In July, Asheville, NC-based musician Robert Sanford dropped the debut album from his solo black metal project, Lammoth. The album, Tales of Treachery, drew its conceptual inspiration from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and caught our ears by successfully melding novel elements — break beats, major chord work, etc. — with a more conventional black metal sound. In our review, Dan said he’d “struggled to stop thinking about [the album] ever since.” [‘Oh hey! It’s five months later, and I’m still thinking about it!’ he said, ahead of this post’s publication.]
With year-end season underway, Sanford was kind enough to put together a special, combined metal and non-metal “Best of 2024” list for us here at Nine Circles — our first guest list in… god, it’s been a while. [Editor’s Note: three years since we had a guest list at all, but almost seven since we did them with any regularity. Jeez. Get with it, blog.] In any case, we’re honored to present Rob’s Best of 2024 list to you now. So hit that jump and check it out!
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Cantique Lepreux — Le bannissement
“I thought this album had really unique and interesting chord progressions, and I’m always a big fan of their production and vocal style.”
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Ilúvatia — Amaranthine Hollow
“I believe this is the same person behind Unreqvited. [Editor’s Note: it is.] Really beautiful, comfy/fantasy synth. Has a lot of things that give me loads of nostalgia for some of the video game OSTs I grew up with.”
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Porter Robinson — Smile! 😀
“I was a massive fan of 2021’s Nurture, so I had really high expectations for this album, and it exceeded them in every way. Maintaining the same melancholy-nostalgic undertones, but presented in a very fun, fresh, and self-aware package. Plus the sound design is just beautiful.”
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Sewerslvt — Cynthoni, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2
“The return of one of my favorite modern DnB / jungle / breakcore artists. If you listen to Sewerslvt, you will understand where the breakbeat influence came from on my EP. Something about the atmospheric pads really draws a connection in my brain to early symphonic black metal, and that’s something I really am inspired by.”
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Saidan — Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity
“Saidan [are] masters at writing anthemic and catchy hooks. Black metal songs that almost listen more like pop tunes, but still maintain the aggression we all crave from metal.”
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Seth – La France des Maudits
“Modern symphonic black metal that is equally beautiful as it is evil.”
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Pasocom Music Club — Love Flutter
“My weeb is showing on this one. I don’t even know what genre you would call this duo, but they have some of the coolest Windows 95 vibe-y production that really does it for me”
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Parannoul — Sky Hundred
“Big fan of this Korean shoegaze artist, and they really upped the level of noise and blown-out, distorted production on this album. Pure ear candy.”
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Minecraft — Pixel Genesis
“I am a huge sucker for anything chiptune, and I think Minecraft soundtracks have some of the most beautiful minimalist compositions. Hearing those two ideas merged together was a perfect match for me.”
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Honorable Mentions:
- Wormwitch — Wormwitch
- Lust Hag — Lust Hag
- “All of the Trha and Sadness releases this year. Always a fan of Damián’s work.”
In the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene on the Asheville community this past September, Rob also recommended the following local relief organizations for anyone looking to do some good this holiday:
- BeLoved Asheville — Home, Health, Equity and Opportunity for all across Asheville
- Farmshire Animal Sanctuary — Rescues abused and abandoned farm animals and works to improve the system that made their rescue necessary in the first place
Please consider donating to one or both if you have the means to do so.
Tales of Treachery is available now. For more information on Lammoth, visit the band’s Linktree page.
Many thanks to Rob for his time.
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