Author: ninecirclesadmin

The Nine Circles Audio Thing: Best of 2021!

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Best of 2021

List season. It’s like Christmas every day of December and some of January where we get to regale the best metal that 2021 had to offer. It’s a time to catch up and find things you slept on or had no idea came out but also a time to raise hell over picks and placements, ahhh good times. Buke wrangled Ian, Vince, Hera, and Angela to discuss their individual top three of 2021, picks of albums that were not in their top three but close, favorite song of the year, and biggest disappointments of the year. Spoiler alert: Rivers of Nihil’s The Work was unanimously discussed here. They also cover the post Christmas spirit, coffee and coffee kettles, covid and awaiting tests, Yules in lieu of trad Christmas because Halloween is better, rainbow Christmas trees, our All In Nine Circles Best of 2021 list, how Buke has yet to grasp Jane Doe, and so much more. 

So grab a seat and at least one (or six) adult beverage(s), ’cause this is a long one. Enjoy!

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All In: Nine Circles ov 2021 — The Staff’s Combined List

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Best of 2021

Greetings everyone, and welcome to Best of 2021 season! News to no one, this year was a flaming bag of feces everywhere else except for the land of metal. We definitely had a pop off valve for releasing all the pent up frustrations in the form of every single kind of metal available and from all across the globe. Bands were bigger, madder, and grander than ever before and made believers out of all of us in one way or another. We’ve already kicked off some Honorable Mentions lists, but before we roll into our individual MAIN lists, we’re kicking the season off with our combined staff list. First a reminder of how this all works…

But, first; this is typically a Tuesday post for the one of you paying attention. However, it’s EOY season so who cares. NOW, like last year and previous years, each member of the Nine Circles staff (well, most of them), chose their nine favorite albums (inclusive of EPs), listed in order, and up to nine honorable mentions. Obviously, branding counts. A scoring system was applied to the rankings. For example, one person’s first place album received 10 points, the second received 9, so on and so forth… and all honorable mentions received 1 point. Then, combining the scores between everyone’s lists, we have ourselves a Nine Circles ov 2021, brought to you by, well, everyone.

We’re keeping the thing we did in previous years, which is: crowning a label of the year, using the same scoring process as above. Clearly the highest honor in the industry. Who claimed this title for 2021? You’ll have to wait until the very end.

Anyway, that’s all simple enough, right? Right. Enough reading, let’s get into it…

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The Nine Circles Audio Thing: First Fragment was October 2021’s Album of the Month!

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  • First Fragment - Gloire Eternelle

One Zero Zero, baby! Episode 100 of The Nine Circles Audio Thing is here, and after a September break the AOTM is back and covering the sophomore album from Quebec’s First Fragment, “Gloire Éternelle.” Buke rallies the troops including Hera, Ian, Angela, Vincent, and a freshly returned from the wastelands Anton (who had the pick this month) as they discuss tech death’s short shrift in the metal conversation, the joys of fretless bass, and a whole lot more concerning one of the best the genre has to offer.

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Profile: Stoner Doom Troop Crypt Monarch

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Crypt Monarch

Costa Rica’s Crypt Monarch self proclaims their style of metal as “necromantik stoner doom” and since they conjure both Electric Wizard and Sleep on their debut The Necronaut, we’d say they’re right on target. With three tracks in thirty six minutes, there’s plenty of stretched out fuzzy jams that mimic a seance but the band keeps things interesting with tempo shifts and wild riffs at unexpected times. We recently posed our set of Profile questions to the band to gain some insight, so read on below to see how it went down and grab your own copy from the links contained within. 

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Video Premiere: Thy Worshiper — “Baba Jaga”

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Happy Monday, everyone. Kicking the new week off a bit differently this time, we’re thrilled to premiere the new video from Thy Worshiper. Originating in Poland, now Dublin-based pagan black metal act Thy Worshiper are releasing their fifth studio album, Bajki o Staruchu, on November 17th through Pagan Records. “Baba Jaga,“ the video of which is available below, is the first offering from the upcoming new album.

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