is a groove-driven slab of Midlands sludge that wears its influences proudly. It's direct, in-your-face and slaps you in the face with the power of The Riff. The Stoke-based quartet have made their name on the live circuit in recent years, delivering energetic shows to build up to the release of this album. Guitarist Pete leads the charge with a crisp yet gritty tone that has more of a razor-sharp bite than the warm fuzz many of Mufunta's peers go for. The riffs draw from Eyehategod-style ugliness and the odd Sabbathy swing, particularly in the laid back Angry Worcester Pussy. From the brutal simplicity of Dawn Of Brayden to the dissonant stomp of Alone, every track has a hook that demands a slow head-bob rather than polite applause.

Held together by the rhythm section, Tim's bass gives Ilam - named after a quaint village in the Staffordshire Moorlands - its menacing low-end rumble, while Arron's drumming keeps everything tight and powerful. Along with some satisfying ride bell rings to let you know you're in for a gut punch, there is plenty of double kick for aggression, but also swing and space in equal parts. Shaun's lead vocals are viciously wicked throughout, sometimes indecipherable, but you know he's pissed off at all times. That raw bile carries the record.

Alone stands out for its mid-song time shift, while Kiss injects in a burst of energy as things threaten to collapse under their own heaviness. The doomy Spread Eagle dials up the atmosphere, and the stoned-out break in Angry Worcester Pussy gives the record some breathing room. Altogether, this album doesn't reinvent the wheel, but distils it into tight performances, nasty tones, and zero pretension to make for a wonderfully nasty-as-fuck suckerpunch of a record. A genuine hidden gem of the Midlands metal circuit.

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Mufunta - Alone (live in Stafford, April 2023)

Ireosis - Dark Matter

Leeds metallers Ireosis, who notably appeared on the Sophie Lancaster Stage at Bloodstock 2025, sound rejuvenated on Dark Matter, a solid EP built around groove-heavy songwriting, thick atmospheres and a strong sense of scale and ambition. With weighty riffs and a confident rhythmic backbone, this release balances aggression with space, letting melody and texture breathe without losing impact. Opener Ants sets the tone instantly with a killer groove metal riff, dropped into a sludgy half-time beat driven by aggressive double kick work. There are brief moments when the rhythm changes up, but the tempo and flow are never lost, bound by a locked-in drum performance.

Joel Bulsara's lead vocals switch convincingly between brutal screams and soulful, atmospheric cleans throughout this song and across the EP. On Grinding Hydraulic he is joined by Kyle Thomas of Exhorder and Trouble fame, whose singing voices complement each other well across a menacing lyrical hook to sit on a punishing, neck-snapping groove. Elsewhere, Navajo leans further into atmosphere, opening with a filthy bass tone before unfolding into some of the EP's nastiest instrumental moments, with some inspired diminished guitar riffing and fantastic guttural vocals. Red Sprites, in turn, stands out for its unorthodox but effective use of clean vocals over simple, crushing grooves, with an impressive approach to melody over impactful instrumentation. The spacey Nebula that closes the EP adds a subtle storytelling feel through its pacing and vocal approach, rounding off with purpose.

This release sees Ireosis focus on songs led by heavy grooves, sharp vocal performances, and a genuine sense of atmosphere that not all metal bands can capture. With excellent riff work and cohesive performances across the band, Dark Matter is a refined statement of intent.

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Verminthrone - Feast Of The Serpent

Milton Keynes-based sludge/hardcore/groove metal merchants Verminthrone rounded off a busy 2025 with Feast of the Serpent, arriving less than two years after their blistering full-length The Cull. After a strong run of shows, including a particularly savage set at The Dev at Desertfest London, this EP finds the band sounding as heavy, pissed off and groovy as ever.

Opening straight away with the filthy chords of Pallor, Verminthrone waste no time setting the scene with chugging riffs and furious vocals, backed by powerful drumming and some evil guitar harmonies. It's the classic Verminthrone sound, impactful and big. Swab carries this on with a simple pit-starting groove. Intense and chug-heavy, a cool guitar solo elevates it partway through.

The longer When It Rains, It Pours acts as the EP's centrepiece. Progressing through new riffs, half-time drops, tasteful guitar leads, and some frankly demonic vocal shrieks from Dan, it's brought together by a powerful vocal hook before its crushing outro evokes Machine Head's Davidian with its simple, but brutal groove. It's one of the most memorable songs of this release and really shows the band firing on all cylinders. Bloodletting keeps up the pace as a mid-tempo rager built for live shows, with a pit-opening midsection sandwiched by a wonderfully sludgy chorus. Closer Event Horizon swings away with a NOLA-esque feel that Down or Crowbar would be proud of. An unaccompanied scream to segue into one final breakdown to break faces to sends things out brutally.

This release is packed with bouncy riffs, energetic drumming, biting guitar and bass tones, and pissed off vocals over visceral lyrics. Feast of the Serpent is tight and polished, playing to Verminthrone's strengths, each member pushing the others forward for a cohesive end result. You can feel the power and passion pulsing through this one. Solid.

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MN