Written By Kevin McSweeney
Welcome to Seven Deadly Songs, Metal Lair’s weekly feature where the best songs are praised with Devil horns raised. This week, we’ll be looking at some of the best new releases coming out between the 7th and 13th of July, and highlighting the songs that have us most excited for them. It’s been a particularly challenging selection process this week, with some truly excellent stuff hitting the shelves, or the streaming platforms as the case may be. Don’t forget to keep supporting new rock and metal artists, and let’s get into this!
Azathoth’s Dream – Coven of the Ancient Black Flame
We begin this week with one of the best song-and-album title combos of 2025. Pennsylvanian atmospheric black metal/dungeon synth band Azathoth’s Dream prepare to release their third full-length album, Solitary Forest Necromancy, from which Coven of The Ancient Black Flameis taken, on July 11th via Iron Bonehead Productions. (We can add one of the best label names to the list!) The production is as rough as rats, and that’s exactly what I want when it comes to black metal. It ought to sound like it was recorded on a portable cassette recorder from the 1980s in the middle of a forest, with the blood of sacrificial virgins splattered all over the speaker, and that’s just what we have here. (Minus the sacrificial virgins. I hope.) Plush and overly-sanitised metalcore-style productions are just not Kreig, don’t you know? This is how it’s properly done.
Hibernaut – Goner
There’s been some great metal coming out of Utah recently. (Check out our review of Deathblow’s Open Season for a fine example.) Salt Lake City’s Hibernaut are certainly not letting the side down here with this fine bit of sludge/stoner/doom metal, which is actually a B-side to their single Obsidian Eye, taken from the album of the same name. Though Goner didn’t make it onto the album, it was so good, they made a promotional video for it anyway. The album is due to be released on July 11th, courtesy of Olde Magick Records. The exquisitely sludgy bass intro alone elevates this song beyond B-side status in my opinion, but if this is the standard of their B-sides, just imagine how good the A-sides are going to be!
Mädhouse – We Run Riot
I believe it’s the case that, of all the lost souls who lurk and languish in the Lair of Metal, I am the only one who fully appreciates hair metal. This could be because I’m the only one old enough to remember that most maligned of subgenres in its pomp, before it was swept away by a sombre wave from Seattle. Austrian band Mädhouse, like German glam metallers Kissin’ Dynamite, are doing a fine job of reminding us of its 1980s heyday. Their fourth full-length album, Plead The Fifth, is due to be released on July 11th via ROAR/Rock of Angels Records, with a sound that is sure to be bigger than their hair and tighter than their Spandex. It’s a sound that, on this song at least, oscillates from Dr Feelgood-era Mötley Crüe to Pyromania-era Def Leppard, and the fact that there is a member of this band called Mikky Sixx puts almost as big a smile on my face as the music does!
Sheev – King Mustard II
This is a slow, brooding, Sabbathy number from the German progressive stoner metal band Sheev, who are due to release their second full-length album, Ate’s Alchemist, on July 11th via Ripple Music. According to their Bandcamp page, they “…blend massive grooves and captivating vocals into progressively arranged heavy music.” And that’s about right. The grooves are infectious and the vocals are strong and lavishly harmonised. The Berlin-based band’s website states their aim to: “…delve into the inner workings of the human psyche,” with music that is: “…thought-provoking and cathartic, with a nod to the past and a fresh modern approach.” On the evidence of this song, it’s very much a case of mission accomplished.
Split Chain – Subside
Now here we have an exciting new band from Bristol, a city that I know well. The British nü metallers are signed to Epitaph Records, and are due to release their debut album, Motionblur, from which Subside is taken, on July 11th. Their sound has a similar dreamy atmospheric quality to that of The Deftones. In fact, Subside could easily have been drawn from White Pony or Around The Fur, and vocalist Bert Martinez-Cowles alternates between the heartfelt and the hysterical with similar aplomb to Chino Moreno. The Sacramento legends are not their only influence, however. Their cover of that most punky of Type O Negative songs, I Don’t Wanna Be Me, is also worth checking out. I want them to be them, and I want them to keep making music of this quality.
Starlit Pyre – Empire’s Downfall
It’s quite a romantic name for an extreme metal band! In fact, I’m surprised there wasn’t a song of that name on the aforementioned Type O Negative’s October Rust album. Starlit Pyre are a melodic death metal band from Bordeaux in France who were formed as recently as last year. Their debut EP, Veins of Sulfur, from which Empire’s Downfall is taken, is due to be released independently on July 11th. They cite the likes of At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames as influences, and the guidance of those greats is clearly in evidence here. It’s exhilarating stuff, elaborately constructed and skillfully executed, and those beats that alternate between staccato and synocaption are exquisite! Très bien, mes amis!
Vulgar Dissection – Gas Mask Asphyxiation
I’ve made a habit recently of ending these lists with something melodious and relatively easy on the ear. We will dispense with that practice for one week at least, as we conclude proceedings with some grisly death metal from the North East of England. Vulgar Dissection are due to release their second full-length album, the charmingly titled Liquifying Coagulated Viscera, (a title straight from the Carcass lexicon before the Liverpudlian grindcore gore merchants went all melodeath on Heartwork.) The album will be out on July 11th via Cesspit Records, and Gas Mask Asphyxiation would seem to be the most family-friendly offering on it. Comparisons with the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Cryptopsy will abound, and justifiably so. This is blood-splattered, brutal death metal from a brilliant British band.
