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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 284 (5.20.2023)

ChrisLeave a comment

playlist - mixtape

Another Saturday, another playlist. The difference this time is the sheer amount of killer releases that came out Friday, from the covers EP by Ghost to the new blast of OSDM from Frozen Soul, to the welcome return of Yakuza and the fuzzed out mayhem of Gozu. The 284th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist is a good one, so strap yourselves in and let’s do this.

What else do your ears (and eyes for those who actually watch the videos) have in store with this week’s playlist? Well, we’ve got a bunch of surprises but how about new music from Mutoid Man, Lucifer, Blackbraid, the return of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard making metal and the Cavalera brothers reliving the early days of their former band? All that and more await just a click away.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week…

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– Chris

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 182 (5.22.2021)

VincentLeave a comment
playlist - mixtape

Welcome to this week’s Nine Circles Saturday morning mixtape playlist. This week, we’ve got Grey Aura‘s abstract black metal, the newest single from death metal stalwarts Hooded Menace, classic Batushka (from before there were, like, 80 of them), and much more. All available, free of charge, at the link below. Unless you feel like giving us your credit card information. We’ll gladly take it.

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– Vincent

Best of 2020: Zyklonius’s List

Zyklonius2 Comments
Best of 2020

In 2020, time became a melting flat circle and the concept of eternal recurrence became far too real, mundane and inescapable. Thankfully the high quality of metal released during the year provided solace, perspective and inspiration that helped endure the blizzard of blurring days, weeks and months. Time lost all structural integrity and meaning also in the sense that you will find full-length albums, EPs and even single-track releases on my list, owing to their excellence, innovation, enjoyability, distinct identity and sound as well the evolutionary leaps the featured bands took. The fact that I could omit from my list so many fantastic releases, from the likes of Afterbirth, Havukruunu, Mare Cognitum & Spectral Lore, Serocs, Sweven, Wake and Wills Dissolve, is simply indicative of the sheer quantity of stellar-grade metal in 2020. The list is long and full of flowery prose elaborating why these particular releases resonated with me, so enough with the prefacing.

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Nine Circles ov… Album Art (Best of 2015)

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kontinuum kyrr
Kontinuum – Kyrr

Another year has flown by. We are all, all of us, closer to death. By roughly one year, depending on how rough a year it was for you. One thing that helped take the stress out of the year, aside from music, was the cover artwork on some of our favorite albums. Beautiful, twisted and sometimes insane, cover art gave us an initial glimpse into the music within as well as something to stare at while attempting to hold back the tears. With that in mind, Corey and I (Manny-O-War) sat down to parse out what some of the most inspirational and beautiful artwork of this year was. We considered not only the beauty, horror or intrigue but also how well the artwork encapsulated the music within. There were other albums that, while they had beautiful artwork, the artwork really didn’t have anything to do with the music. That’s a shame. So here are nine of our favorites. Continue reading →

Best of Q3: Corey’s List

Corey1 Comment

nine circles

I always appreciate these quarterly recaps that we do here at Nine Circles. With all the new music flying around week after week, month after month, it’s always good to take a minute to reflect on some of the better work we’ve been exposed to. The last few months have delivered a number of memorable albums from bigger names like Lamb of God and Amorphis, but at the same time a number of more obscure bands have forced their way into the periphery of many. My list has a bit of all that, so let’s take a look.

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