Second Circle: Nechochwen and Predatory Light

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.

Black metal continues, as it has from the first time I got my ears around it, to be my favorite genre of metal. For all the trappings and headaches it can offer, there is truly nothing like black metal when it is at its best, so I’m always happy to talk it up when I find stuff that speaks to me, and today we’re having yet another two-for-one sale on this here website. Nechochwen‘s Kanawha Black and Predatory Light‘s Death and the Twilight Hours are very unlike each other in style and ethos, but bound together under the sign of the black mark.

Continue reading →

Album Review: Cave In — “Heavy Pendulum”

IanLeave a comment
Cave In - Heavy Pendulum

I think at this point we’re all aware that the last few years of Cave In’s career haven’t been the easiest.  2019’s Final Transmission looked to be just that: the closing of the final chapter of the seminal hardcore band and the end of a remarkable era.  However, as fate would have it, the act of coming together to put the band to bed ended up convincing the foursome that there was still more musical territory to tread.  Heavy Pendulum is more than just the first “proper” Cave In release since 2009; it is a celebration of everything the band has accomplished and a showcase of the tricks they still have up their collective sleeves.

Continue reading →

Master Boot Record’s Victor Love on new album “Personal Computer,” and more!

opethbodomLeave a comment
Master Boot Records

Creative and unique barely scratch the surface when referring to the electronic metal of Master Boot Record. On Personal Computer the tagline of “100% sythesized, 100% dehumanized” comes full circle as it sounds like what would happen between a war of computers and quite possibly the band’s best effort to date. Buke sat down with mastermind Victor Love to discuss the new album and how it came to be, how he got into making music and using computer sounds, the early days of the internet, his thoughts on signing to Metal Blade and how it has been working with them, his thoughts on pirating software and his music, and so much more. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

Continue reading →

CANTO: Psycroptic, Xenoglyph, The Cross, and More

CoreyLeave a comment

Slowly, but surely, I am working through all of my concert photos from the past month.

  • Psycroptic revealed details surrounding their eighth studio album earlier today. Divine Council will be out on August 5th through Prosthetic Records. The lead single, “Rend Asunder”, is available for your listening pleasure now.
  • We’ve also got some fresh cosmic black metal coming our way soon. Xenoglyph are releasing their sophomore full-length, Spiritfraud, on July 15th through Translation Loss Records. Check out the title track over at Invisible Oranges.
  • From there, let’s balance things out with a little doom. The Cross unveiled a new video yesterday for “Behind the Stone Gate”, taken from Act II: Walls of the Forgotten. That’s out on May 27th through Pitch Black Records.
  • We can close with some new GWAR, why the hell not? The below video is for “Berserker Mode”, the second track from The New Dark Ages. That album is out on June 3rd through Pit Records, and you’ll have the opportunity to catch them live basically now through mid-June.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

Album Review: Sadist — “Firescorched”

HeraLeave a comment

It’s been a while since I have touched a progressive death metal record – not since Alustrium’s A Monument To Silence – and while I’ve been doing some listening behind the scenes, it struck as odd that I haven’t really been giving one of my favorite death metal subgenres a proper listen. Imagine my delight in finding an album that struck a chord with me the more time I spent with it, becoming more and more experimental and dissonant the further in I ventured. For an album that makes me question where the established line between progression and technicality begins to blur, Sadist’s Firescorched is an impressive feat of musicianship.

Continue reading →