asunojokei – Nine Circles

Missed Connections: Looking Back on 2022

January 30, 2023January 30, 2023IanLeave a comment

Writing this list in particular is always one of my favorite points in the year. It’s the time where I get to look at everyone else’s list and go “hey, I should have included that too!”, and it gives me a chance to go back and look at all the stuff that I have missed out on listening to in favor of obligations, lack of time, lack of brainpower, or simply not being able to turn off Origins like I know I need to. It’s always good to take one last look back on everything before we properly usher in the new year and new releases with it, so let’s jump into some of the things that I am currently kicking myself for not giving more attention to.

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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 267 (1.21.2023)

January 21, 2023January 20, 2023ChrisLeave a comment

I’m still recovering from the drunken mayhem that was our first ever Album Ramble – I hope you dug it, we plan to punish our livers monthly for your entertainment. Anyway, as if a new GREAT Katatonia was enough to drop this week, we have the second single from the mighty Metallica’s 72 Seasons, so we’re kicking off with that – and the newest video from Katatonia backing it up.

After that it’s a gaggle of new and classic heavy hitters, including cuts from The Ocean, Bodyfarm, Polymoon, Turbid North, Ulthar, Nite, Asunojokei, Coheed & Cambria, Full of Hell, Cäina, Black Country New Road, Fvnerals, and Miserable.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week…

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– Chris

Best of 2022: D. Morris’s List

January 5, 2023January 4, 2023D MorrisLeave a comment

2022: The Year I came back… to writing about music that is. When the year started, I had no plans to write about anything and now I’m writing for Nine Circles. It feels good to write about music again, especially heavy music. Putting together a best of list felt like cramming for an exam, especially since I just started here. There’s excellent albums, not on here, that I purposefully left off because my fellow Nine Circles writers would mention or because they were similar to albums I simply loved more. Here are 15 heavy (and heavy adjacent) albums I loved in 2022 in alphabetical order.

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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 264 (12.31.2022)

December 31, 2022December 31, 2022ChrisLeave a comment

That’s it. So long 2022, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. I just posted my end of year list, and yeah: the #1 pick is a crossover hardcore punk album that incorporates free jazz and noise and everything under the sun…what else did you expect? So let’s kick off the last edition of the Nine Circles Playlist with the mighty OFF! and see what else will help us close out the new year.

To paraphrase The Outer Limits, I will control the horizontal. I will control the vertical. So that means I’m also going to front-load this with the 80s metal I picked up on vinyl and cassette this week. Which means you’re getting dosed with some classic Accept and Satan…you’re welcome. Elsewhere in the Nine Circles universe we’ve got plenty of heavy to ring in 2023, including music from Angerot, Shores of Lunacy and Leper Colony, a blast of bangers from Yob, Mizmor + Thou and Nechochwen, more killer music from Predatory Light (I really need to revisit that) and Moonlight Sorcery, not to mention D. Morris BRINGING IT with some classic Harvey Milk. There’s a ton more, including God Mother, Windhand, Asunojuokei (for once not added by me, so thanks Ian!), and Morrow, among others.

That’s it for 2022. Get listening. Stay safe. See you next year…

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– Chris

Nine Circles ov…What Didn’t Make My 2022 End of Year List…(But Could Have)

December 13, 2022December 13, 2022Chris1 Comment

We’re back, exactly 365 days from the last time I kicked off my run of End of Year tomfoolery. And I’m not gonna lie: this year the wear of listening to and giving time, consideration, and word to so many albums is taking more than a little toll. At 40 years and counting of being obsessed with music I can still feel the flush of discovering something new, but I think I’m quicker to make the call on whether I’ll continue to listen to something or not. And I admit the pull of the nostalgic, the familiar, the comfort is stronger than it’s ever been.

That hasn’t stopped me from finding joy from a lot of records: You’re still getting altogether a list of 40 albums – my “official” Top 25 ranked list and an Honorable Mention list of 15 other albums in alphabetical order (if Decibel can list 40 than so can I). And just like in years past I’ve tacked on an additional nine albums that didn’t make my lists for various reasons, but I still love and want to put on your radar. The reasons why are fickle and unique, and time being the great equalizer means these omissions may come back to haunt me…lord knows they have in the past. That’s the great thing about lists – they’re snapshots of a moment and never written in stone. Well, maybe one list was, but these are far from commandments. They’re just more great albums to get excited about.

Once more into the breach. Forget labels. Forget hype and marketing. Take a look (better yet, take a listen) to this edition of Nine Circles ov… and see what didn’t make my list for 2022…but could have.

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