Second Circle

Second Circle: Bloody Hammers and Miserable

ChrisLeave a comment
  • Bloody Hammers - Songs of Unspeakable Terror

In Dante’s Inferno, the second circle begins the proper punishment of Hell, a place where “no thing gleams.” It is reserved for those overcome with Lust, where carnal appetites hold sway over reason. In Nine Circles, it’s where we do shorter reviews of new (ish) albums that share a common theme.

Happy 2021! Everything is fine! I swear! At least in terms of music everything seems to be fine. Right when I was thinking there wouldn’t be anything of note to grab my ears in January (sorry, but Tribulation still fails to do anything for me, so we’ll let others on the site rave) up pops two bands that trade in the kind of music that instantly strikes a chord in my metal heart. So let’s use this edition of Second Circle to the sinister pomp of Bloody Hammers and the killer old school thrash of Miserable…

Continue reading →

Second Circle: Spirit Adrift and Kneel

Josh1 Comment
Second Circle

Heavy is a state of mind and today’s Second Circle is a tale of heavy from two different ends of the spectrum. Spirit Adrift’s Enlightened In Eternity is a tale of modern day, straightforward heavy metal and Kneel’s Ailment is a tale of jagged heavy that comes out of society’s current level of pain and anguish. This piece aims to find the common ground between two albums and this common ground is the ‘heavy’ but these are vastly different albums from vastly different corners of the universe. So, without further ado, let’s discuss.

Continue reading →

Second Circle: The Glorious Dead and Eave

IanLeave a comment
Second Circle

In Dante’s Inferno, the second circle begins the proper punishment of Hell, a place where “no thing gleams.” It is reserved for those overcome with Lust, where carnal appetites hold sway over reason. In Nine Circles, it’s where we do shorter reviews of new (ish) albums that share a common theme.

As I scanned over our list of promos and wondered what I should take for a review this week, I was put into a predicament.  Both Eave and The Glorious Dead came highly recommended, I had listened to singles from both Phantoms Made Permanent and Into Lifeless Shrines (respectively) and really enjoyed them, I’m a sucker for both of the genres these albums fall into and they’re both Bindrune releases, which is synonymous with extremely high quality in my mind.  How, then, to choose which one to review?  As a now infamous taco commercial suggests, “¿Por qué no los dos?”

Continue reading →

Second Circle: Magni and Forêt Endormie

VincentLeave a comment

Second Circle

In Dante’s Inferno, the second circle begins the proper punishment of Hell, a place where “no thing gleams.” It is reserved for those overcome with Lust, where carnal appetites hold sway over reason. In Nine Circles, it’s where we do shorter reviews of new (ish) albums that share a common theme.

Ian and I had a ton of fun working together to write up the latest Misery Signals album, which you can and should read about here.  So much fun, in fact, that since we both have albums that fall loosely (and I do mean loosely here) under categories like “blackened” and “folk” we decided to combine our powers again for a Second Circle.  Today, we look at Magni‘s self-titled new release and Forêt Endormie‘s Une voile déchirée.   Continue reading →

Second Circle: Of Wolves and IRN

ChrisLeave a comment

Second Circle

In Dante’s Inferno, the second circle begins the proper punishment of Hell, a place where “no thing gleams.” It is reserved for those overcome with Lust, where carnal appetites hold sway over reason. In Nine Circles, it’s where we do shorter reviews of new (ish) albums that share a common theme.

It’s been a while since we put one of these out, huh?  I always like to use Second Circles to check out artists I’ve never heard of before, or explore genres or styles that are relatively unfamiliar to me.  In this case I took a look at the promo list and picked two bands I had no exposure to that carried in their promo the label of sludge, since I’ve been so gung-ho over the latest from -(16)-.

Do these bands help scratch that sludge itch?  This edition of Second Circle aims to find out with new releases from Of Wolves and IRN… Continue reading →