Best Album Covers of 2025, So Far
"16 highlight album covers from January through March of this year"
"...a cohesive yet unpredictable journey that is as colourful as its title suggests."
3.0/5.0. "I’m never sure whether one hit of Spectrum is enough. What I do know, though, is that I can feel the passion with which Wiener has embarked upon this journey, of one steady mind, and with help from friends, Spectrum makes me smile."
"Black metal can come in many shapes, forms, colours and tones, going way beyond the stereotypical Norwegian 2nd wave stuff into a variety of subgenres – and today’s album, “Spectrum”, reminds us of that in more ways than one."
"I already knew that it was, and is, going to take something spectacular to dethrone this as the BMA album of the year."
"Am I In Trouble?’s debut record provides equity to experimental black metal of the early aughts, capturing both its tender core and antagonism towards what is and is not allowed."
"from blackgaze to folk prog rock to downright experimental pop – and yet Steve Wiener, the man behind the project, has managed to make it all click together. Impressive."
10/10. "Colours really meaningful! Yellow brings warmth of morning sun. White pushes blood fast through veins, makes Grug run with night creatures. Pink starts soft as falling snow, grows strong as mountain. Red burn blood. Blue opens skies. Black summons old spirits to hide it all. Green returns peace. Each carry spirit of colour into ears."
Am I in Trouble? featured in the January 14, 2025 newsletter
"Spectrum is a stellar debut that takes the listener on a journey through colors and emotions. It’s a fantastic example of not only Steve Weiner’s writing ability, but also his capability with a wide range of instruments, and his strength in paying homage to what he loves, without copying it."
"Am I In Trouble is a band that swings for the fences at their very first at-bat and knocks it out of the park. Calling this album almost any genre feels like it leaves something out that fits the album."
"...does a masterful job at embracing all the weirdness and experimentation that comes along with the avant-garde black metal space."
"If Steve Wiener’s objective with Spectrum was to capture the experimentative oeuvre of the avant-garde black metal bands, then he has without a doubt achieved his goal. However, Spectrum is far more than a black metal album. It does contain moments of extreme metal but it also draws from a whole range of influences. Ranging from moments of acoustic tranquillity to progressive enhancements to dark theatrics, Spectrum is an extremely successful experiment."
"It’s a progressive-minded approach that cherry picks elements without dragging along their dead weight. As such, precise black metal riffs, crystal clear vocals, folk straight from The Shire, and even flamenco are all present on Spectrum."
4.5/5 - "This is the best progressive metal album (Death, Blackened, Trad or otherwise) by an American band since Wilderun’s 2019 masterpiece Veil of Imagination."
4.5/5 - "To answer the band's name, no, you're not in trouble, you made an early contender for Best Of lists this year and proved yourselves a band to watch out for in the future."
4.0/5.0 - "This isn’t what we’re used to in our extreme metal corners. In fact, this is happy metal that doesn’t feel corny—a challenging task. Any band that pulls this off deserves recognition from us, the uptight snobs and ravenous consumers alike."
[translated from French] - "whether it's the name of the band, the cover, the vocals or the atmospheres, everything seems to be bathed in a certain innocence that we are not used to in the Black Metal scene.
"No, Steve, why would you be in trouble for trying to show how metal music isn't always black and white?"
"...definitely operating in musical territory which – even some twenty years later – has yet to be fully explored, and thus still has a few surprises left to throw at us."
"So maybe that’s part of what makes Spectrum so refreshing; it’s so brazen with its worship of early ‘00s experimental black metal. It wears its heart on its sleeve and doesn’t care if you love it or hate it. It exists to pay tribute to an era of music that was so vibrant and new because that’s what we need sometimes."
Translated from Romanian: "A spectrum of colors that impresses with its versatility"
7/10: "Armed with a so-stupid-it’s-camp band name, a troupe of collaborators, a love of strange black metal, and whatever talents he has himself—producing, writing, and playing—is Spectrum a worthy love-letter and successor to his avant influences?"
Translated from Greek: "despite the strong competition, "Spectrum" effortlessly wins and becomes the first underground album of the month for 2025."
"Going from gentle to aggressive and back again is hardly a new trick in the world of metal, but multi-instrumentalist mastermind Steve Wiener wields a uniquely honed sense of unpredictability. This results in some incredibly flexible songcraft. With that said, a distinct and uncanny cohesion pervades."
"Am I in Trouble’s new release Spectrum is a profoundly emotional experience. You’ll want to scream and cry, hold and be held..."
"Spectrum is a bizarrely colorful tribute to black metal in what it is and what it can be. That potential alone is exhilarating and wets my musical appetite for much, much more."
"This is the best black metal record of 2025. I’m calling it right now."
Final Verdict: 9/10, Awesome | "This is a stellar debut, and is absolutely worth checking out if you like your metal with a side of the catchy, epic and experimental."
"I can not say enough good things about this record, and if you haven’t heard it then what the fuck are you doing?"
"Am I In Trouble? reimagines the wanderlust of its influences in their own image with heaping spoonfuls of flute. These reimaginings are Spectrum’s strongest trait — black metal of that period was so exciting because its players had matured and realized the confines of their own creation, rebelling against them through curiosity. Spectrum, like a child in the toy aisle, is that curiosity."
#3 in Grymm's Top Ten Albums of 2025
#3 in the Top 10 English-language albums of 2025
"Nobody is trying to revive avant-garde black metal from the early aughts, though Am I in Trouble? posits that more people should. The solo project of Steven Wiener recaptures the limitless ambition of Vintersong, Borknagar, and Sigh, combining them with chord progressions from F-Zero and Chrono Trigger. If that sounds haphazard, worry not; Wiener’s keen ear for melody softens the changes in mood and extremity, turning an unwieldy concept into a succinct love letter."
#77 in Justin's top 100 albums of 2025
Am I in Trouble? featured as part of The Harvest Network's favorite albums of 2025
""It's blackened, it's doomy, It's oddball, it's a real sense of how colors and emotions are tied hand in hand."
"Spectrum captures the essence of experimentation without indulgence, proving that genre boundaries are irrelevant when emotion drives the music. It is a record that invites reflection while challenging expectations."
"It's an amazing record that was a decade in the making and really shows Steve Wiener's amazing creativity, creating these tracks with beautiful instrumentation along with amazing collaborations."
"Spectrum started out being one of the best records I heard all year this year. It remains so."
"There is a part of me that was tempted to put this lower on the list, if only to prevent Steve Wiener from receiving TOO MUCH praise this year, but the fact is that Spectrum is a truly remarkable album and Steve and Chris Barber, as well as all of the guests on the record, deserve every ounce of praise that they receive."
"Alright, I’ll say it straight, I love this album.... ....It’s dynamic, emotive, and surprisingly cohesive despite its range. Sure, it sounds a bit kvlt, but that only adds to the charm, right? This is a proper rainbow experience—something even your grandma could get behind."
"Running the gamut from the full-spectrum (pun intended) “anti-black” Metal of Am I In Trouble? .... ....and the fiery Hellenic Black Metal worship of Zeicrydeus, 2025 was packed full of albums which, hopefully, signal the beginning of a long and fruitful career for many bands."
"Iridescent, polychromatic, excessive dosages of melodic reverie, fanatically and belligerently antithetical to the meme of the rule. Black metal read through a pearlescent lens. It’s viciously triumphant music. Pick a color, you cannot go wrong."
Featured on Episode 142 of Rainbow in the Dark for their Year-end list
"Pink" and "Yellow" played as part of the fifteen Top Albums of 2025 episode
Spectrum included in Metal-Aged Mom's "2025 albums I love and my life would be incomplete without"
Spectrum presented on the Antifascist Black Metal Network YouTube Channel
"...the fact this is the brainchild of one man is pretty impressive..."
"Excellent" rating. "The whole album's interesting and unique and it's hard to compare to other artists."
"It's a strange mix for the uninitiated, but for those who listen to left-of-center music, this will be right up your alley."
Translated from Spanish: "If the rainbow was sound and it sounded like extreme music, it would be represented in this album which dazzles visually and sonically with its full spectrum of colors and subgenres."
"some incredibly good riffing on this one, the vocals are tight, the production's really good, and I predict really good things from Am I in Trouble? in the future."
An interview with Dissonant Echoes podcast, the official podcast of Hauntology Records
An interview on the Hauntology Records YouTube channel, for the Dissonant Echoes podcast
An interview with Heavy Debriefings about Am I in Trouble?.
An interview with Hotel Hobbies about Am I in Trouble? and the album, Spectrum
"Put another way, where black metal invokes Satan and winter to meet its ends, Wiener finds the fear and wonder in less jagged territory. The world is rife with inspiration, so long as you pay attention to what others have overlooked."
Am I in Trouble? featured on episode 4x03 of Black Scal Metal podcast
Am I in Trouble? featured on Episode 27 of HarshVocals.com podcast
Spectrum featured in The Harvest Network's mid-year round-up of favorite albums of 2025
"Red" featured on Episode 13 of Leitmotif and Movement podcast
Bonus Episode 2 – Am I In Trouble “Spectrum”: It’s our second bonus episode! This time we are covering the debut record from Am I In Trouble?: “Spectrum”!
Am I in Trouble? featured on the January 9, 2025 episode of Rock Radar with Kaz On ERB Radio
Am I in Trouble? featured on Episode 233 of The Heavy Rock Show
Am I in Trouble? featured on Episode 242 of The Heavy Rock Show
Am I in Trouble? featured on Episode 115 of Kult of Flesh
Black featured on the July 3, 2025 episode of Contra Odium on Moshville Radio
"...throws the curtains back on the window and forces you to look outside and go 'hey look at all of these other ideas and colors that you have been ignoring in the way that you write your music'..."
"another album of the year contender... this album puts black metal as a genre on notice... you gotta check it out, you gotta hear it to believe it. This year started with such a big bang, and this is part of why."
Pink featured on Episode 75 of Syrup Moose Radio as part of the Mid-Year Album of the Year Check-In
"Red" featured on January 13, 2025 episode of Total Rock's show, The Collective
Featured on "An Untidy Mind", Episode 4, October 3, 2025
"You cannot pin Am I in Trouble? down. Are there black metal elements? Yes, quite a few, but to call this black metal misses the target so much that it hits the barn door. There are folk influences... ...driving metal, hard rock, guitar riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Savatage record, spanish guitar noodling, harmonies that belong on a Funkadelic track... all in one sumptuous stew, that you will gorge yourself until you cannot gorge no more. Then go back begging for seconds anyway."
"...a wide-ranging and instrumentally elaborate trip."
Am I in Trouble? has created a sonic playground that allows for a wide range of expression, and from what I have heard of the album, this flexibility is a great strength.
"While terms such as "avant-garde" and "experimental" are often applied in scenarios where they are not necessarily earned, I feel like a track like "Black" has done well to earn said designations."
