The 451st edition of the Nine Circles Playlist welcomes the dog days of August because it’s the perfect time to settle in with this surprise drop from Ænigmatum – that is, when I’m not listening to the latest from Hulder. This is the album where the music finally supersedes the hype; you all are in for a treat when it finally drops.

The rest of the 9C crew are intent on burning through the month in typical blasphemous fashion, whether by dowsing us with the red first rays of Neurosis, or freezing us in the black metal chill of Borknagar. Want some Scandinavian chill without the corpse paint? I think I see Monolord over by the water cooler. Don’t worry about the enveloping blackness near the photocopier: I’m pretty sure that’s just the gloom crew, nodding along silently to Black Bile as they invoke the ritual prayer for double-sided copies.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

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– Chris