Welcome to June 2025, where festivals kicked off, beer gardens overflowed, and the metal gods gifted us a stack of albums so loud they scared the sheep in the Valleys. 🐑
This wasn’t your typical summer soundtrack. Nah, this was blast beats instead of barbecues, growls instead of garden parties, and riffs instead of rosé. Let’s dive into the savage sonic smörgåsbord that June threw our way, butt-first!
💣 JUNE 20 – Pirate Metal, Unearthed Lemmy & Nordic Carnage
🏴☠️ Alestorm – The Thunderfist Chronicles
Scotland’s rum-chugging, parrot-loving pirates are back with a vengeance (and a hurdy-gurdy). This time it’s cinematic AF — think sea shanties meets power metal musicals. The 17-minute closer “Mega‑Supreme Treasure of the Eternal Thunderfist” is a prog-pirate masterpiece with Patty Gurdy and Russell Allen cameoing. Yes, really.
✅ FFO: Gloryhammer, Korpiklaani, being drunk on a boat
🎧 Must-Listen: Sea of Spite, Thunderfist Rises, Plunder Symphony
⚰️ Motörhead – The Manticore Tapes
STOP EVERYTHING: a lost Motörhead album from 1976 just dropped. Yes, this is real life. Lemmy, “Fast” Eddie Clarke and Philthy Animal live in a time capsule of raw, nasty, no-nonsense rock ‘n’ roll. It’s gritty, it’s glorious, and it’s like finding a sacred relic in a biker’s glovebox.
✅ FFO: Motörhead (duh), raw early NWOBHM
🎧 Must-Listen: No Class (Demo), Iron Brawl, Motorblast
🔥 Sodom – The Arsonist
Still angry. Still fast. Still louder than your da’s hangover. Sodom drop their 17th album, and it’s full of thrash fury and militant stomp. Tribute tracks honour their fallen comrades, while the rest burns like a petrol bomb in a dive bar. Proper German steel.
✅ FFO: Kreator, Destruction, Slayer
🎧 Must-Listen: Black Ops Messiah, March of the Arsonists, Agent of Oblivion
⚔️ JUNE 27 – Comebacks, Deathcore, & Melody Meets Mayhem
💀 Deadguy – Near‑Death Travel Services
OH. MY. GOTH. Deadguy are back after 30 years, and they’re not here to play nice. This is chaos-core brutality that rips through genres, ears, and your will to sit still. The riffs are unpredictable, the vocals unhinged — and it’s glorious.
✅ FFO: Botch, Converge, coiling anxiety
🎧 Must-Listen: Exit Wound Welcome Pack, Shatterstar, Boarding Gate 666
🕯️ Shadow of Intent – Imperium Delirium
Symphonic deathcore? More like apocalyptic opera of pain. Imperium Delirium swings between tech-death devastation and orchestral grandeur, with guest howls from Corpsegrinder (Cannibal Corpse) and bombastic keys by Francesco Ferrini (Fleshgod Apocalypse). Melodic brutality, thy name is Shadow.
✅ FFO: Lorna Shore, Septicflesh, Cradle of Filth at the symphony
🎧 Must-Listen: Crown of Flesh, Echoes Through Flame, Imperium Delirium
🔥 Heaven Shall Burn – Heimat
Album ten for Germany’s melodic metalcore masters. Heimat translates as “home,” but don’t expect hugs — this is a 51-minute scream into the void about injustice, identity, and inner rage. Passionate, political, and punishing. Proper job.
✅ FFO: Caliban, As I Lay Dying, Raised Fists of Fury
🎧 Must-Listen: Blutland, Rebellion in Silence, Heimat
💣 Riff Report’s Top 7 – June 2025
| Rank | Album | Why It Rules |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Near-Death Travel Services – Deadguy | Comeback of the decade. Wild. Unfiltered. Vital. |
| 🥈 | Imperium Delirium – Shadow of Intent | Deathcore drama, symphonic as hell. |
| 🥉 | The Arsonist – Sodom | Veteran thrash that still punches teeth in. |
| 4️⃣ | The Thunderfist Chronicles – Alestorm | Pirate metal’s cinematic masterpiece. |
| 5️⃣ | Heimat – Heaven Shall Burn | A metalcore warcry for identity and rebellion. |
| 6️⃣ | The Manticore Tapes – Motörhead | Lemmy lives. Vintage, raw, beautiful filth. |
| 7️⃣ | Birthing – Swans (Late May drop) | Sonic doom art. Still echoing into June. |
🎤 Final Thoughts from the Front Row
June didn’t give us a summer breeze — it hit us with a blast furnace of riffs. Comebacks from the dead, unreleased Lemmy, German thrash legends, deathcore symphonies, and seafaring nonsense from metal’s drunkest pirates.
If this is June, what the hell is July gonna look like? 🫣
💬 What About You?
Which June 2025 album left you speechless (or hoarse from screaming)?
Did Deadguy’s return ruin your spine in the best way?
Are you still doing pirate jigs around the kitchen?
Let us know below or yell at us on @theriffreportuk
Written by: The Riff Report Team
Brought to you by tinnitus, Tesco’s energy drinks, and that one guy in the pit who never wears a shirt.
