Nine Circles

A couple of items to touch on from last week: If you missed “Black Brick” from Deafheaven, definitely rectify that and same for “12 Years In the Tomb” from Saint Vitus. They both rip and don’t @ me, all my shits to give are gone.

New business this week — and there’s plenty of it — starts with a rousingly heavy debut album, They Came With Sunlight, from Norway’s atmospheric sludge metal trio Sâver and for a young band, the sound here is massive and so meticulously created it took me completely by surprise. Next up is Rituals of Power from the destructive death metal denizens in Misery Index and even though it is, at times, disjointed and slightly off in sequence it still will cause bruised necks and damaged eardrums. Moving right along, Cloaked Climax Concealed may only be two tracks but the atmospheric death / doom 0N0 presents within is hallucinogenic, otherworldly, and all-encompassing at the same time. Last up top is the debut, Demiurgus, from the star-studded membership of Equipoise and based on the lineup, it’s no surprise to hear the vast, jaw dropping array of technical and progressive death metal they’ve conjured up – inject it straight in the veins.

We’re far from done so stick around for what’s left.

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Sâver – They Came With Sunlight (Pelagic Records) – atmospheric sludge

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Misery Index – Rituals of Power (Season of Mist) – death metal

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0N0 – Cloaked Climax Concealed, EP (Transcending Obscurity) – atmospheric doom / death

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Equipoise – Demiurgus (The Artisan Era) – progressive death metal

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Also on tap:

Anni Hogan – Lost In Blue (Cold Spring) – dark rock

Aria – Curse of the Seas (Sliptrick) – heavy metal

Aseptic – Senses Decay (Redefining Darkness) – death metal

Bergraven – Det framildna minnet (Nordvis) – avantgarde metal

Bewitcher – Too Fast for the Flames, EP (Shadow Kingdom) – speed metal

Black Anvil – Miles, EP (STB) – black metal

Black Lung – Ancients (Ripple) – psych doom

Bong-Ra – Antediluvian (Tartarus / Svart Lava) – doom

Children of Bodom – Hexed (Nuclear Blast) – melodic death metal

Crypt Trip – Haze County (Heavy Psych Sounds) – classic rock

Dark Years from Now – S/T (Independent) – progressive extreme metal

Degraey – Reveries (Independent) – post-metal

Eat Me Fresh – Mob (Demons Run Amok) – hardcore

Fen – Stone & Sea (Eisenwald) – post-black metal

For the Lost – Fantasma Nera (Svart) – doom

Forged In Black – Descent of the Serpent (Fighter Records) – heavy metal

Foul Body Autopsy – The Unquiet Dead (Independent) – melodic death / thrash

Gjendød – Krigsdøger (Hellthrasher Productions) – black metal

Happily Ever Blind – Good Enough For… (Realm) – heavy rock

Iron Fire – Beyond the Void (Crime Records) – power metal

Iron Savior – Kill Or Get Killed (AFM) – power metal

Kings Destroy – Fantasma Nera (Svart Records) – stoner doom

Leather Glove – Perpetual Animation (Sentient Ruin) – death / doom

Malakhim – II (Iron Bonehead) – black metal

Meadows End – The Grand Antiquation (Black Lion Records) – melodic death metal

Misandr / Whitephosphorous – This Can Not Continue, Split (Tridroid) – black metal

Mustan Kuun Lapset – Valo (Inverse) – dark metal

Mystifier – Protogni Mavri Magiki Dynasteia (Season of Mist Underground Activists) – black / death

Pterodactyl Problems – Esoteric Hobbies (Independent) – avantgarde [profile]

Ringarë – Under Pale Moon (Iron Bonehead) – black metal

Ruphus – New Born Day, Re-release (Karisma) – prog rock

Sinmara – Hvísl Stjarnanna (Ván Records) – black metal

Stonecast – I Earther (Pitch Black) – heavy / power metal

Temple of the Fuzz Witch – S/T (Seeing Red) – occult doom

The Absense – Khronocracy (Sliptrick) – alt-rock

The Haunting Green – Natural Extinctions (Hypnotic Dirge) – ambient drone

Thormesis – The Sixth (MDD) – black metal

Tyr – Hel (Metal Blade Records) – viking metal

Wendigo – Wasteland Stories (Independent) – stoner rock

Wolfsblood – Vomit & Lice (Troglodyte Records) – crust /d-beat

– Josh