Nine Circles

The best month of the year winds down this week and that sucks. But you know what doesn’t suck? New metal and, yet again, the list is longer which means more to get into. Read on to see what’s in store…

First up and FINALLY, The Ocean returns in epic fashion with Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic and if you have the slightest doubt a step has been lost, forget about it. This thing is master class level post-metal and should be in your collection already so go, NOW. Next up is Piach from Gorycz which is their debut but you’d never know it as their brand of dark and brooding black / death is as mesmerizing as it is immersive, death metal vets Cancer return with Shadow Gripped and after all this time they still have some damn gnarly chops, and rounding out these top slots is occult doom rockers Alastor who pull off the perfect album for those Halloween night scares with Slave To the Grave.

As previously stated, these four are just the tip of the iceberg and this iceberg runs deep.

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The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic (Metal Blade) – post-metal

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Gorycz – Piach (Pagan Records) – black metal [premiere]

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Cancer – Shadow Gripped (Peaceville) – death metal [full review]

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Alastor – Slave To the Grave (RidingEasy) – occult doom

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Also on tap:

Abstract Void – Back To Reality, CD Issue (Flowing Downward / Avantgarde) – synth / metal

Ashes Reborn – Contamination (Firecum Records) – thrash / death

Bitter Heart – Rotten (Independent) – grunge metal

Blood of the Sun – Blood’s Thicker Than Love (Listenable Records) – hard rock

Brainbombs – Burning Hell, Reissue (Armageddon Label) – noise rock

Brainbombs – Fucking Mess, Reissue (Armageddon Label) – noise rock

Clawing – Labour (Independent) – dark drone

Dead Register – Captive, EP (AVR Records) – dark / gothic

Deadpressure – S/T (Carbonized / Ogre Vinyl) – grind / punk

Domestikwom / Necrolytic Goat Converter – Split II (Independent) – black metal

Drug Church – Cheer (Pure Noise Records) – hardcore

Eden’s Curse – Testament – The Best of Eden’s Curse (AFM) – heavy metal

Etterna – Chaotic (Sliptrick) – melodic metal

Fauna Timbre – Altering Echoes (Red Orchard Records) – doom / post-rock

Flageladör – Predileção Pelo Macabro (Helldprod Records) – speed / thrash

Godless – Swarm, EP (Independent) – death/thrash

Gramma Vedetta – Proof of Concept, EP (Independent) – alt metal

Graven – Heirs of Discord, EP (Negative Grave Records) – extreme metal

Gross Misconduct – Equinox (Independent) – progressive death metal

Kommandant – Blood Eel (Krucyator Productions) – black / death / thrash

Life – Demo II (Pacific Threnodies) – dsbm

Lifelost – Dialogues From Beyond (Transcending Obscurity) – black metal

Necroholocaust – Laudem Antichristus, 7” EP (Iron Bonehead) – black / grind

Night Gaunt – The Room (Terror From Hell Records) – doom

Noise Trail Immersion – Symbology of Shelter (Moment of Collapse Records) – dissonant

Ølten – Ambiance (Hummus Records) – sludge / post-metal

Owl Maker – Sky Road, EP (Independent) – heavy metal

Paragon Empire – Sade (Van Records) – black metal

Profanatica – Altar of the Virgin Whore (Hells Headbangers) – black metal

Rituals – Neoteric Commencements (Sleeping Church) – death metal

Rituals of the Dead Hand – Blood Oath (Dunkelheit Produktionen) – extreme metal

Ruin It! – Locked Up Dead (Armageddon Label) – hardcore

Runescarred – Moonchild, Single (Independent) – heavy metal

Sad Eyes – vIVO (Necromance Records) – death metal

Scolex / Mortuous – Split (Carbonized Records) – death metal

Seventh Dimension – The Corrupted Lullaby (Independent) – progressive metal

Seventh Genocide – SVNTH (Third I Rex) – black / ambient

Shallow Grave – Threshold Between Two Worlds (Sludgelord Records) – doom

Soul Grip – Not Ever (Consouling Sounds) – post black metal

Suffering Quota – Life In Disgust (Loner Cult / Dawnbreed / Mono Canibal / 7Degrees / Tartarus) – sludge

Sylvaine – Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone (Season of Mist) – atmospheric [full review]

Telos – S/T (WOOAAARGH) – blackened hardcore

Temple Nightside – Recondemnation (Iron Bonehead) – death metal

Temtris – Rapture (Battlegod Productions) – heavy metal

The Heretics Fork – Tormentore (P2 Records) – brutal death metal

The Veldt – Black and Blue (sonaBLAST! Records) – shoegaze

Totenmesse – To (Pagan Records) – extreme metal

Trollheims Grott – Aligned With the True Death (W.T.C. Productions) – black / industrial

Twilight Fauna – Where Birds Sing My Name, CD Issue (Flowing Downward / Avantgarde) – folk / black

U-Foes – Whiteout (Marw Melodee Music) – hardcore

Ursa – Abyss Between the Stars (Blood Music) – heavy metal / doom

Various Artists – Terror Tales – A Tribute To Death SS (Black Widow Records) – metal

When Plagues Collide – Tutor of the Dying (Independent) – deathcore

When the Deadbolt Breaks – Angels Are Weeping…God Has Abandoned… (Sliptrick) – fuzz / doom

– Josh