Written By Kevin McSweeney
Welcome to Seven Deadly Songs, Metal Lair’s weekly feature where we bring you the most badly-written news of the best new releases.
It’s with great sadness that we draw your attention to some of the week’s output by the better-known bands, not least because we are about to see the last recorded material under the name of Sepultura.
The great Brazilian musical institution, which was a defining part of my own youthful foray into the realm of metal, signs off with the release of the EP The Cloud of Unknowing on April 24th via Nuclear Blast.
What could possibly be sadder than that? How about the release of The Ghost of a Future Dead, the new At The Gates album that features the final recordings of the late Tomas Lindberg, following his untimely passing? It is available from April 24th via Century Media for those who can withstand the heartbreak.
There’s much less sombre news in the form of new albums from Six Feet Under (First to Die, from April 24th via Metal Blade), and, for those who are so inclined, Foo Fighters (Your Favorite Toy, from April 24th via Roswell/RCA.)
But it’s seven of the artists who don’t get the coverage they deserve that we seek to laud here, so let’s do exactly that.
Seven Deadly Songs: Armed For Apocalypse – Fists Like Feathers
We begin this week with some super-heavy sludge metal from a band who must have witnessed my risible attempts at boxing in my youth.
Cacophonous Californians Armed For Apocalypse are due to release their fourth full-length album, The Earth Is Breathing Beneath Me, on April 24th via Church Road Records.
That’s a fairly hippy-dippy, San Francisco sounding album title, but the sound of the Chico crew’s music is a different vibe altogether.
To quote the press release: “The guitars sound raw and intimidating. The drums hit like wrecking balls while the bass shakes the very ground you stand on.” Nate Burman’s vocals are more rage and fury than peace and love, suggesting that it won’t be in your hair that they’ll be looking to stick the flowers.
Seven Deadly Songs: Alvader – Vaderland
Next up, it’s a trip to the Netherlands for some pagan metal courtesy of Alvader, whose second full-length album Woede is due to be released independently on April 24th.
Musically, it’s towards the black metal end of the pagan metal spectrum with its tremolo picking and blast beats. The vocal approach, however, is a much more traditional style of singing.
Were it Irish (and melismatic), it would be known as “Sean-Nós” (old-style). I have no idea what the Dutch equivalent would be called, but I do love the fact that you can clearly hear Joris Van Geire’s Dutch accent as he sings.
The band was originally formed as a project dedicated to the God Wodan, apparently. This is the first of two tracks we’re highlighting this week by artists that combine extreme metal with elements of their own national folk tradition and cultural heritage. As for the second…
Seven Deadly Songs: Cnoc An Tursa – Alba in My Heart
Imagine a Burns Night Supper set to blast beats as well as bagpipes and you’ll get some idea of the sound of Cnoc An Tursa. (The name means “Hill of The Standing Stone” in Scottish Gaelic.)
The Falkirk folk/black metal laddies are due to release their mournfully-titled third full-length album A Cry For The Slain via Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings on April 24th.
It is from that album that this touching tribute to their native Alba, aka Scotland, is taken. I love the fact that much of the song is in jig time, though I’m not sure you’d ever dance the Gay Gordons to it.
The plaintive melodies sound as if they are piped rather than played on guitar and it’s convinced me, if any convincing were necessary, that corpse paint and kilts are a fetching combination, no matter what anyone else might suggest.
Seven Deadly Songs: Grief Collector – Agony Eater
Here we have classic doom metal in the Black Sabbath mould, with riffs that could have been forged by the fabled fingers of Tony Iommi himself.
The traditional-sounding trio from Minneapolis, Minnesota would certainly pass the Beavis and Butthead air guitar test, and the rich and soulful vocals of Julian Küster would pass the test of many fans of Ozzy, Dio or Ian Gillan.
The Death of All Dreams is the gloriously euphonic and elegiac title of their third full-length album, which is due to be released on April 24th, courtesy of Nine Records.
The album also contains a cover of Nights in White Satin by Brummie progressive rock icons The Moody Blues, for whom I have long had a great fondness. So, their sound is clearly influenced by more than one legendary Birmingham band.
Seven Deadly Songs: Eternal Dark – Blestemat
This Romanian melodic death/gothic metal band has apparently been around since 1994 but only got round to releasing their debut album, Gânduri, in 2023.
I guess it’s hard to find your way around a recording studio in a perpetual privation of light. Blestemat, which means “cursed” in Romanian, apparently, is taken from Cugetări, their second full-length album, which is due to be released via Loud Rage Music on April 25th.
And yes, it’s dark! I don’t understand the Romanian lyrics, though that won’t have stopped many of us from droning along drunkenly to Dragostea Din Tei. A fairly lazy comparison for their sound would be with My Dying Bride. Then again, I didn’t get as fat as I am by not being lazy.
Seven Deadly Songs: Premier Jester – Pac’d Out
This one might not be universally popular with the readership. (That’s if I actually have a readership!) Many might baulk at the slick production and chart-friendly choruses of this English electro-metalcore outfit.
However, if the music of Electric Callboy tickles your pickle, you should give these geezers a gander.
Judging by the old-school arcade game theme in the video, the title refers to Pac-Man. (There’s another track of theirs called The Gamer, so there’s further speculative evidence.)
It’s possibly a bit of slang I’m not appreciating, but I certainly appreciate the twin vocal approach of Joe Yates and Jimmy Martin. Their debut album, Turn You On, is due to be released independently on April 24th. Hopefully, you’ll be able to Pac it into your busy schedule.
Seven Deadly Songs: Witch Piss – Beggars and Horses
Does anyone remember the gothic metal group Pist.On? The Brooklyn band, whose first album, Number One, was produced by Josh Silver of Type O Negative, never quite achieved the success their immense talent deserved.
This was attributed largely to their contentious name. Belgian stoner/doom metal band Witch Piss are probably hindering themselves similarly, especially as the cover of their second full-length album, The Devil Doesn’t Burn, due on April 24th via Ardua Music.
It features an image not only of the Horny One himself, but also of a horn-inducing naked witch with spectacular breasts burning at the stake.
They certainly know how to commit commercial suicide. They also know how to knock out some top-notch metal, as this, the first single from their forthcoming album, proves emphatically.
Anyway, that’s enough talk of mild profanities and massive mammaries. See you in seven for another seven!
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SEVEN DEADLY SONGS Q&A
Q: What is Seven Deadly Songs?
A: Seven Deadly Songs is Metal Lair’s weekly roundup of the heaviest new releases across the full metal spectrum. Each week we spotlight seven standout tracks you shouldn’t miss.
Q: When does Seven Deadly Songs update?
A: We post a new edition every Friday, typically highlighting weekly new releases.
Q: Where can I find the best new metal songs?
A: Right here. Seven Deadly Songs is your go-to source for discovering the latest metal tracks including fresh black, death, thrash, doom, and speed metal releases, all curated in one place.
Q: How can I listen to the songs featured?
A: Every featured track links out to the artist’s official release, streaming platform, or label page so you can dive deeper and support the bands directly.
Q: Does Metal Lair have other weekly series?
A: Absolutely, Try:
- Deep Cuts – Metal’s Hidden Gems and lost recordings from rock and metal history.
- Metalhead Horoscopes – Weekly forecasts laced with riffs, attitude, and a lucky song for every sign.
- World Metal Weekly – A global passport through the underground, one country at a time.
- Women in Metal – A series celebrating the voices, pioneers, and rule-breakers reshaping heavy music’s DNA.
- Ministry of Metal – A satirical authority devoted to the laws, rituals, and unspoken rules of heavy music. Features proclamations, decrees, cultural edicts, metal lore, and an original comic book series, all delivered with humor and bite.
- Metal Legacy Profiles – Deep dive essays honoring artists who shaped metal’s sound, culture, and philosophy. These aren’t timelines or greatest-hits lists, but examinations of impact, conflict, evolution, and what each figure left behind.
- Road Riffs: Metal On The Map – We take metal beyond the speakers and onto the highway, exploring legendary venues, scene-defining cities, historic landmarks, local haunts, and travel stops tied to real
metal scenes around the world that every metalhead should experience.
About The Author
Kevin McSweeney is Metal Lair’s resident scribe of the underground, eternally rummaging through the global metal scene for riffs worth your time.
As the guiding hand behind Seven Deadly Songs every Friday, he has an uncanny knack for finding the track you didn’t know you needed, usually before finishing his pint.
Equal parts loyal, kind, and quietly razor-witted, Kevin brings deep knowledge, impeccable taste, and a steady, reliable presence to Metal Lair.
Read More From This Author:
Album Review: Wildcard by Death Warmed Up
Dive into our Green Carnation – A Dark Poem, Part II: Sanguis album review
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