Nine Circles

Hey folks, Chris here. And man am I glad I’m covering for Fearless Editor Josh™ because the next couple weeks are going to be KILLER for metal fans in general and Initial Descent in particular. And it’s all kicking off with the long awaited seventh album from the New Zealand death merchants Ulcerate…the entire 9C office can’t stop raving about it. That not enough for ya? How about the return of the mighty, the modern heavy metal masters Crypt Sermon who might have just topped themselves with their third full length? Is that not enough? You say you want doom, with a little of that desert crunch to it? How freakin’ glad are you that Rezn have returned with another slab of molten riffs that will sweat the sin from your skin? All that heat is sure to wear you out, and for the return trip to reality there might be nothing better than some Floyd-inspired modern progressive rock with the new Airbag which I’ve been spinning for weeks when I need my mind to just drift away.

All that and more awaits you in this prelude to the official start of summer. Go blow the sonics and we’ll see you here with reviews, profiles and more throughout the week.

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Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God (Debemur Morti) – black/death

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Crypt Sermon – The Stygian Rose (Dark Descent) – heavy metal

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Rezn – Burden (Sargent House) – psych metal

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Airbag – Century of the Self (Karisma Records) – progressive rock

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Also on tap:

Al-Namrood – Al Aqrab (Shaytan Productions) – black metal

Alarm! – S/T (Armageddon) – punk

Alex Rudi Pell – Risen Symbol (Steamhammer/SPV) – metal

Ammify – Lost, Not Hiding (Wormholedeath Records) – cinemetal

Ancient Guard – Nightfall Enthroned (Iron Bonehead) – pagan black metal

Angel Sword – World Fighter (Dying Victims) – heavy metal

Antiflesh – Hosanna (Theogonia Records) – black metal

Apes – Penitence (Secret Swarm Records) – blackened grindcore

Birdstone – The Great Anticipation (La Cage) – heavy blues rock

Bloodcrusher – The Flesh Ripper Chronicles pt.1 (Independent) – death metal

Cadaverous Condition – Never Arrive, Never Return (The Circle Music) – death metal

Camerata Mediolanense – Atalanta Fugiens (Auerbach Tonträger) – darkwave

Darkend – Viaticum (Time to Kill) – metal

Desolat – Get Sick and Let Me Watch You Die (Reptilian Records) – noise rock

Dorian Sorriaux – Children of the Moon (The Sign) – rock

Dreamslain – Forge of Rebellion (Self) – rock

Echotide – As Our Floodlights Gave Way to Dawn (reissue) (Bird’s Robe Records) – post rock

Garlands – Turn the Sky (La Pochette Surprise Records) – dreamy psych

Grought – S/T (Iodine Recordings) – hardcore

Fellwarden – Legend (Eisenwald) – black metal

Fórn – The Departure of Consciousness (10th Anniversary reissue) (Persistent Vision) – funeral sludge

Fu Manchu – The Return of Tomorrow (At the Dojo Records) – desert rock

Golgotha – Spreading the Wings of Hope (Ardua Music) – death doom

Hybreed Chaos – Subliminal Abyssal Carnage (Independent) – heavy metal

Impact Approved – Way of the Warrior (Wormholedeath Records) – metal

Ira Tenax – Dark Awakening (MDD Records) – melodic death metal

Kerasfóra – Six Nights Beyond the Serpents Threshold (Iron Bonehead) – black metal

Legionary – Prison Realm (Independent) – melodic death thrash

Lucifer’s Hammer – Be and Exist (Dying Victims) – heavy metal

Malignancy – …Discontinued (Willowtip) – brutal death

Miasmic Serum – Infected Seed (Night Terrors) – death metal

Millennial Reign – World on Fire (Ulterium Records) – power metal

Mono – Oath (Pelagic Records) – shoegaze

Mythologik – Blood in the Sky (Independent) – heavy metal

NEF100 – Burn After Hearing Compilation (Nefarious Industries) – metal (various)

Nest – Fabled Lore/Hidden Stream (Avantgarde) – neofolk/ambient

Paradise in Flames – Blindness (Xaninho Discos and Demoncratic Records) – symphonic metal

Perchta – D’Muata (Prophecy Productions) – black metal

Pipe Dreamer – The Past is Just a Memory (Independent) – post metal

RivetSkull – Absence of Time (Independent) – heavy metal

Royal Rage – Evolve (Sliptrick Records) – thrash

Shamash – Done With Misery (Rottweiler Records) – melodic death metal

Sheena Dham – Familiarity Heuristic (Psychic Eye) – experimental pop

Sibiir – Undergoing (Fysisk Format Records) – black thrash

Solar Temple & Dead Neanderthals – Embers Beget the Divine Review (Consouling Sounds) – black metal

Stand Still – Steps Ascending (DAZE) – melodic hardcore

Sulo – Rough Diamond + Rare Gems And Rowdy Tracks (Wild Kingdom Records) – rock

Sun Descends Alone – Of Everlasting Cravings (L’Arte Produce) – gothic rock

Sunburst – Manifesto (Inner Wound Recordings) – progressive metal

Torturers’ Lobby – Deadened Nerves (Caligari Records, Ixiol Productions) – death thrash

Vendel – Out in the Fields (Dying Victims) – heavy metal

we broke the weather – Restart Game (Argonauts Records) – psych rock

Zu – The Lost Demo (Subsound Records) – avant-gard/jazzcore

— Chris