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 (or three, or four, or ten) giving a sense of what you gleaned from it.

But things are different this month! With Chris on a well-deserved vacation, a contingent of your Nine Circles heroes stepped up to assemble a combined collection of July releases that otherwise weren’t (or were minimally) covered by the site. So on that note, we’re back for another round of “The Month That Was…” so enough cowering… let’s dive into this edition of Nine Circles ov… and see what’s been percolating in July 2024.

—

I’m leading this post off for a couple of reasons. I am the one assembling this post, for one, even though I basically stole Chris’ intro word for word. But the real reason is that I am all in on the latest from Mountaineer and I wanted to start this thing off on a high note. Dawn and All That Follows is the fifth album from the Bay-area post-rock/metal outfit, and happens to serve as my entry point to the project. What an entry point it is. It hits that perfect intersection of heavy and ethereal, continuously rising and falling within each track, and across the album overall. The density of the percussion and those impressively dynamic riffs steer us along, but it’s the weightlessness of the vocals and leads that make this ride feel so effortless. The pace and energy changes at just the right moments, right when comfort starts to settle in, especially in the tracks that make up middle stages of the album. The title track especially comes to mind, which features some of the lightest moments on the entire album in the beginning only to suddenly erupt in a series of punishing rhythms and much-appreciated bellowing harsh vocals. These moments make it very clear that as enchanting as Dawn and All That Follows is, it is also an incredibly complex album in both sound and emotion. Honestly, this thing is brilliant. I’ll be talking about Mountaineer more in the months to come. Count on it.
– cmb

—

…And then we have Kommandant. Why Kommandant, you ask? Well, frankly, I both ask the same question and appreciate the opportunity to share an answer. The Chicago-based black/death metal project was a Maryland Deathfest discovery many, many years ago. So long ago it was a performance at the Edison Lot, if I remember correctly. I don’t remember much about their sound, but I remember it being visually a bit over the top, something I was totally on board with. And then… I kinda never thought about them again! Until… now. Truthfully, Exhibition of Conquest doesn’t do a ton for me, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable. This EP clocks in a few minutes shy of half an hour, and this turns out to be a pretty legit run time for this form of gritty black and death metal. It’s raw, unpolished, and over-the-top in all of the ways we would hope for. I think it could benefit from a little more density in the production (I do like my low ends, as we all know), just to allow the overall sound to be a bit more encompassing. It listens like a ritualistic speech at times, but the environment doesn’t quite align with that consistently. Regardless, it’s a modest investment in time, and one that is certainly worth it. And for me, it was also a nice trip down memory lane. Can’t go wrong!
– cmb

—

By now, you all probably know how important commitment to the bit is for me when it comes to power metal. And boy, oh boy, are Visions of Atlantis committed to the bit. The Austrians have been churning out nautical themed power metal fantasies for nearly 25 years. And on Pirates II — the sequel to 2022’s Pirates and 2023’s A Pirate’s Symphony, which… yes, exists — they once again expertly thread the needle between melodic and symphonic elements to create another highly engaging and fun listen. In
particular, the four-track stretch from “Monsters” through “The Dead of the Sea” feels like one of the stronger runs I’ve heard on any power metal album this year, with strong performances from vocalist Clémentine Delauney throughout. RIYL: a healthy serving of cheese alongside your sessions playing Skull and Bones. (People do play that, right?)
– Dan

—

I often struggle to find the right words to describe Vanhelgd to people. “Doomy death metal” doesn’t really do them justice, while “all that is evil” is the tiredest of clichés. Of late, I’ve been using “music for the opening bit of Dark Souls” as a descriptor. It’s the stuff you wanna hear when you find yourself alone in the dark, damp confines of the Undead Asylum, at a loss for what comes next. One part Swedeath riffage, plus two parts doom and emptiness. That’s kinda Vanhelgd’s sweet spot, and for the most part, they’ve done it quite well over the years. But there are better entry points than Atropos Doctrina. Six years removed from their last full-length, the Swedes have lost a bit of their resonance; their grip on the darkness doesn’t feel quite as compelling. Nothing here is outright bad, but compared to earlier works like Relics of Sulphur Salvation or Temple of Phobos, it can’t help but feel like a step backward.
– Dan

—

Mr. Big’s always been a soft spot for me. As an aspiring teenage musician, I worshipped at the altars of virtuoso dudes like Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan. And I loved that they were able to channel their stellar musicianship into catchy, pop metal tunes that just. fucking. worked. (“Addicted to that Rush,” anyone? “Green-Tinted Sixties Mind”?) Which is why it’s particularly disappointing that Ten goes 0 for 2 in this regard. Gilbert gets plenty of chances to shine, but Sheehan feels more or less self-neutered throughout the record, and all in service of generic, “dad rock, yeah!” songs that mostly go nowhere. The songs that occasionally do pique your interest — “Right Outta Here,” “As Good As It Gets” — are only really able to do so in parts, thanks to an interesting lick or pattern here and there. Ten might be the one that wants to be with you, but in the end, you’d probably be better off with the band’s back catalogue.
– Dan

—

These melodies sound a fair bit like Obsequiae, don’t you think? Well as it turns out that’s not just a coincidence. Autumnfall is a project from Jussi Hänninen, formerly of Fall of the Leafe (cited by Tanner Anderson as one of Obsequiae’s primary melodic influences). The Archaic Shadows is the third full-length from the band, consisting almost entirely of songs written between 1998-2000 (before Fall of the Leafe went down a gothic metal route). Like the aforementioned “castle metal” kings you could probably classify this music in any number of ways — while most rooted in melodic black metal, it’s a far cry from the ’90s Swedish scene or contemporary acts such as Stormkeep and Moonlight Sorcery. Bright (but not overpowering) keyboards, folk-ish melodies, and plenty of soaring leads characterize the music, but the finest aspect of The Archaic Shadows is the songwriting. As demonstrated right off the bat with “Fires of Demise”, riffs flow and transform with tremendous ease, with little repetition to be found in individual songs. Even on a shorter, more straightforward track such as “Rain of Ash” there’s such a fantastic command of melody; many of these leads are so catchy that I just want to play the album all over again after each listen. The fact that most of this music was written about 25 years ago but still holds up to modern standards is a testament to the timelessness of Hänninen’s songwriting and melodic chops that we still see carried on in newer acts today. For fans of melodic metal new and old, there’s a treasure trove of great music to be found here.
– Colin

—

Another year, another Krallice album. Inorganic Rites continues the more atmospheric synth-heavy, lineup-switch run of albums that Krallice have been on since 2022’s fantastic Crystalline Exhaustion — it’s also the final album to be produced at Colin Marston’s legendary Menegroth, The Thousand Caves studio, which has been forced to close due to a building sale (probably to make way for some lovely high-rise apartments). Just take a look at the benefit shirt to help Marston’s moving expenses for a reminder of all the incredible bands that have been part of the studio’s history. Yet what a swansong Inorganic Rites is! Colin Marston, Nick McMaster, and Mick Barr take turns on songwriting duties over the course of the album’s 66 minutes; while the shorter, more intense tracks are great on their own, the meat of the album is the trio of 10+ minute Marston epics. The clean guitar and synth led instrumental “Universe Ancestral Talisman” is one of the best songs Krallice have ever written, and just goes to show what these masters of progressive black metal are still capable of 14 albums in. If you haven’t been keeping up with the band’s recent material, there’s no better place to start.
– Colin

—

I’ll be perfectly honest, this was an album I originally skipped over because I wasn’t particularly impressed with the first single I heard. But after seeing Vimur put on a great show opening for the almighty Sacramentum earlier this month, I owed them a second listen. The Timeless Everpresent is the fourth full-length from this Atlanta act, and serves as a perfect reminder that if I’m to call myself a black metal fan I should give a more standard release a listen every once in a while — not everything is gonna be the next Scars of Yesteryears or Black Medium Current! Blistering blast beats, walls of chords, and tremendously venomous vocals characterize this slab of infernal black metal. Tracks like “The Cold Only We Know” imbibe a slight sense of melodic layering, and “The Embrace of Merciless Indifference” is a slower, more pensive track (that even dares to feature clean vocals), but otherwise this is a nonstop blackened assault on the senses. The Timeless Everpresent won’t be making my AOTY list, but nevertheless this is a solid album.
– Colin

—

Despite the several interests I have when it comes to metal music, I will always love atmospheric black metal with all my heart. Show Me A Dinosaur’s Plantgazer was previously released back in 2020 but just now received a re-release through AOP Records. Think of it as the much-needed balm for summer heat and long, sunny days. At times reflective and emotive, Plantgazer is, as the genre implies, atmospheric and filled with an emotional nuance that speaks volumes about someone’s inner world. After all, while you might be looking at plants, you might also be thinking about the world’s largest mysteries. An album for those who need space and a minute to breathe, Plantgazer showcases why atmospheric black metal continues to be an intensely popular genre.
– Hera

—

And there you have it! Nine randomly… handpicked(?) albums from July as chosen by myself and three of my esteemed colleagues! Speaking personally, I’m not involved in collaborative stuff like this all that often, but I do appreciate when the opportunity arises — no better way to show off our individual listen habits for the sake of seeing how much stylistic ground we can cover as a collective. And honestly, July felt like a slower month at times in terms of new releases, but looking back on it now there was plenty of stuff that snuck up on me and earned some repeated listens.

So yeah! This was fun. Let’s do it again sometime. As for right now…

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb