Written By Kevin McSweeney
Welcome to Seven Deadly Songs, Metal Lair’s weekly feature where we highlight a song from seven of the best new releases of the week, with a particular emphasis on those artists who have yet to achieve the level of exposure their talents deserve.
But, as ever, we show love for the legends beforehand, and how could we not in a week that sees the return of OG thrash metal royalty in the form of Flotsam and Jetsam?
The iconic band, who boasted Jason Newsted as a member before he left to join Metallica, will grace us with the sixteenth studio album of their illustrious career, titled Rats in The Temple.
It is due on August 28th courtesy of Napalm Records, as is the latest release by Floridian power metal veterans Kamelot, who return with Dark Asylum, their fourteenth full-length studio album.
Also on the 28th, this time via Spinefarm, we have the self-titled album from Australia’s Airbourne, who celebrate the success of their recent appearance at Eddfest with the release of the sixth of their studio albums.
Finally, It’s going to be a poignant week in metal, as we have a new album from Mastodon, a year on from the sad loss of Brent Hinds at just 51 years of age. Marrow Deep, their ninth full-length studio album, will be available from August 28th via Loma Vista Recordings.
We urge you to raise a glass of something to Brent while listening to it, and it is in memory of him and his rich musical legacy that we present this week’s list.
Seven Deadly Songs: Black Door – In The Shadow of a Funerary Gleam
How’s that for a title to kick off proceedings this week? I could mention an old piano being played hot behind the black door, but that would be a shaky reference. (You’d have to be quite old to get that joke.)
Instead, we’ll simply inform you that this rampant bit of raw black metal from old Amsterdam is the handiwork of a Dutch master of a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist known as Vestibulum.
Oh, and that the album of the same name – his second full-length effort – is available from August 28th via Chronos Defied.
This is just one of a number of fine black metal releases this week. There’s also: The Spirit of Gravity by Agonanist, Divine Hitman by Azgaal, Ghost Touch by Azaghast, Blood of The Badlands by Sunscorched, Peril of Freedom by Djevelsort… I could go on! Why wouldn’t you want to make those eyes at that lot?
Seven Deadly Songs: Enemies Everywhere – Atonement
Seven Deadly Songs always seems less deadly without a song from Finland. Luckily, we have no such problems this week, as Helsinki-based deathcore quartet Enemies Everywhere are due to release their self-titled debut album on August 28th via the fabulously-named Ranka Kustannus label.
They’re more melodic than most deathcore bands, not least because of their atmospheric synths, and there’s a disjointedness to this track that hints at metalcore, rather than its more extreme variant.
For something similar to whet your appetite this week, there’s the May Misery Befall You EP by British metalcore/groove metal band Perpetual Paradox, whose debut album Deathwish was covered in this very column in June 2025.
Seven Deadly Songs: Evisarize – Ritual Homicide
Feisty one, this is! London’s Evisarize have been around since 2015, but are only just getting round to releasing their second full-length album, Bound in Flesh, which will be available via independent release on August 26th.
Ritual Homicide opens the opus in exceedingly savage fashion. It boasts the precise picking of black metal, the brutality of death metal and the speed and big riff energy of thrash, all bundled together in one bludgeoning British package.
Added to that, we have lyrics that I hope certain world leaders don’t take literally. Some of them just might! Then again, I don’t suppose extreme metal is on the agenda at the G7.
Other notable releases from the UK this week include the World of Thieves EP from the bizarrely-named LongFallBoots, the Catch The Silvertrain EP by hard rockers Leadfeather, and a little something from Norwich I’ll be mentioning later.
Seven Deadly Songs: Exumer – Death Mask Messiah
If there’s one country that can rival the United States in terms of its thrash metal legacy, it’s Germany, and Frankfurt’s Exumer are as fine an example of this as any.
They have been around since the mid 1980s and have six full-length albums under their belts. It probably would have been many more but for a lengthy hiatus throughout much of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Their latest release, of which Death Mask Messiah is the title track, has an album cover that, to my eyes at least, looks like Jason Voorhees cosplaying as The Statue of Liberty. It is available from August 28th via Metal Blade Records.
For more awesome thrash metal this week, check out Damnation’s Veil by Ninth Realm, To No Avail by Xenith, which I might get round to reviewing in full, and of course, the new one from Flotsam and Jetsam.
Seven Deadly Songs: Fane – Passages
Louisiana’s Fane define their sound as a blend of blackened death, sludge metal and hardcore.
I reckon you can throw in doom metal, and maybe a bit of gothic metal as well, due to the slow and sombre nature of this song at least, and also the deep, sexy baritone vocals of Ryan Ashmore when he’s singing cleanly.
Passages is a lengthy track at over seven minutes in duration, and it’s the last of just five songs on their first full-length album, Armageddon Scars, so it might actually be short in comparison to the rest.
The album is due to be released independently on August 28th. It may only be their debut, so it’s very early to be making predictions, but Fane? They’re gonna live forever.
Seven Deadly Songs: Kulk – We’re Worried About You
This one comes courtesy of our good friends at Church Road Records, who are about to release the third full-length album by British metal’s answer to The Carpenters. I’m joking, of course.
Norwich-based band Kulk are a male/female duo, but you’d never get such a short, abrasive, feedback-festooned affair as this from the American siblings, despite Karen’s sad story very much chiming with the dark lyrical content.
We’re Worried About You is taken from the equally cheerfully-titled Choosing To Die, which is due to be released on August 28th. As you can tell from the titles and their Melvins-inspired sludge sound, it’s not going to be easy listening.
And there definitely won’t be any sha-la-la-las or woah-woahs. For more sublime sludginess, check out I Am Not a Fighter, I Will Fail by New Jersey’s Coward Kill Coward, also out on the 28th, courtesy of Horror Pain Gore Death Productions.
Seven Deadly Songs: Static Abyss – The Dying Hunt
Our final entry is the title track from the Oakland death/doom trio’s third full-length album, which is due to be released on August 28th via Peaceville Records. I hasten to add that the title would also make a very good pub name.
Their estimable label describes the album thus: “The Dying Hunt’ plummets the listener into the festering, psychedelic swamps of lunacy, with the spiralling melodies texturing the relentless savage riffs for an effective nightmare-inducing trip through the sonic abyss.”
That’s all well and good, but why do none of them have their hair stood on end? That was a cheap shot and I apologise for it. I love Static-X, and may Wayne rest in peace. I think there’s room in our hearts, however, for another American metal band with Static in its name, and on that fine sentiment we’ll leave it. See you in seven for another seven.
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Seven Deadly Songs is A Metal Lair® Original Series
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: Made Flesh by Untitled With Drums
Sakoya – World Gone Crazy EP Review
The Larches – Nihilistic Majesties EP Review
Album Review: Exodus Unknown by Imperium
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