Best of 2022: Vincent’s List

Best of 2022

I think that we all have a tendency to give more personhood to years than they deserve. “So long 2022!” is the defining refrain this January, and I know I will be among those more than glad to see last year in the rear view mirror, but 2022 didn’t purposefully single me out to do me wrong. The passage of time is like a natural disaster; we give human names to hurricanes, but a hurricane doesn’t have malicious intent. It simply is. 2023 will be a year that is as well. It will have good days and bad days in store for me just like its predecessor. So instead of imploring for something better and pretending the bad days are all behind me now, I will start this year as is my tradition to start every year, and say only this:

I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.

You, of course, didn’t come to me for my half-baked philosophical ideas. You came here because you are interested in what it was that I listened to and loved this year. Thank you for that, sincerely. However small the number might be, the thought that there are people who take genuine interest in what I talk about is what keeps me wanting to talk about it more. 2022 certainly gave me a lot more to talk about than in previous years, and brought with it some of my favorite discoveries in recent memory. Some of these you’ve heard me mention more than once, some I haven’t had the pleasure to yet, all are worthy of being reminisced on here. Read about them all below.

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Nine Circles ov…Vince’s Mid-Year Favorites

Hello. Been a while, hasn’t it? Every year feels like it’s passing us by faster and faster, but the overwhelming amount of things to process this year has already made it impossible to fathom that 2022 is halfway over. If you are curious as to what music has been keeping me grounded for the last six months, now is as good a time as any to check in and see what the standout albums of the year are, as far as one humble author is concerned. Down to business then…

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Absent In Body’s CHVE and Mathieu on new album “Plague God,” skateboarding, Belgium, and much more! 

Absent In Body are the absolute epitome of a supergroup with membership spanning Amenra, Neurosis, and Sepultura. Just the thought of these souls coming together for a project brings to mind some of the heaviest, most emotional and spiritualistic filled music on the planet. And that’s exactly what they’ve cooked up on debut Plague God. It’s not unlike anything this group has done before yet it’s entirely its own thing with an industrial tinge that‘s pointed with sludge and doom and seismic levels of suffocating atmosphere. Buke sat down with Colin H. Van Eeckhout and Mathieu J. Vandekerckhove to discuss the new album, how it came to be, what brought the band together, and the multitude of ideas behind it all. They also discuss how it felt for these two artists to branch out a bit musically in the Absent In Body mindset, skateboarding and the joys, and pain, of the sport, the Belgian metal scene and how they both were first exposed to metal, their friendship with Scott Kelly and Igor Cavalera, working with Relapse Records, the decision to have Amenra’s last album in their native tongue, and so much more.

This is an epic conversation with two legendary artists, so grab your beverage of choice and settle in for another edition of the Nine Circles Audio Thing.

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Album Review: Absent in Body — “Plague God”

Absent In Body - Plague God

Some things just go together naturally, without force or coercion, like they were simply made for each other: peanut butter and chocolate, oysters and hot sauce, pepperoni and cheese, a nice cabernet and just about any red meat.  Such is also true for the likes of Absent in Body, a true supergroup combining the brainpower of members of Amenra, Neurosis and Sepultura.  If it seems like a natural, organic fit, you’d be right.  If you think it sounds cool as hell, you’d also be right.  Plague God is exactly like what you think it would be in all the best ways possible.

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Initial Descent: March 20 – 26, 2022

Absent In Body

Churchill once said “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.” I’ll leave you with that to ponder and apply at will. Moving on, new releases this week are yet again on fire with a much anticipated debut from Absent In Body that features none other than a mix of Amenra and Neurosis and is, as expected, amazing. We’ve also got new stuff from Abbath which is always fun, Kontusion offer up a devastating debut death metal EP, Falls Of Rauros continue to reside on top shelf in the progressive black metal genre, and a whole host of other stuff hiding in the list below. Seek and destroy…your wallet.

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