The Band of the Year – 2025 Edition: Worn Out

A bit of a grand statement, no? After all, what makes a band the ‘best of the year’? We decided that rather than basing it on output, number of streams, tickets sold at shows, or how many views their posts and reels got, we’d go the old fashioned route of basing it on feelings. Who was the single band this year that made us feel warm and fuzzy inside while also delivering a bevy of brilliant music, either on record or on stage? Who was the band that, from our perspective, worked their asses off, but did so with big smiles and big hugs? Who was the band whose growth could be measured simply by looking around and talking to people?

That is how we’ve decided on the band of the year. Our band of the year.

Impressively, Irish metallic hardcore mob Worn Out take the inaugural crown having not released new music this year. Instead, their focus has been on playing live, expanding their reputation beyond Ireland, and fully breaking into the UK scene. Which, considering how many times they’ve been over this year and on so many different tours, has been an unmitigated success.

For us, it might have all began in 2021 with the EP, ‘Waste’, but it was really August 2024 that they became a name that simply couldn’t be ignored anymore, with their EP, ‘Low’. This is the release that kickstarted things, and months later, the chance to seem them live came along as they opened a four-band bill in London at The Black Heart in February 2025.

A highly anticipated show, expectations were met, and then some, as Worn Out delivered a furiously heavy, but with focused hardcore intensity, set. It was such a memorable show, and not just because of the manic energy in the room. It was memorable because to everyone’s delight, the Worn Out gang were lovely to meet, happy to talk to everyone, and willing to throw themselves into the pit when the other bands were playing. They left a lot of people talking about them afterwards (it was where I – Carl – picked up my Worn Out hat that most of you will have seen me rocking this year), but I don’t think anyone could have predicted just how much wilder things would become.

Not content with just playing live up and down the country, the band did something really unexpected, but something that went quite far to show many just how dedicated and how human they were. They released a 40-minute documentary called ‘Sinking Deeper’, which went behind the scenes as the band toured with Grief Ritual in Ireland in November and the UK in February. Not just pulling back the veil on the band, but showing just how much love they have for what they do, and how their tireless work in the scene is lifting up bands alongside them. Check out the documentary by clicking on the image below.

All of this would have been enough to leave an impression on us, but then along comes a tour that put Worn Out on a bill that includes one of our favourite UK bands, Mastiff. Not just a competition for our hearts (we love both equally – we swear) but a competition to wreck our ears. Especially when you include the incredible Copse and Believe in Nothing.

Here, it felt like Worn Out had arrived. Seen, understood, and beloved and their higher position on the bill (compared to the previous show we had seen them at) had been well and truly earned. Not many bands can match the likes of Mastiff as far as intensity goes, but they got mighty close here. All because they pour everything into their performance, have the songs to back up the energy, and just so happen to be the nicest people. A lot of love was shared that night.

Of course, these are just the times we saw Worn Out. When we tell you that they’ve been busy, we mean it. Just spend some time on their social media and see how hard they work to spread the word about themselves, others, and important causes. The more you get to know them, the more you will actually know them. They proudly wear their hearts on their sleeves which is why, come November 2025, the third time seeing them live this year, it felt like a reunion.

Playing to a packed room (and one that kept getting busier and busier as their set went on), Worn Out capped off a year where they unequivocally proved that they are the future of the scene. Not only looking incredibly comfortable on a stage as important as The Underworld in London but rising to the challenge of engaging a crowd hungry for Pupil Slicer and LLNN.

It’s hard to say what was the best show of the three, as each time we crossed paths with Worn Out, it mattered. Which is why they’re the band of the year. Everything they have done this year, everything we have seen or heard them do, mattered. It’s not just that they appear to be driven, it’s that they seem to know no other way to exist and after a year of working their asses off, it’s clear that more and more people are understanding this.

There is no doubt in our minds that 2026 will be just as big, if not bigger, for Worn Out. There’s no disregarding the noise around them, there’s no evading their pull, and there’s no reason to not jump on the train now. 2025 was the year Worn Out became impossible to ignore.