Nine Circles

So, we’re back again. How was the week? Busy here and at one point I actually got to see the sun for once — made me happy. What’s got you excited this week? Nothing? Well, this week’s list of new metal is longer than the line waiting on summer vacation and hopefully this will lift the spirits. Leading us off this week is grindcore phenoms WAKE with their latest bunch of brutal, Misery Rites. Next up is Dead Empires who added a singer and managed to make their best hardcore / heavy as balls album yet with Designed to Disappear. Rolling on is Insect Ark with their stunning and unique horror soundtrackish / doom metal on Marrow Hymns and closing out the top spots is Huntsmen with American Scrap, an album that really surprised me with how it combines King Dude’s type of dark americana with razor sharp doom metal — trust me, this thing just works. There you have it, the intro is done but we are FAR from finished so keep reading, keep clicking and keep discovering.

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WAKE – Misery Rites (Translation Loss) – grind [feature review]

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Dead Empires – Designed to Disappear (Silent Pendulum Records) – rock / metal [full review, feature]

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Insect Ark – Marrow Hymns (Profound Lore) – atmospheric doom [full review]

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Huntsmen – American Scrap (Prosthetic Records) – americana metal

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Also on tap:

Absent – Towards the Void (World War Now Records) – sludge / doom

Affasia – Adrift in Remorse (Transcending Records) – atmospheric metal

Apostle of Solitude – From Gold to Ash (Cruz Del Sur Music) – doom metal [feature review]

Arkheth – 12 Winter Moons Comes the Witches Brew (Transcending Obscurity Records) – experimental black metal [feature review]

ÁRSTÍÐIR – Hvel (Season of Mist) – folk rock

Avon – Dave’s Dungeon (Heavy Psych Sounds) – desert rock

Avslut – Deceptis (Osmose Productions) – black metal

[B.Abuse] – Memories of Better Days Are Gone (WOOAAARGH) – post-crust

Battle Dagorath – Dark Dragons of the Cosmos / Frozen Light of Eternal Darkness, Box Set (Fólkvangr Records) – atmospheric black metal

Battlesoul – Sunward and Starward (CDN Records) – celtic metal

Beorn’s Hall – Estuary (Fólkvangr Records / Naturmacht Productions) – pagan black metal

Bhleg – Solarmegin (Nordvis Produktion) – folk metal

Blackwülf – Sinister Sides (Ripple Music) – heavy metal

Bleach Birth – Hatching Inside the Womb (Independent) – hardcore punk

Candle – The Keeper’s Curse (Fighter Records) – epic heavy metal

Climate of Fear – Holy Terror (Demons Run Amok) – hardcore

Cruthu – The Angle of Eternity (The Church Within Records) – doom

Deathwhite – For a Black Tomorrow (Season of Mist ) – melancholic doom

Demonomancy – Poisoned Atonement (Invictus Productions) – black / death

Destroyer 666 – Call of the Wild, EP (Season of Mist) – black / thrash

Drive By Wire – Spellbound (Argonauta Records) – stoner rock

Eye of Solitude / March Funebre – Split (Hypnotic Dirge Records) – doom

Fight the Fight – S/T (Blacklight Media / Metal Blade) – rock

Frost Koffin – Danger and Deliverance (Independent) – thrash / speed

Funerary Bell – Undead Revelations (Saturnal Records) – black metal

Ghoul Cult – S/T (Duplicate Records) – death / thrash

Gridfailure – Irritum (Independent) – experimental

Hammr – Unholy Destruction (Hells Headbangers) – speed metal

Hyborian – Vol. 1 (Season of Mist) – modern metal

Into the Storm / Smooth Sailing – Split (Independent) – heavy noise

Kaoteon – Damnatio Memoriae (Independent) – extreme metal

Keiji Haino & Sumac – American Dollar Bill – Keep Facing Sideways, You’re Too Hideous To Look At Face On (Thrill Jockey) – experimental noise

March Funebre – Into the Arms of Darkness, Reissue (Hypnotic Dirge Records) – doom

Maudlin – Sassuma Arnaa (Consouling Sounds) – post metal

Maze of Feelings – S/T (Bad Moon Man Music) – melodic death / doom

Necropanther – Eyes of Blue Light (Independent) – heavy metal

Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram (Century Media Records) – satanic death metal

Necrosexual – Grim 1 (Independent) – heavy metal [feature]

Old Mother Hell – S/T (Cruz Del Sur Music) – heavy metal

Omega Sun – Opium for the Masses, Vinyl Issue (On Parole) – fuzz / doom

Ov Shadows – The Darkness Between Stars (Black Market Metal Label) – black metal

Poem – Unique (Independent) – prog metal

Power from Hell – Blood ‘n’ Spikes (Dying Victims Productions) – black metal

Red Lama – Motions (All Good Clean Records) – psych / prog

Ritual King – Earthrise, EP (When Planets Collide Records) – sludge

Sacred Leather – Ultimate Force (Cruz Del Sur Music) – heavy metal

Scumpulse – Rotten (Gore House Productions) – grind

Shakma – House of Possession (Duplicate Records) – thrash

Spiny Normen – S/T (RidingEasy Records) – 70’s hard rock / psych prog

Stunted – Fault (Drwg Music) – garage rock

Tempting Fate – I’d Rather Burn, EP (Seek and Strike) – metal / rock

Tengger Cavalry – Cian Bi (Napalm Records) – folk metal

The Divided Line – Paramnesia, EP (Independent) – hard rock [feature]

The Lead – Again (Roxx Records) – punk

Thy Antichrist – Wrath of the Beast (Napalm Records) – black metal

Treedeon – Under the Manchineel (Exile On Mainstream) – sludge / noise

Triverse Massacre – Hades (Sliptrick Records) – death metal

Twilight’s Embrace – Penance, EP (Independent) – melodic doom

Vojd – The Outer Ocean (High Roller Records) – hard rock

We Have the Moon – Till the Morning Comes (Rockshots Records) – party metal

White Hills / Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of The Leading Hand – Desire (Ván Records) – progressive black metal

– Josh