Album Review: Obsequiae – “The Palms of Sorrowed Kings”

ChrisLeave a comment

Obsequiae - The Palms of Sorrowed Kings

Black metal has an identity problem, and it’s exhausting.  The community froths at the mouth to validate, accuse, hoist aloft or otherwise dismantle what it means to be black metal in the current age.  But then I look at the rolling fields and crumbling ruins in broad daylight that note the arrival of a new Obsequiae record and I breathe a sigh of relief.  Here is a band unconcerned with status, with genre, with any kind of presence (seriously, beyond a Metal Archives listing I couldn’t find anything) in the community other than to carry high the singular sound they’ve been refining for three albums now.  And now the consumer of music can turn from the maelstrom and rejoice, for The Palms of Sorrowed Kings stands as the clearest, finest example of the kind of thing Obsequiae and no one else is doing in metal right now.  Continue reading →

The Nine Circles Audio Thing: Exhumed was October 2019’s Album of the Month!

JoshLeave a comment

 

Since Episode 31 of the Nine Circles Audio Thing is for October’s Album of the Month, it’s fitting we’re chatting about Exhumed and their latest deathgrind masterpiece Horror. I mean, what better month to wax on blood, guts, death metal, and all those sorts of dark things! Plus, we had an almost full house which offered tons of viewpoints and tons of great discussion about this album and so much more.
Continue reading →

CANTO: Dethklok, The Ocean, Kataklysm, and More

CoreyLeave a comment

The Ocean

There is a reasonable chance this is my last full working week of 2019. Whoa.

  • A total ICYMI moment, Dethklok performed live for the first time in five years at this past weekend’s Adult Swim Fest out in LA. Here is some footage if you’re interested.
  • Hey you guys, Mötley Crüe is back. Remember back in 2015 when they signed a cessation of touring agreement? To be honest, I 100% do not. But apparently it didn’t matter anyway! Moving on…
  • Hey you guy’s again, The Ocean are almost ready to drop Phanerozoic II. You know what this means right? MOAR FOSSILS. It sounds like it should be out sometime next year and I couldn’t be more excited.
  • Kataklysm dropped a new lyric video for “The Last Breath I’ll Take Is Yours”. That track is from 2018’s Meditations and this video was released in anticipation of their upcoming tour dates in Europe.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

Initial Descent: November 17 – 23, 2019

JoshLeave a comment
Blood Incantation
Blood Incantation

No chit-chat this week, we’ve got a stacked list to get to so let’s do it… The death metal benders and shapers, Blood Incantation, are back with an effort that finds them, yet again, pushing the boundaries of the genre far beyond its capacity – alienesque indeed. Newcomers Astralborne explode off the starting gate with an incendiary melodic death metal debut that rips, tears, shreds, and progs; in other words, an immensely satisfying maiden voyage. Obsequiae flood the moats again with their third full length of intriguing and well thought out castle metal but more than that, this is their best yet so jump on it. And, closing out the top slots is the always avantgarde and always exceptional Chaos Echœs with a double disc that features a once in a lifetime live performance, outtakes, alternate song versions, and yes, more live recordings spanning four years. All that said, in the span of four top slot albums we’ve got four must own albums. That’s some damn good odds. And, we’re far from done here so head below to unload the rest of that paycheck you got Friday. Continue reading →

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 105 (11.16.2019)

VincentLeave a comment

playlist - mixtape

Good morning all.  Welcome to another Saturday mixtape session.  This week, your resident screamo buff loses his mind over both new envy and new Loma Prieta (!!!!!), our newest staff member throws in one of Yob’s finest cuts (and check out her review of the new Tribulation live album if you haven’t already), and Chris reminds me that I need to be listening to more Voivod always.  If you’re looking for something new to jam, there’s something for just about everyone here, so grab some headphones and a strong morning beverage and check out what we’ve been listening to down below.

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– Vincent