Written By Kevin McSweeney
“The best new metal songs August 2025 are here, and Metal Lair’s Seven Deadly Songs is serving up this week’s heaviest doom, death, and thrash metal tracks.”
Welcome to Seven Deadly Songs, Metal Lair’s weekly feature where we don’t leave you hanging for tracks that are banging. This week, we’re looking at some of the best new albums and EPs to be released between the 28th of July and the 3rd of August, and the offerings that have us most excited for them. We have quite a range on offer, from the most callow of young upstarts to some returning legends. It’s all a feast for the ears, so don’t stand on ceremony, and tuck right in.
Anchorite – Realm of Ruin
Events are set in motion this week by a pan-European outfit by the name of Anchorite, who boast members from Sweden, Malta and Denmark – quite a range of climates! Realm of Ruin is both the opener and title track from theirforthcoming second full-length album, due to be released on August 1st via Personal Records. It’s doom metal in a style much more akin to someone like Cathedral than, say, My Dying Bride or Paradise Lost, with a distinct nod towards the classic metal blueprint. The similarities to the British doomsters do not extend to the vocal department, however, with the strong, conventional singing of Leo Stivala being some distance from the idiosyncratic style of Lee Dorrian – a similar distance to that between Sweden and Malta, in fact.
Bengal Tigers – Cry Havoc
I remember very little about studying Shakespeare in school, and care to remember even less, but I’m fairly certain it’s cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, not the bloody Bengal Tigers! All the same, it’s great to welcome back these Melbourne-based heavy metal veterans, who have been making music on and off since the late 1970s. This is a fantastic bit of old-school hard rock with more than a passing resemblance to a certain other legendary Aussie Rock institution. The vocals are rich and resonant, the grooves are tighter than spandex and the riffs are bluesy and ballsy. The album from which this title track is taken is available from August 1st courtesy of Iron Shield Records, and you’ll cry bitter tears if you miss it.
Final Error – Desloated Gorefest
Germany’s Final Error, a band whose name seems to be inspired by a laudable rebuke of a particularly dark chapter in their nation’s history, are due to release their third full-length album, Daemonium in Nobis, independently on August 1st. Desolated Gorefest is the second single to be taken from the album, after the equally exhilarating Enough is Enough. Billed as crossover thrash, it actually verges on groove metal at times, sounding often like early Lamb of God with also a hint of Burn My Eyes-era Machine Head about them. It’s excellent heavy music from a nation with a proud history of producing some of the finest extreme metal known to man, and that’s the only kind of extremity that anyone should ever endorse.
Putriditium – Horror Eternal
Another country with an astounding track record for producing extreme metal of the highest quality is Finland, and here is another fine offering to bolster that proud reputation. Putriditium – is that on the Periodic Table? – are about to unleash utter carnage upon an unsuspecting public in the form of their debut album, Fatal Offences, released on July 31st via the label with the best name in the business, The Iron, Blood and Death Corporation. This is death metal as it was made at the tail end of the 20th Century, when that most ferocious of subgenres was in its infancy. The production is rougher than my arse after a night on the Guinness. It is reminiscent at times of Chuck Schuldiner and his plucky band of pioneers, with the twangy bass sound and dissonant lead, the occasional Middle Eastern vibes and the switching between 4/4 and 6/8 time that was evident on The Philosopher. A flattering comparison indeed!
Under Cold Sun – From Your Mouth
We now venture from frosty Finland to sultry Spain, where the sun is definitely not cold, as I can tell you from the painful experience of some horrific sunburn suffered by my pasty-skinned relatives in Torremonlinos one year. White Silence – my relatives were red and loud after their ordeal! – is the fifth full-length album to be released by Iberian death/thrashers Under Cold Sun, and it will be available from July 31st, courtesy of Base Record Productions. From Your Mouth is three-and-a-half-minutes of shouting, screaming splenetic Spanish spite, backed up by highly capable musicianship. The changes between time signatures jar slightly, but I don’t mind that. It adds a bit of character to proceedings, which is an all-too-rare commodity these days. Check it out soon, but don’t forget the Factor 50.
Vertebra – Behavior in The Eyes
Brazilian death metal maestros Vertebra originally formed in 1994 and released their demo, Humanity, the following year. They then followed this up with literally nothing until 2025, and now they are, at long last, treating us to their debut album, The Same, released on July 29th via Xtreem Music. Behavior in The Eyes is the second single taken from that album. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely! It evokes memories of early Sepultura but with a vocal style I can only liken to a black metal Dave Mustaine. Infer from that what you will. Personally, I love it. It’s a richly nostalgic taste of 80s and early 90s-style death metal that has me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, which was probably not the intended aim.
Wailing Banshee – His Dark Materials
Our parting offering is the third single to be taken from Wailing Banshee’s second EP, World’s Apart, which is to be released independently on August 1st. I have no idea if this has anything to do with Philip Pullman. I’ve not read his books, but, being Irish, I couldn’t help but include a band of that name – especially after the aforementioned Guinness binge. (They’re actually from Manchester in the north of England, despite the Hibernian nomenclature.) It’s melodic and subdued for the first three minutes or so, before exploding into something highly reminiscent of Iron Maiden, complete with galloping bass and harmonised lead guitars. I can’t help but love that there’s also a song on the EP called Lord of The Flies, which, as well as being a dark but thoroughly enjoyable novel by William Golding, is also the title of a Maiden song. It might even be a cover. I’m looking forward to finding out.
“That wraps up our list of the best new metal songs August 2025. Crank them up and keep it heavy!”
Check out last weeks Seven Deadly Songs here.
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