Nine Circles

And…we’re back. No idea where the last week has gone, feels like we just did this. To top that off, we’re getting close to another year in the books which is wild. Anyway, this is a year that even the naysayers will have to admit there’s been at least a handful or so every week that’s been in top shelf category. How many will make it to the best of lists out of those…who knows. But, we’ve got more to add to that pile this week starting with the best all around example of doomed heavy metal Khemmis has ever done, a pair of essential black metal albums from Der Weg Einer Freiheit and Stormkeep, an equally essential tech death return from Obscura, and several more in the list that follows. You know what to do, get after it.

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Khemmis – Deceiver (Nuclear Blast) – doomed heavy metal

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Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Noktvrn (Season of Mist) – black metal

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Stormkeep – Tales of Othertime (Van) – black metal 

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Obscura – A Valediction (Nuclear Blast) – technical death metal

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Also on tap:

Abscession – Rot of Ages (Transcending Obscurity) – death metal 

Additional Time – Dead End (Dead Serious) – hardcore

Apostle of Solitude – When The Darkness Goes (Cruz Del Sur Music) – doom

As Light Decays – System Of Division (Independent) – thrash

Atom Driver – Is Anything Alright (Nefarious Industries) – metal

Bloodmouth –  Unmanned (Brilliant Emperor Records) – death/grind

Burial Waves – Holy Ground (Dark Operative) – post rock

Cherokee – Blood & Gold (Dying Victims Productions) – metal

Civerous – Decrepit Flesh Relic (Transylvanian Recordings) – black / death

Confusion Master – Haunted (Exile On Mainstream) – doom / sludge

Consecration – Reanimated (Cavernous) – death / doom

Converge – Bloodmoon: I (Deathwish Inc. / Epitaph) – atmospheric

Corpus Diavolis – Apocatastase (Ladlo) – black metal

Daxma – Unmarked Boxes (Blues Funeral Recordings) – post-metal

Devil’s Looking Glass – Treacherous Autumnal Wisdom (Moonlight Cypress Archetypes) – dark folk

Dream Unending – Tide Turns Eternal (20 Buck Spin) – doom

Earth Crisis / Snapcase / Strife – The Return of the California Takeover (WAR) – metalcore

Eeli Helin – Vestibule (Trepanation Recordings) – harshwave

Eldritch – EOS (Scarlet) – metal

E-Force – Mindbender (Mighty Music) – tech thrash

Enablers – Output Negative Space, Reissue (Neurot) – post-rock / noise

Exodus – Persona Non Grata (Nuclear Blast) – metal

Eye Flys – Existent Circumstance, EP (Closed Casket Activities) – noise / metal / punk

Fere – Visceral (Raging Planet Records) – instrumental metal

Fetters – We Deserve To Die (Pacific Threnodies) – industrial / darkwave

Firewölfe – Conquer All Fear (Limb Music) – metal

G.B.G. – What The Hell Is Going On? (Wormholedeath) – hard rock

Galaxy – On The Shore of Life (Dying Victims Productions) – heavy metal

Godless – States of Chaos (Independent) – death metal

Gonemage – Sudden Deluge (Xenoglossy / Big Money Cybergrind / Red Truth) – post-black metal / chiptune

Kowa Axis – Ones and Threes (Trepanation Recordings) – avantgarde

Massive Charge – For Those We Hate (Music-Records) – grindcore

Mentor – Wolves, Wraiths, and Witches (Pagan) – hardcore / metal

Mercyless – Coloured Funeral, Vinyl Edition (Xenocorp) – death metal

Merlock – You Cannot Be Saved, EP (Independent) – stoner doom

Nervochaos – Dug Up – Diabolical Reincarnations (Xenocorp) – death metal

Nightland – The Great Nothing (Scarlet) – metal

Nightshade – Sounds of Dark Matter (My Kingdom Music) – black / industrial

Nocturnal Wanderer – Gift of the Night (Nameless Grave) – black metal

Nyt Lyv – Den Døde Sol (Indisciplinarian) – hardcore

Perveration – Perversion In Manifest Disease (Comatose Music) – death metal

Qilin – Petrichor (WormHoleDeath) – metal

Saar – Gods (Source Atone Records / Klonosphere Records) – post-metal

Sacred Oath – Return Of The Dragon (Wormholedeath Records) – power thrash

Shake the Temple – S/T (Sliptrick) – metal

Snake Mountain Revival – Everything In Sight (Rebel Waves) – psych

Solar Cross – Echoes of the Eternal World (Transcending Records) – progressive death metal 

Stillbirth – Strain of Gods, EP (Unique Leader) – death metal

Sun Below – S/T (Independent) – stoner

Swallow the Sun – Moonflowers (Century Media) – doom

The Lurking Fear – Death, Madness, Horror, Decay (Century Media) – death metal

Theatres Des Vampires – In Nomine Sanguinis (Scarlet Records) – gothic metal

Thy Worshiper – Bajki o Staruchu (Pagan Records) – black metal [premiere]

Tower – Shock to the System (Cruz Del Sur Music) – heavy metal

Tyrannic – Mortuus Decadence (Iron Bonehead) – blackened doom

Unctoris – Shout Demise (Iron Bonehead) – black/death

Under The Influence – Dark Side of the Brain (Riot) – punk / hardcore

Various Artists – Killer…50 Years Later (Pale Wizard) – rock 

Vaulted – Left In Despair (Independent) – metalcore

Volumes – Happier? (Fearless) – metalW. E. B. – Colosseum (Metal Blade) – symphonic extreme metal

– Josh