Nine Circles

I think this is the last time I’m doing this.

Not making end of year lists – the act of putting down words to codify the reasons why you love something is a vital part of what keeps me sane, and I can’t see myself stopping that, regardless of whether I’m writing for this site or not (and I have no plans to leave the site). What I’m talking about is the silly distinction of splitting the albums I love into a formal “end of year” list and this, my Honorable Mentions list. I tried to get to the crux of the thing in last year’s intro, where I talked about how every album we bring up is an honorable mention, and as we grow and evolve the concept of where something sits on a list of music that moved us in a given year becomes less and less meaningful. 

I feel that now more than ever. In the last few weeks I’ve been discovering albums that are blowing my mind, and they’re nowhere on this list. Some of the entries on this list have more listens than the ones on my “ranked” list. It all blurs, blends together in an amalgam that is specific to my own journey, reflective of my depression, rage and anxiety as much as my joy and serenity. 

So yeah: this may be the last time I differentiate between honorable mentions and favorite albums. At the end of the day they all sit in my ears, mind, and heart the same way, and isn’t that what matters?

With that being said, let’s do this…one more time.

—

The Outer Circle

Honorable Mentions

It feels like we’re nearing the end of the metal community’s preoccupation with blackgaze acts. That hasn’t stopped me from following the dreamy excursions of Spain’s Arrebol, who finally released their debut full length Simplicity Of The Moment six years after their EP and demo. The thematic conceits may be typical of this kind of music: musings on the insignificance of life in the grand scheme of a dark cosmos, that sort of thing. But the music rides on the jangly 90s indie movement (check the opening to “The Star Wanders Towards Doom”) before crashing into the maelstrom of black metal and reverb drenched tremolo lines. The slightly washed out production only adds to the allure sole member and producer Asz has constructed. I’ve been extolling the virtues of Arrebol since listing their demo in my Best of 2016 post; it’s time for the rest of the world to stand up and take notice.

—

This was the year I found my way back to death metal. Not that it was hard with so many crushing albums (you’ll see quite a few of them on this and the next list). But nothing sounds quite like the insanity found on The Age Of The Offended, the sixth album from Norwegian vets Cadaver. Was I predisposed to the band due to the participation of TNT’s Ronni Le Tekrø? Or the presence of double bass? I don’t know, but I can tell you the lurching swagger of “The Shrink” feels like Voivod meets Obituary, and vocalist/guitarist Anders Odden doesn’t sound like anyone else in extreme metal. 13 songs in 42 minutes means nothing overstays its welcome, but everything from the blistering attack of “Postapocalyptic Grinding” to the ominous lines of closer “Freezing Isolation” is more than welcome to continue pummeling my ears until their next outing.

—

Dark Parade was the album that got me to write a review after 8 months of nothing but playlist posts, so is it any surprise Cirith Ungol are on this list? Building on the momentum from 2020’s Forever Black, Dark Parade not only makes good on the band’s 30 year comeback, but improves upon it in every way. ”Relentless” is a smoking reminder of the kind of riffing and manic solos the band have alway brought to bear in their spin on dark traditional metal, and the mammoth eight minute “Sailor on the Seas of Fate” is not only an album but band highlight as well. Tim Baker sounds like he just stepped out of 1984 pissed off and with some emotional baggage to unload, and guitarist Greg Lindstrom matches him in fury. If you felt a dearth of neo-trad metal bands out there, it’s because giants once again walk the earth, and they are raining molten metal on all in their path.

—

I missed Cruciamentum the first time around, probably due to the talk about “cavernous death metal” and comparisons to bands like Teitanblood and early Vastum…stuff I really don’t get into. But listening to Obsidian Refractions, the band’s sophomore full length and first in eight years the thing that came to my mind was mid period Morbid Angel sprinkled with some vicious death doom à la Demigod. The music may still adhere to that “cavernous” label, but the production certainly doesn’t: it’s dark and dank, but you can discern all the swirling madness in tracks like “Abhorrence Evangelism” and “Interminable Rebirth of Abomination”, buoyed by some tremendous drumming courtesy of Matt Heffner. Another late release that had a lot of the 9C staff choking as soon as they heard it, and it’s hardly left my stereo since grabbing the CD. Because physical media, y’all…

—

I can’t put my finger on what it is about Chicago’s Harms Way that connects so much with me. I’m not the biggest hardcore guy in the world, but since 2018’s Posthuman hit my ears I’ve been enslaved to the singular throat punch the band brings to the genre. Common Suffering feels a little like a streamlining of everything I loved about Posthuman: the space and breath are still there in moments like the end of “Denial” and mid-album highlight “Undertow” which features King Woman on vocals while the industrial components swallowed in the maw of nu and groove metal permeate every second of tracks like opener “Silent Wolf” and late album punisher “Terrorizer”. Bonus points of the fact the album cover feels like a twisted inverse of Darkthrone’s Sardonic Wrath.

—

I’ve never been a huge fan of death metal legends Incantation, despite me actually contributing to an article about them on this site years ago. Yeah, I’m that gut who doesn’t care for and doesn’t listen to Onward to Golgotha, sorry. But something happened last year. I heard the band were putting out some kind of compilation/celebration and I impulsively grabbed a copy of Tricennial of Blasphemy and - whaddaya know – I loved it. I went back and checked out 2020’s Sect of Vile Divinities and 2017’s Profane Nexus and kinda loved those, too. But none of that prepared me for how damn good Unholy Deification is. The production is a little less shiny, all the better to complement the towering riffs John McEntee lets loose on album #13. ”Concordant (The Pact) I” has everything I love about death metal in just under five minutes of music, and it’s only my second favorite track on the album (the fave probably goes to “Homunculus (Spirit Made Flesh) IX”). The more I listen to it the more it towers over its peers. Sometimes you gotta just give it up for the legends.

—

It may be nine years since Neill Jameson and company last unleashed a Krieg full length upon the world, but Ruiner is here to assure you that the band is still a legend in the USBM work, and all those recent incredible splits were leading to something special. Ruiner might be the most accomplished, full bodied work Krieg has put out. The post-punk and swagger of 2014’s Transient is readily apparent as are the more second wave influences that made classics like The Isolationist and The Black House touchstones of the times. Jameson’s vocals are curdling throughout, though “Red Rooms” is a definite highlight for how versatile his delivery is. It’s hard to pick a true favorite on the album, though I’m taken with the gloom of “No Gardens Grow Here” and the pulsing, alternating attack of opener “Bulwark”. Our own Ian reviewed the album here, and if you’re at all a fan of classic black metal you need this in your ears ASAP.

—

Laster may have pared away some of the more extravagant instrumentation on latest album Andermans Mijne, but that leaves plenty of open space for their unique songwriting and arrangements to shine through. ”Poëtische Waarheid” sounds like it could have come straight from Mr. Bungle circa Disco Volante, and the Dutch trio make sure to emphasize the stylistics shifts with plenty of Kraftwerk-inspired keyboards and motorik drum rhythms that could have been lifted off the debut Neu! record. All the while keeping things loosely tethered to black metal. There’s a more subdued tone permeating Andermans Mijne than the band’s previous work, and with the majority of harsh vocals gone you’re in for a thick, syrupy ride. Vincent grabbed the keys to pen the review for the album here; go ahead and read it while I take “Vorm Alley” (currently my favorite track) for another spin.

—

“I am the Beast” indeed…Brenden Small is back with another slice of brilliantly executed death metal via Metalocalypse/Dethklok. And while I wasn’t a fan of the closing movie (they could have just ended with Doomstar Requiem and it would have been fine), I am a MASSIVE fan of the music they compiled as Dethalbum IV. Somehow over the course of 16 years Small (along with Atomic Clock Gene Hoglan) refined the music into something massive and capable of sitting next to the legends they emulated, even as they morphed into a sound all their own. I defy you to say songs like “Aortic Dissection” and the killer closer “Murmaider III” can’t sit right alongside some of the classic death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse are putting out right now. Vocally Small continues to channel Corpsegrinder, but his Nathan Explosion has blossomed into one of my favorite voices in metal, capable of supreme clarity even as it gets more and more brutal. And those riffs? They go on for days…not too shabby for what started as a tongue in cheek love letter to our favorite genre, huh?

—

Has any OG thrash band carried the torch as purely as Overkill has? Scorched is the band’s 20th album, and Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth has barely lost a touch in his singular vocal attack. D.D. Verni’s bass is still one of the most identifiable sounds in heavy metal, and the twin guitar attack of Dave Linsk and Derek Tailer have been in place for over a decade, giving the band some well deserved stability, allowing them to craft some real scorchers (sorry not sorry) on the opening title track, “Twist of the Wick” and the punchy vintage closer “Bag O’ Bones”. In between you have everything that’s made the band such a vital part of the thrash movement since the early 80s, including more brooding, dark fare like “Fever” and the great bass lead in to the massive “The Surgeon”. Does nostalgia play a huge part in my love for this record? Absolutely. Does that matter when Overkill sound as vital and precise as they did on classics like The Years of Decay and Horrorscope? I’ll let you be the judge. In the meantime I’m taking this for another spin.

—

It’s not shocking I had to go to Chile for some incredible traditional metal (seriously, South America is killing it with incredible metal). It IS kinda shocking I found Shadows on Sentient Ruin, though. But kudos to the label for championing one of the best traditional metal albums in forever. Out For Blood shows its bonafides immediately with “Nightstalker” and some great melodic soloing, not to mention riffs and vocals that I would think has folks like Tobias Forge worried someone is coming for Ghost’s crown. When the band wants to get a little nasty the riffs on “The Ripper” show they can pull that type of attack out in their sleep. If I had to draw a comparison it’d be to early Satan with more gain and evil in their tone. Or Ghost’s first album with all the darkness intact and coiled like a serpent waiting to strike. A couple of segues aside, there’s not a wasted moment on Out For Blood, and if you’re craving some fantastic hooks in your song without sacrifices to the Lords of AOR, I invite you to taste the intro to “Maniac” and see why Forge and his producers are right to be worried. 

—

Did I mention traditional metal had a very good year? From Shadows to Smoulder, the Finnish band trades in progressive, doom, and NWOBHM to craft some of the most exciting music I’ve heard this year. Violent Creed of Vengeance is a huge step up from previous album Dream Quest Ends, and that was an album I really enjoyed. I think this is because while earlier albums really showcased the vocal prowess of Sarah Ann, the songs on Violent Creed of Vengeance really brings the musicianship of the rest of the band up front with her. It also helps that go-to guy for all things metal Arthur Rizk is still handling the mixes, so tracks like “The Talisman and the Blade” and late album highlights “Spellforger” and “Dragonslayer’s Doom” feel like everyone is the focus, working to create masterful tunes as opposed to highlighting only certain aspects. Throw in some incredible art from Michael Whelan and you have easily one of the best albums of the year. Like I said earlier, it doesn’t matter where these albums sit on a given list, each of them are special and some the best music put out in any genre. At this rate Smoulder is going to conquer everyone by the time of their next full length.

—

How do you follow up an album so good it made the #4 spot on my 2020 end of year list? You polish the shit out of everything, making the metallic hardcore bit razor sharp, and the shoegaze/dream pop elements even more catchy. Svalbard continue to be a band you can’t ignore on The Weight of the Mask; over the course of the last two months the album refused to let me move onto other bands and records. The versatility of Serena Cherry’s vocals are majestic to hear: check out the way she effortlessly shifts on “Eternal Spirits”, trading off with the more hardcore screeching of Liam Phelan. ”Defiance” continues pushing the gorgeous dream pop element in a terrific chorus, even as drummer Mark Lilley puts his stamp everywhere, showing just how essential having a killer drummer is to your overall sound. I promised I wasn’t going to second-guess any of my picks on this list, but Svalbard is making me do just that. It gets better with every single listen.

—

Maybe the most controversial entry on this list? Everyone and their brother is touting the magnificence of The Enduring Spirit, the latest from Tomb Mold. And most of it is justified; this is by leaps and bounds their best album, full of musical gymnastics and a heavy progressive slant that is finally getting the attention in the mix it was lacking on previous albums. Albums that – truth be told – I never really cared for. I think some of this is also the fact that 20 Buck Spin basically vomited out nothing but similar vibing death metal this year and it got a bit much for my tastes. But then I hear the bass solo in “Angelic Fabrications” (thank god it’s not fretless; I’m done with that bandwagon) and the almost Death riffing that opens “Fate’s Tangled Thread” and yeah – I get it. This is a killer record, and deserving of the accolades. It’s just that this year my tastes ran in a slightly different direction…even with 20 Buck Spin, as you’ll see in a future post. But all hail Tomb Mold – may they continue this course and get even further out there. It’s a damn fine direction.

—

The dark, cinematic instrumental post metal crafted by Benjamin and Guillaume Colin, better known as WuW, hit an apex with their latest offering L’orchaostre. Crushing riffs modeled after bands like ISIS crash into synths and haunting melodies to produce the soundtrack for midnight, for impending doom and bleak end times. It also can seriously rock, as “Orchasotre 2” amply demonstrates. The deepness of the bass is almost overwhelming on “Orchaostre 3”, threatening to drown you in an aural blackness. Guitar melodies provide the faintest glimmer of light throughout, and it’s an album that helped centered in by recognizing my own turmoils and offering a path through the drama to a more tangible anchor I could cling to. In this case Wuw’s music truly is an escape, one I’ve come back to again and again this year.

—

As I write this, dawn is just creeping through the black on Christmas morning. If I can offer anything this season, it’s that this music can find you and connect, and maybe trace a path alongside you.

If only for a moment.

-Chris