Too many albums, too few reviewers…that’s the problem with all the metal blogs, not just this one. What do you do? How do you get a sense of what’s out there if you’re only listening to a fraction of what’s getting released? How do you open yourself up to new music? I’ll tell you how: you jump into all the unpicked promos each month and devote a sentence or two giving a sense of what you gleaned from it.

That’s right: we’re back for another round of “The Month That Was…” so enough preambling…let’s dive into this edition of Nine Circles ov… and see what’s been percolating in June 2024.

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I can’t relinquish my nerdy prog tendencies without talking about The Century of the Self, the latest from Airbag. Thick, luscious Pink Floyd vibes meets Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree in one of the most immaculate productions this year. The Norwegian group have been part of the massive prog movement there for years, and the band’s sixth studio may be their best yet, leading off with the meditative, 10-minute “Dysphoria” before moving on to the more anthemic “Tyrants and Kings” and beyond. Those Gilmour chords will seep into your soul, making everything all right.

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UK’s Fellwarden is the solo offshoot of Fen’s The Watcher, giving him space to exult in more epic, ambitious black metal that hews closer to classic styles than his more forward-leaning main gig. Legend: Forged in Defiance is Fellwarden’s third full length, a conceptual piece based off the incredible (seriously: read it if you haven’t) Legend by the late David Gemmell. The result is some truly stunning music, bringing you back to those days of drums dripping with reverb, rising choirs, and furious swirling guitars backed by some ferocious vocals. If you’re not convinced by the end of “Exultance” there’s no hope for you – go back to your phone and doom scroll some TikTok.

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Look, if I had known the new album from Inconcessus Lux Lucis would be this good, I would have reviewed it in full for the site. Mea culpa. Temples Colliding in Fire takes the band’s sound and injects some serious rock elements without sounding remotely like black & roll. There are killer solos, filthy riffs, and a sonic clarity that lets every note on “I Am The Crooked Blade” slice into your face as you thrash about. There is nothing about this album I do not love or support less than 100%, and you’ll definitely be hearing about it again come end of year.

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More black metal…it’s been a really good year so far for the genre. Kvaen was a new discovery for me – all the blame on me though since The Formless Fires is the band’s third album and Ian reviewed sophomore effort The Funeral Pyre back in 2020. This is slick, modern melodic black metal with aspects of speed and and pagan/viking metal, though the emphasis is clearly on the more blackened aspects – no dirge-paced late Bathory epics here. I love the guitar lines that run through “Traverse the Nether” and the furious speed that infects “Basilisk”. A tight eight songs in under 40 minutes assures this thing will get in, snap your neck and leave through the bathroom window before your body hits the floor, where it will burn with the fires of elder gods.

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All hail Sweden’s Portrait, continuing to wave the NWOTHM flag on their latest full length The Host. While bands like Midnight and my beloved Toxic Holocaust keep their brand of heavy metal full of grit and dirt, Portrait take the cleaner, intricate vibes of classic (and new, I guess) Satan and ramps up the speed. which means plenty of solos and intricate guitar lines, all accompanied by the superb, King Diamond-ish vocals of Per Lengstedt. This isn’t quite Mercyful Fate worship – you can go to Attic for that – but tracks like “The Blood Convenant” and “One Last Kiss” reach deep into those classic sounds if you’re like me and live or die by the metal of yesteryear.

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So you say you want to get heavy? Sumac is here to bring you the heavy. Aaron Turner and company have come a long way in their decade of existence, and The Healer is as heavy as anything they’ve put out. Churning, bowel crushing low end rumblings combine drone, doom, and sludge into a mix so point you can use it as a foundation for your death room. If you’re into that sort of thing. Conversely, you can also use it to sink into the oblivion of strings and feedback and revel in the massive, 26-minute opening track “World of Light” and catch the joke – the only “light” this thing is getting is not from the sun, but from the Sunn O)))…

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Ah, the many facets of progressive metal…Sunburst comes out of Greece and Manifesto is the band’s second full length, coming eight years on from debut Fragments of Creation. Folks itching for the riff-heavy attack of bands like Symphony X and Taken before their turn to beautiful insanity will find a lot to like here, especially the great vocal delivery of Vasilis Georgiou. I’m over bands labeled “progressive” who simply have 101 djenty syncopations, and fortunately Sunburst come with a lot more out of the gate – the curves on opening track “The Flood” show the band’s knack for crafting a hook without devolving into maudlin pop, and the drums sound fantastic, large and expansive to work with all the intricate lines being constructed. Keyboards are present but restrained, helping to reinforce the attack on songs like mid-album highlight “Perpetual Descent”. This is a great example of what I look for in progressive metal, no other prefixes required.

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Did you think you were going to escape without at least one power metal band in this list? Sorry, but allow me a minute to extol the virtues of Thornbridge, the German power metal band whose album Theatrical Masterpiece I highlighted in my round of the best power metal of 2019. I suspect the same will happen this year with Daydream Illusion, which continues the trend of melodic, European power in the vein of Helloween and early Blind Guardian. You still get those major key choruses on tracks like “Kingdom of Starlight” but the heavy is there in abundance, particularly on the verses. Stop denying the genre, people. This album brings the goods.

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Anything that is adjacent to Converge will immediately have my attention. Still, there’s something urgent and vital in Light of Death, the second album from Jacob Bannon’s death-inspired outfit Umbra Vitae that was missing for me on their debut Shadow of Life. The album feels more cohesive, a collective vision of all participants including Sean Martin and Mike Mckenzie on guitars, Greg Weeks on bass, and Jon Rice on drums. At times just as fast and hardcore focused as Bannon’s other outfit, there are strange, alluring moments throughout, like the ending of opening track “Leave of Absence” and the Slayer-ish attack on “Belief is Obsolete” which is an early standout. 15 songs in 45 minutes, with the killer title track closing things makes for a hugely satisfying listen, and a great way to keep the fury rolling until the next Converge release.

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That’s it. Halfway to 2025, people. So much good music: as of today’s writing I’ve listened to just over 160 albums and have a strong 30 that could be EOY contenders. The surprises and discoveries continue to pile up, so let me know what we missed and what we should be on the lookout for and we’ll see you in July.

Until next month, keep it heavy…keep it safe.

— Chris