It’s time to reflect on the year in music! This month, we’ll be highlighting Jam of Today’s favourite albums of 2025. Working our way up to the #1 album, which will be revealed on the 31st of December, we’ll go one by one past this year’s favourites. Today, our #3: ‘Pantheon‘ by Dance Gavin Dance.

Probably the least surprising entry into my Top 5 albums of the year since, well… their previous album. Like others we’ve seen this month, Dance Gavin Dance’s latest album was a given for a top spot in my list. The latest album by my favourite band of many years now was a no-brainer to become one of my top releases of this year and this third spot in my Endlist shows it surely lived up to my expectations.

It’s been a hell of a few years for Dance Gavin Dance. Saying that the lead up to ‘Pantheon’ has been a wild one is nothing short of an understatement. A few notable events happening in the last few years include the death of bassist Tim Feerick due to an accidental overdose, the departure, return, and once again departure of singer Tilian Pearson due to allegations of sexual misconduct and creative differences, and also the release of their tenth album ‘Jackpot Juicer’ in 2022. By releasing their eleventh album ‘Pantheon’, the band is hoping to draw a line under the turbulent times it has been going through. And by doing so, they officially shoved Andrew Wells forward as their new lead vocalist.

The mighty guitarist joined the band back in 2015 but was only officially introduced as a full-time member in 2021. Known for being a stellar vocalist in Eidola, Andrew Wells appeared on DGD’s 2020-album ‘Afterburner’ and later lend his vocals to a handful of one-off singles as co-singer. In 2024, Dance Gavin Dance released ‘Straight From The Heart’ and ‘Speed Demon’, that way sort of unofficially announcing Wells taking over where Pearson had left. With this transformation now complete, ‘Pantheon’ really feels like the end of an era and they couldn’t have released a better album in doing so, with a singer who’s vocal abilities are just as impressive as his band member’s instrumental skills.

Reviewing my endlist once again, I realise ‘Pantheon’ is probably the only album of which I immediately loved the prior released singles. Both ‘Midnight at McGuffy’s’ and ‘All the Way Down’ are amongst my top songs of this year, with ‘Trap Door’ also doing absolutely great for me. Fourth single ‘Space Cow Initiation Ritual’ wasn’t my favourite from the start, but it is undeniably a stereotypical DGD-song full of goofiness and even a completely unexpected collaboration with funk pioneer George Clinton.  Honestly, this band never fails to surprise. The main highlight of this album is, as always, the idiotic and funny lyrics, mostly those screamed by Jon Mess, over the mesmerisingly technical music with guitarist Will Swan in the lead of it all. ‘Pantheon’ is a great album that doesn’t even do anything out of the ordinary for this band’s standards, but it does tell us DGD has smashed the reset button. With nods to their old work (‘The Robot with Human Hair: Rebirth’, ‘Strawberry’s Daughters’, the latter even mentioning the band’s brand new start) fully reassessed themselves and are still alive as ever. The new era is here.