This year in music was truly stacked, and I had a profound connection to all ten of these albums (and a ton more that didn’t quite make the list), more so than previous years. 2026 is looking to be another stacked year: Switchfoot, Idle Threat, Haste the Day, Silent Planet, Colony House, Poppy, Blindside, Relient K (if rumors are true), and I’m sure many other surprises that aren’t even on my radar. I [im]patiently await what 2026 brings us in the realm of music.
On to Greyhaven’s blisteringly beautiful album, “Keep it Quiet.” Greyhaven is one of my favorite bands of all time. Everything about how they create heavy music is exactly what I seek. My “perfect match,” as it were, in modern heavy music.
I’m a “riffs” person – I generally lean towards heavy music that employs guitar riffs/motifs as the main songwriting gimmick. Less “Kublai Khan” and more “Norma Jean” (no hate to the former, just trying to describe my music taste). And Greyhaven is literally unmatched right now (except maybe by Norma Jean) in the riffs-creation realm. It boggles my mind how these guys keep doing it with every album. Match Nick’s guitar riffs to Johnny’s bass lines (one of the more innovative bass players in the scene), and you get riffing nirvana. Add Matt Guglielmo on the drums, whose expertly clean playing melds so well with the guitar/bass lines (props also to Ethan, who I think wrote the drum parts but wasn’t available to record); Add Will Putney producing, who makes the album sound immense and natural in only the way he can do it; And last but not least, add Brent’s honest, aching lyricism and vocal melodies, and you get this, my favorite album of 2025.
Every song here is notable, so it’s hard to choose just a few to highlight, but I’ll try. “Prelude: Evening Star” begins the album with a tranquil bass/guitar groove, before opening it up to a cacophony of sound at the end – the juxtaposition is really effective, especially for an album called “Keep it Quiet.” I’m actually not sure how Nick makes some of those panic chord sounds at the end. The transition to “Shatter and Burst” is so smooth, which itself is an amazing song with an absolutely killer chorus. The way it ends with the spoken word and swing groove is a top-tier songwriting choice. “Burn a Miracle” is an explosion of a song. Brent’s “shivering” voice thing at the end is so cool, and it’s over the most bombastic, catchiest riff you’ve ever heard. The time signature change from 6/8 to 4/4 in “Where the Light Leaves Us” reaches unprecedented levels of groove. “Technicolor Blues” is a somber southern-rock song with some surprising turns (like that “accidental” chord when the big chorus finally hits). “Satellite in Love” might boast my favorite riff/chorus combo on the entire album, and the way it’s played clean at the end over the clip of a refugee who’s been displaced from their home (“I’ve been here all my life… and I sure would like to stay here.”) hits me literally every time. “Diamond to Diamond,” another softer song on the record, with its build-up to that incredible bridge riff is so gratifying. Lastly, album closer “Cemetery Sun,” references the album art, where a mysterious figure is holding her arms up in reverence to the light, after clearly having been too close to it. Brent pleads at the end before the whole thing turns into static: “I burn away, I threw myself into the sun / I fell in place under the weight of everyone / Bring me back to life.”
This is a perfect 10/10 album for me and my tastes, and this will be in heavy rotation probably until the day I die. Thanks for reading.
The Neimans 