As always, I will post my top 10 of the year in the last column of that year. For me, 2025 was a reasonable year musically with the biggest highlight being the great album Omni by the extraordinarily creative and inventive powerhouse from Ukraine, Antony Kalugin. Especially after the additional album Omni, a Shuffle of Fate it is clear to me that this concept not only deserves the top position in my list but also with a considerable lead. This does not mean that there wasn't really a lot to enjoy in general, but that many announced albums did not make the release date. I've been eagerly waiting for a new Credo album for years and can't wait to hear new music from our own Silhouette. Come on people, get to work.

I would also like to discuss something else in this column. The reason for this is the release of two songs by the mainly Israeli band Sentimental Mercenaries. This name comes directly from the song Fugazi by my heroes Marillion but if you think they make music in that style then you are wrong. Well, you were wrong. Until now they made very heavy music, but drummer and lyricist Gil E. turns out to be a great lover of the old Marillion with Fish and has made an entire album with music in exactly that style as a tribute. Two songs have already been released as singles and that has caused quite a bit of discussion. Lover's End and Sentimental Mercenary could have been on one of Marillion's first four albums and are just wonderful songs. So how did they solve the problem of singing? Well, just hire Marco Vincini from the well-known cover band Mr. Punch and that works out great. I can't wait for the whole album to be digitally released in January. What is the discussion?  According to some, this is a pure rip-off and a shameless copy and I partly understand that because the music is very, very close to that of the British. The same people often have problems with the phenomenon of tribute bands because they often attract a lot of people.