# Iconoclasts (album)
**Iconoclasts** is the sixth studio album by the Swedish composer, singer, and pipe organist Anna von Hausswolff, released on [October](https://www.edgepedia.org/october-u2-album) 31, 2025 by the label Year0001[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/30/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts-review-exhilarating-euphoric-goth-songcraft). It is her first full-length album since 2020's *All Thoughts Fly*, which consisted of instrumental organ pieces[3](https://omni.se/a/vgMQWX). The album features guest vocals from [Iggy Pop](https://www.edgepedia.org/iggy-pop) and [Ethel Cain](https://www.edgepedia.org/ethel-cain), was produced by von Hausswolff with Filip Leyman, and received a Metacritic metascore of 88 based on 13 critic reviews[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/iconoclasts/anna-von-hausswolff/critic-reviews).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist | Anna von Hausswolff, Swedish composer, singer, keyboardist, and pipe organist[5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/iconoclasts-mw0004608780) |
| Release | October 31, 2025, Year0001; 12 songs, 1 hour 12 minutes[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts) • [6](https://music.apple.com/us/album/iconoclasts/1830987314) |
| Production | Written by Anna von Hausswolff and produced with Filip Leyman; co-writers include Otis Sandsjö, David Sabel, and Abul Mogard[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts) |
| Guests | Vocals by Iggy Pop (track 4) and Ethel Cain (track 7, "Aging Young Women"); Maria Von Hausswolff sings track 11[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts) |
| Critical reception | Metacritic metascore 88 from 13 reviews, all positive; #18 on Metacritic's best albums of 2025[4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/iconoclasts/anna-von-hausswolff/critic-reviews) |
| Awards | Album of the Year (Årets album) at Sweden's P3 Guld gala 2026[7](https://omni.se/trots-tre-nomineringar-veronica-maggio-lottlos/a/Expk65) |
| Lead singles | "The Whole Woman" (duet with Iggy Pop) and "Stardust"[3](https://omni.se/a/vgMQWX) |
## Background and release
Von Hausswolff, a Gothenburg-based artist who debuted on record in 2010, had built her reputation on atmospheric, experimental, organ-heavy music[3](https://omni.se/a/vgMQWX). *Iconoclasts* followed the instrumental *All Thoughts Fly* (2020) and was trailed in the press as a pivot toward pop, a framing the Guardian's Alexis Petridis treated as relative given her gothic, drone-heavy back catalog[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/30/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts-review-exhilarating-euphoric-goth-songcraft).
The release schedule began in August 2025, when von Hausswolff issued the first two singles: "The Whole Woman", a duet with Iggy Pop, and "Stardust"[3](https://omni.se/a/vgMQWX). The full album arrived on October 31, 2025[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts). Some of its material had a life before the record: the piece that became "Atlas Song" was first staged live in 2024 with choreographers Imre and Marne van Opstal and the Gothenburg Opera Dance Company, and von Hausswolff has clarified that the song grew out of *Iconoclasts* rather than the other way around[8](https://annavonhausswolff.com/).
## Title
The title refers to the historical meaning of iconoclasm. As von Hausswolff explained in a 2025 interview, "an iconoclast is a breaker of images, an image destroyer"[9](https://thecoldmagazine.co.uk/2025/10/27/anna-von-hausswolffs-interview/).
## Recording and personnel
The album was produced by Anna von Hausswolff and Filip Leyman, who also plays guitar, drums, and synthesizer across the record[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts). Recording took place at Leyman Studio, Svenska Grammofonstudion, Candy Bomber, and three churches: Annedal Church, Örgryte New Church, and Vinberg Church[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts). Von Hausswolff plays church organ on all tracks except track 10, which is built on electronics by the Italian ambient composer Abul Mogard, who co-wrote that track[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts).
The sessions drew on a rotating ensemble. Otis Sandsjö plays saxophone and clarinet on most tracks, Joel Fabiansson and Leyman share guitar duties, David Sabel plays bass, and a string ensemble arranged by Martin Schaub appears on several songs[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts). The album was mixed by [Sven Johansson](https://www.edgepedia.org/sven-johansson), Filip Leyman, and Abul Mogard, and mastered by Magnus Lindberg[1](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts).
## Music and themes
AllMusic describes the album as a 75-minute work that moves between episodes of powerful, raw vocals on songs such as "The Iconoclast", "Struggle with the Beast", and "The Mouth", and melodic passages in "Aging Young Women" and "Unconditional Love"[5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/iconoclasts-mw0004608780). The opening title track "The Iconoclast" runs 11:14 and has been noted for its prog-scale ambition; Prog magazine placed the album at number 49 in its 50 best albums of 2025, calling it jazz-inflected art-rock with the towering closer flexing serious prog muscle[10](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts?from=com-lr) • [11](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/prog-top-50-albums-2025).
Thematically, the record deals with loss, faith, and love. [The Atlantic](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-atlantic)'s year-end write-up described lyrics about psychological collapse and world-weary grief, and noted that some of the hardest rock and roll of 2025 came from a pipe organist, with arrangements that simmer and explode with sax, guitar, and what the reviewer called war drums[12](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/12/best-albums-2025/685008/). Pitchfork's review, by Sadie Sartini Garner, framed the album as a triumphant requiem for dead relationships and old selves, set against sky-high production for the songs' maximalism[13](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts/).
## Reception
Critical response was strongly positive. On Metacritic, the album scored 88, with all 13 collected reviews positive, and it ranked number 18 on the site's best albums of 2025[4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/iconoclasts/anna-von-hausswolff/critic-reviews). A Chorus.Reviews aggregation of eight professional reviews put the consensus at 88.63 out of 100[14](https://chorus.reviews/index.php/albums/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts).
Individual scores ranged from 100 at musicOMH, which called it a stunning achievement and quite possibly the album of the year, to 70 at Uncut, which called it her most wide-ranging and most unwieldy LP[4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/iconoclasts/anna-von-hausswolff/critic-reviews). [The Wire](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wire) placed her at her most unabashedly accessible and soulful, Mojo called the record its own untamable beast, and Paste scored it 87 for capturing the catharsis of having nothing left to lose[4](https://www.metacritic.com/music/iconoclasts/anna-von-hausswolff/critic-reviews).
Year-end recognition followed. The Atlantic ranked *Iconoclasts* seventh on its list of the ten best albums of 2025[12](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/12/best-albums-2025/685008/), and at the Swedish P3 Guld gala in January 2026 it won the Album of the Year category[7](https://omni.se/trots-tre-nomineringar-veronica-maggio-lottlos/a/Expk65).
## Touring
Von Hausswolff supported the album with an Iconoclasts tour spanning 2026 and 2027, with dates across Europe, China, and North America, including a January 2027 North American leg through Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, Washington, and New York[15](https://annavonhausswolff.se/). Ticket listings mark the January 2027 United States dates as rescheduled[16](https://www.livenation.com/artist/K8vZ9172Id7/anna-von-hausswolff-events).
## Notes on numbering and length
Sources disagree on two basic details. The Guardian and Prog describe *Iconoclasts* as von Hausswolff's sixth studio album, while AllMusic calls it her seventh[2](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/30/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts-review-exhilarating-euphoric-goth-songcraft) • [5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/iconoclasts-mw0004608780) • [11](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/prog-top-50-albums-2025). Runtimes also differ slightly by source: Apple Music lists 12 songs totaling 1 hour 12 minutes, AllMusic describes a 75-minute album, and the German review site Betreutes Proggen lists 73:01[6](https://music.apple.com/us/album/iconoclasts/1830987314) • [5](https://www.allmusic.com/album/iconoclasts-mw0004608780) • [17](https://www.betreutesproggen.de/2025/10/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts/?print=pdf).
## References
1. [ICONOCLASTS, Anna von Hausswolff, Bandcamp (credits and release details)](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts)
2. [Anna von Hausswolff: Iconoclasts review, The Guardian, 30 October 2025](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/30/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts-review-exhilarating-euphoric-goth-songcraft)
3. [von Hausswolff släpper nytt, gästas av Iggy Pop, Omni/TT](https://omni.se/a/vgMQWX)
4. [Critic Reviews for ICONOCLASTS, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/music/iconoclasts/anna-von-hausswolff/critic-reviews)
5. [Anna von Hausswolff: ICONOCLASTS Review, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/iconoclasts-mw0004608780)
6. [Iconoclasts, Anna von Hausswolff, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/iconoclasts/1830987314)
7. [Trots tre nomineringar, Veronica Maggio lottlös, Omni/TT](https://omni.se/trots-tre-nomineringar-veronica-maggio-lottlos/a/Expk65)
8. [Anna von Hausswolff, official site](https://annavonhausswolff.com/)
9. [Anna von Hausswolff: The Sound of Sonic Transcendence, Cold Magazine](https://thecoldmagazine.co.uk/2025/10/27/anna-von-hausswolffs-interview/)
10. [ICONOCLASTS, Anna von Hausswolff, Bandcamp track page](https://annavonhausswolff.bandcamp.com/album/iconoclasts?from=com-lr)
11. [Prog's 50 best albums of the year 2025, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/music/albums/prog-top-50-albums-2025)
12. [The 10 Best Albums of 2025, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/12/best-albums-2025/685008/)
13. [Anna von Hausswolff: Iconoclasts Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts/)
14. [ICONOCLASTS, Anna von Hausswolff, Chorus.Reviews](https://chorus.reviews/index.php/albums/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts)
15. [Anna von Hausswolff, official site tour dates](https://annavonhausswolff.se/)
16. [Anna Von Hausswolff 2026 Tour Dates, Live Nation](https://www.livenation.com/artist/K8vZ9172Id7/anna-von-hausswolff-events)
17. [Anna Von Hausswolff, Iconoclasts, Betreutes Proggen](https://www.betreutesproggen.de/2025/10/anna-von-hausswolff-iconoclasts/?print=pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Progressive and art rock albums › Art rock and art pop albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license