Nine Circles

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Had an interesting and funny conversation amongst the staff last week (our water cooler conversations are always golden) regarding tech death versus technical death metal which led into the myriad of varying genre tags. Out of nowhere came “I consider Judas Priest heavy metal, all else is just metal” which is accurate and great and made me roar with laughter – score. Really, it is that simple if you think about it…and then it’s not, everyone wants to know what they’re getting into up front. Either way, get into what this week has to offer.

To say I’ve been carried away by Moon Tooth’s Crux is the understatement of the year – it’s rock, it’s metal but most of all it’s MEMORABLE which is something we don’t get enough of these days so by all means, get yourself a copy STAT. Next up is the debut, Something Wicked Marches In, from Vltimas and I knew to expect a pummeling mixture of death and black metal based on the membership here but I didn’t count on this thing being as addictive as it is. Sliding into some nastier territory is Triumvir Foul with their blend of bestial black, death, and noise on Urine of Abomination, definitely drink this one in folks. Last up top is the third full length, Departed Souls, from Boston’s Magic Circle who show that a four year gap doesn’t mean a thing when a band can churn out doomy heavy metal as good as this, another MUST own so do that.

Those four could be the entire week but ALAS, there’s much more. Get in there with all the grind, death, core, post, black, rock, atmospheric, symphonic, heavy, power, instru-metal…I could go on for days. But I won’t.

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Moon Tooth – Crux (Modern Static) – technical rock [interview]

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Vltimas – Something Wicked Marches In (Season of Mist) – death metal

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Triumvir Foul – Urine of Abomination, EP (Vrasubatlat / Invictus / 20 Buck Spin) – black / death

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Magic Circle – Departed Souls (20 Buck Spin) – doom / heavy

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Also on tap:

A New Revenge – Enemies and Lovers (Golden Robot) – metal

Abduction – All Pain As Penance (Inferna Profundus) – black metal

Aihos – Hävityksen Maa (Helter Skelter) – black metal

Amber Tears – When No Trails (BadMood Man) – doom

Among Vultures – S/T (Tenacity Music) – deathmetalcore

Applaud the Impaler – Ov Apocalypse Incarnate (Unique Leader) – deathgrind

Arkotheism – Law of Seven Deaths (Osmose Productions) – black metal

Armagedda – The Final War Approaching, Reissue (Nordvis) – black metal

At Dusk – Condemned (Pacific Threnodies) – black metal

Blind Scryer – S/T (Independent) – stoner metal

Brightdelight – Invoke (Sliptrick) – metalcore

Childrain – The Silver Ghost (Independent) – groove / melodic death metal

Dark Legacy – The Rejects (Black Vulture) – symphonic death metal

Devin Townsend – Empath (InsideOut) – progressive

East of the Wall – NP Complete (Translation Loss) – progressive metal

Ellende – Lebensnehmer (AOP) – black metal

Enime – Bleeding Out (Independent) – thrash

Even Vast – Warped Existence (The Goatmancer) – doom

FLYKT – Charnel Heart (Folter Records) – black metal

Forever Autumn – Howls In the Forest at Dusk (Independent) – acoustic doom

Grave Infestation – Infesticide, Cassette Issue (Invictus) – death metal

Hootenanny Freaks – Freakshow (Secret Entertainment) – hard rock

Katu Kaiku – Luna (Svart) – jazz / power metal

KHNVM – Foretold Monuments of Flesh (Testimony) – death metal

Lee Mckinney – Infinite Mind (Sumerian) – instru-metal

Little Villains – Philthy Lies (Heavy Psych Sounds) – Philthy rock

Low Dose – S/T (Brutal Panda / Knife Hits) – grunge / punk

Lustre – Another Time, Another Place – Chapter One, Comp. (Morrowless Music) – ambient black metal

Lustre – Another Time, Another Place – Chapter Two, Comp. (Morrowless Music) – ambient black metal

Mechanical God Creation – The New Chapter (The Goatmancer Records) – death metal

Moros – Weapon (Hidden Deity Records) – doomy sludge

Musket Hawk – Upside of Sick (Unholy Anarchy) – sludge / grind

Necromutilator – Black Blood Aggression (Terror From Hell) – black / death

Nixa – Opus Tierra (War Anthem) – sludge

Nocturnal Hollow – A Whisper of a Horrendous Soul (Redefining Darkness / Raw Skull Recordz / BlackStorm) – death metal

Nordjevel – Necrogenesis (Osmose Productions) – black metal

Ola England – Master of the Universe (Independent) – progressive metal

Optical Sun – S/T, EP (Via Nocturna) – stoner doom

Pesterous Mind – Halluci.Nation (Boersma) – modern death metal

Plained – Epidemic of Mass Hysteria (Independent) – prog metal

Prison – Come, Annihilation (Independent) – hardcore

Rage of Light – Imploder (Napalm Records) – trance metal

Sándor Vály / Júlia Heéger – Sacred Songs – Hildegard Von Bingen Variations (Ektro) – compositional

Signs of Human Race – Inner Struggle of Self-Acceptance (Sliptrick) – progressive metal

Six of Swords – Regime Decay / Polar Vortex (Redefining Darkness / Raw Skull Recordz) – death metal

Skryptor – Luminous Volumes (Skin Graft / Aqualamb / Sleeping Giant Glossolia) – prog-noise

Skullsmasher – Rocket Hammer Brain Surgery (Selfmadegod) – grind

Slush – Lizard Skin (Independent) – punk / doom / blues

Something Is Waiting – Songs for the Sally Beauty Pavilion (Learning Curve Records) – noise

Sutekh Hexen – Cyclic Law (Sentient Ruin) – black / noise

TEL – Lowlife (Aural Music) – sludge / doom

The Black Moriah – Road Agents of the Blast Furnace (Folter) – black / thrash

The Black Sorcery – Wolven Degrade (Krucyator) – black / death

The Devil and the Almighty Blues – Tre (Blues for the Red Sun) – heavy rock

The Glorious Rebellion – Scholars of War, EP (Sludgelord Records) – noise

These Beasts – S/T, EP (Magnetic Eye) – noise

Thunderclap – Inebriocean (Financial Ruin) – doom

Tides of Sulfur – Paralysis of Reason (Sludgelord / APF / Astral Noize) – black / sludge

Totaled – Lament (Profound Lore) – blackened hardcore

Ultar – Pantheon MMXIX (Temple of Tortuous) – black metal

Undeath – Demo ’19 (Caligari Records) – death metal

Whitechapel – The Valley (Metal Blade Records) – deathcore

– Josh