Nine Circles

That chill in the air signifies the landscape surrounding us has begun its slow progression towards death. It also means that you need to sharpen your fire making skills because seriously, there’s nothing better than a crisp night under the stars with thought provoking metal and a roaring fire. With that, let’s begin: grim, frostbitten, technical and majestic all describe the black metal found on Throne of Heresy’s third full length Decameron, the heavy metal freight train that is Sweden’s Ram continues to barrel mightily down the tracks on Rod, on third full length and Colin Marston produced IAO 269 death metallers Corpse Garden show a new, outstanding, experimental side we’ve yet to hear and putting the final squeeze on this Halloween season is Autumns Eyes with their Type O Negative vibed Ending Life Slowly — dark, gloomy, goth tinged with a pinch of melodic death metal equates to a ton of fun here. Cozy up with us by this amazing fire we started (with lighter fluid, shhh – our secret) and explore all that this week has to offer…

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Throne of Heresy – Decameron (The Sign Records) – black / death [feature review]

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Ram – Rod (Metal Blade Records) – heavy metal [full review]

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Corpse Garden – IAO 269 (Godz Ov War Productions) – death metal

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Autumns Eyes – Ending Life Slowly (Independent) – doom / goth

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Also on tap:

Acid Witch – Evil Sound Screamers (Hells Headbangers) – doom / death

Anima Damnata – Nefarious Seed Grows to Bring Forth Supremacy of the Beast (Godz of War Productions) – death metal

Annihilator – For the Demented (Silver Lining Music) – thrash / heavy metal

Batushka – Litourgiya, Reissue (Metal Blade) – black / death [full review]

Bergrizen – Der Unsterbliche Geist (Purity Through Fire) – black metal

Big Dumb Face – Where is Duke Lion? He’s Dead… (Edison Sound) – experimental

Black Capricorn – Omega (Stone Stallion Rex) – psych doom

Boson – Domain of Ember (Anxious & Angry Records) – sludge

Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black (Metal Blade) – death metal

Clouds Taste Satanic – The Glitter of Infinite Hell (Independent) – doom

Converge – The Dusk In Us (Epitaph) – hardcore

Disabuse – Death Machines (Raw Skull Recordz) – thrash punk

Eero Koivistoinen & Jussi Lehtonen – Illusion (Svart Records) – jazzy

Feral – Forever Resonating In Blood (Horror Pain Gore Death) – black metal

Fragarak – A Spectral Oblivion (Transcending Obscurity) – death metal

Friendship – Hatred, LP (Southern Lord) – extreme metal

Haema – Insurrection, EP (Sliptrick) – industrial groove metal

Hangman – A Vile Decree (Flatspot Records) – hardcore

Hazytones – S/T (Ripple Music) – stoner rock

High Reeper – S/T (Independent) – stoner metal [feature]

Hobosexual – Monolith (Kitchentable Records) – prog rock

Invertia – The Crimson Screen Vol. 1 (Independent) – industrial metal

Ixion – Return (Finesterian Dead End) – atmospheric doom

Kawir – Exilasmos (Iron Bonehead) – black metal

Khandra – All is of No Avail (Redefining Darkness Records) – black metal

KO:MI – Songs of Them (Svart Records) – experimental pop

Long Arms – Young Life (Dead Serious Recordings) – rock

Lóstregos – Lendas Baixo o Luar (Fólkvangr Records) – pagan black metal

Lustre – Still Innocence (Nordvis Produktion) – atmospheric black metal

Malokarpatan – Nordkarpatenland (Invictus Productions) – black metal

Metamorphosis – The Secret Art (The Devil’s Ground) – black / death

Moloch – The Vatican Cellars, Comp. (Via Nocturna) – dark synth

Moonspell – 1755 (Napalm Records) – dark metal

Mother of Millions – Sigma (ViciSolum Records) – progressive alt-metal

Motherslug – The Electric Dunes of Titan (Independent) – psych fuzz / doom

Niviane – The Druid King (Pitch Black Records) – power metal

Opium Warlords – Droner (Svart Records) – black metal

Pink Mass – Necrosexual (Independent) – crust / grind

Perdition’s Light – Endzeit (Independent) – extreme metal

Primitive Race – Soul Pretender (Metropolis Records) – industrial rock

Procession – Doom Decimation (High Roller Records) – doom

Profanatica – The Enemy of Virtue (Hells Headbangers) – black metal

Scour – Red, EP (Housecore) – extreme metal

Signs of the Swarm – The Disfigurement of Existence (Unique Leader Records) – death metal

Sisyphean – Illusions of Eternity (Drakkar Productions) – black metal

Sleeping Romance – Alba (Napalm Records) – symphonic metal

Stahlsarg – Mechanisms of Misanthropy (Non Serviam Records) – black / death

Stairs of Life – The Man In a Glass (Sliptrick Records) – alt prog-rock

Tero Ikäheimonen – The Devil’s Cradle – The Story of Finnish Black Metal, Book (Svart Publishing)

Tetragrammacide – Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix (Iron Bonehead) – black death [feature review]

The Earth and I – The Candleman (Independent) – progressive metal

Ubiquity – Forever / Denied (Third I Rex) – black / hardcore

Until the Sky Dies – The Year Zero Blueprint (Cimmerian Shade Recordings) – avant metal

Various Artists – Brown Acid The Fifth Trip (RidingEasy Records) – obscure rock

Vaultwraith – Death is Proof of Satan’s Power (Hells Headbangers) – black / death

Voëmmr – Nox Maledictvs (Harvest of Death/Signal Rex) – black metal

Zao – Pyrrhic Victory (Independent / Holy Mountain Printing) – metal

Zifir – Kingdom of Nothingness (Duplicate Records) – black metal

– Josh