Written By Kevin McSweeney
Seven Deadly Songs – November 14th, 2025 Drop
Welcome to Seven Deadly Songs, Metal Lair’s weekly feature by a slovenly creature where we can’t help but mention the new releases that deserve your attention. (Sorry! I had a bit of a Vince Fontaine moment there.
Give me a minute to settle, then I’ll get on with the metal.) This week, we’re looking at some of the best albums and EPs to be lavished upon you lucky people between the tenth and the sixteenth of November, and highlighting the songs that have us most excited for them.
We have an honorary mention this week in the form of French darkwave outfit Your Inland Empire, who release their self-titled album on November 14th. Some might argue that it’s not metal, and with some justification, but it’s dark, brooding and metal-adjacent enough to be appealing to many of us.
Plus, it’s coming courtesy of the Season of Mist label, and that’s as sure a sign of excellence as you could hope to have. Also, some little-known ensemble from Germany called Scorpions have a live album coming out this week, so good luck to them, whoever they are. Right! On with it!
Ab-Natural – Merchants of Misery
Let’s go straight back to France for our Seven Deadly Songs opening selection. I know very little about this band, other than that they are from Rennes, they operate primarily in the metalcore/nü metal realm, and their EP Catabase is due to be released independently on November 14th.
Merchants of Misery – I love an alliterative title! – leans heavily towards the metalcore end of their spectrum.
Having said that, the vocals actually remind me a little of Donald Tardy of Obituary, and the rolling kick drums could be the work of his brother John, though all similarity to the Floridian death metal icons ends there.
Other than that, it’s all punchy, staccato riffs, dramatic synths and more breakdown than you can shake a stale baguette at. C’est magnifique!
Eld Varg – Destroyer
The name means “fire wolf” in Swedish, apparently. These guys actually hail from Glasgow in Scotland, but they concern themselves lyrically with a lot of Nordic mythology, hence the nomenclature.
Eld Varg started as a solo project by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ollie Noakes for the project’s debut album, One Man Army.
They have since expanded to a tremendous trio with the addition of bassist/vocalist Micah Snow and drummer Andy Hedges.
Destroyer is the title track from their forthcoming full-length album, which is due to be released independently on November 14th.
It’s a fantastic bit of classic metal primarily in a shuffle beat that’ll have you swaying like you’re staggering home from the alehouses of Sauchiehall Street, and that, let me assure you, involves a lot of swaying.
Moral Implant – Obsecrate
It’s heavy as fuck, this one, guys! Sorry for the bluntness, but Poland’s Moral Implantaren’t messing around here, so neither will I.
Obsecrate is as emphatic an expression of old-school death metal brutality as you’re likely to hear in a while. Those opening Cannibal Corpse-style trills are a thrill to behold, as are the occasional nods to black metal with the frenetic tremolo picking on display.
Also, it sounds like the drummer has borrowed Lars Ulrich’s snare drum from the St Anger era, but don’t let that put you off. This savage track is taken from their forthcoming EP Delusion, which will be available from November 14th, courtesy of Caligari Records. We trust it won’t take many obsecrations on our part to persuade you to seek it out.
Mourn The Light – Sorrow Feeds The Silence
Connecticut crew Mourn The Light are back with their second full-length album, Sorrow Feeds The Silence, which is due to be released via Argonauta Records on November 14th, and the title track has me licking my lips in anticipation of the album that bears its name.
Their sound is billed as heavy/doom metal, but this doozy of a track has me challenging that categorisation. With its stirring instrumentation and powerful clean vocals, it’s verging on power metal, or even symphonic metal.
One could even argue prog, given its substantial duration and refusal to remain in any particular time signature for very long. My colleague Derek Gann wrote recently of the enduring influence of Ronnie James Dioin metal. The epic vocals on display here offer much in the way of evidence for Derek’s hypothesis. I for one would have been sorrowful if they’d remained silent.
Primal Scourge – Cavalry of The Damned
I can’t help feeling that Primal Scourge have missed a trick by not calling their debut full-length album Scourgedelica. Instead, the boys from Knoxville have gone with the far more poetic End of Eden, which will be available from November 14th, courtesy of the splendidly-named Iron Fortress Records.
What we have here is death metal at the doomier end of the spectrum, which alternates between slow, plodding brutality and super fast savagery, as some of the English bands of the 1990s were often inclined to do.
Bolt Thrower springs immediately to mind. The Tennessee twosome of Austin Asmus(guitar, bass, vocals) and Rio Mariucci(drums, vocals) conjure up a massive noise between them. We’d like to draw attention to the last four letters of scourge, and urge you to investigate it.
StarForce – Rock and Roll Slave
Rock and rolling slave
That’s what I’ll be, even in my grave!
That’s quite a claim, but we’ve just had Dia De Los Muertos in StarForce’s native Mexico, and from what I know of it, I’m not putting it past them!
This little beauty is taken from the Mexico City metalheads’ debut full-length album, Beyond The Eternal Night, and it’s one for those who still pay homage to the NWOBHM greats like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Like the latter in their Painkiller era, it verges on thrash, with plenty of lead guitar histrionics and sensational vocals from Mely Wild.
She’d be a fine addition to our new series celebrating Women in Metal. The album will be with us from November 14th via Jawbreaker Records.
I’m not quite sure how you go beyond a night that is eternal, but you should head to your local music retailer to purchase a copy first thing in the morning. Or you could just stream it. I sometimes forget it’s 2025 with music like this taking me back to the 1980s.
Valontuoja – Välikappale
Finally, we turn to Finland, because we were always going to end up in Finland sooner or later. Seriously, how does a country with just over five and a half million residents produce such excellent metal so consistently?
Anyway, Välikappale is taken from Valontuoja’s second full-length album, Tulesta Syntynyt, which is due out on November 14th, courtesy of Inverse Records.
I don’t know what any of these long Finnish words mean, but I know good black metal when I hear it, and that’s what we have here. It is traditional in its execution, with tremolo picking, blast beats and demonic vocals very much the order of the day.
Its production is rudimentary and raw, making the track all the more ominous and atmospheric for it. And that’s a fitting way to send you back out into the wilderness for another seven days. Happy headbanging, folks!
Missed last week’s Seven Deadly Songs? You can find it right here
FAQ: Seven Deadly Songs (November 10th – 16th 2025)
Q: What is Seven Deadly Songs?
A: Seven Deadly Songs is Metal Lair’s weekly roundup of the heaviest new releases across the metal spectrum from black and death to doom, thrash, and speed metal. 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. This edition is for November 10th – 16th 2025.
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 Metals Hidden Gems for rare, overlooked tracks or unreleased demos.
World Metal Weekly, your passport for metal around the world.
Metalhead Horoscopes shows you what the stars have in store, translated into metalhead language and paired with a lucky song of the week.
A Rip in Time: Women in Metal, A series celebrating the voices, pioneers, and rule-breakers reshaping heavy music’s DNA