barren heir

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 274 (3.11.2023)

ChrisLeave a comment

playlist - mixtape

It was one of those weeks, folks. I’ve been heading back to the office more and more, and while the morning commute music starts light and lively at the beginning of the week, but the end I was blasting old school death metal just to fight the madness of the 45 minutes to traverse 6.7 miles and the anticipation of idiots and blow hards for another 10 hours. Man, I forgot how ferocious and full of ideas the old guard was, so we’re opening up the 274th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist with a trifecta of classics from Suffocation, Pestilence, and Nocturnus. Hope it gets your weekend off to a great start.

What’s the rest of the staff listening to? Well, there’s the triumphant return of Yakuza which instantly made my list of most anticipated albums, plus cuts from JAAW, Aphotic, Ihsahn and Ritual Mortis, more old school live from the likes of Kalmah, Sacramentum, and Soilwork, not to mention cuts from Barren Heir, Pharmakon, Gridlink, and Liturgy. More surprises lurk within (like holy shit maybe I’m crazy but this new Winger song ain’t half bad…), but we’re ending with a double-shot of classic Lynyrd Skynyrd. Rest in Peace, Gary Rossington…those early albums will shine forever.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week…

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– Chris

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 47 (7.2.2018)

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NINE-CIRCLES_LOGO-Light Background_SQUARE

Good morning and good Monday. What’s good about it? I’m not sure yet, maybe this coffee will have the answers. I do know that it’s hard to believe we’re halfway through 2018 already. There’s been a lot of quality metal in the first half and the second half shows no sign of stopping that trend. To that point, we’ve got another playlist of tracks some of us dug into last week – some new, some old, some eclectic but all are good. Our YouTube channel can be found here but for the sake of being easy, you can hit the play button directly below. Feel free to use it as a July 4th party starter, there’s some fireworks contained within. Speaking of, don’t do anything stupid this week like burn a hand off or singe all the hairs from your face. Just sayin’ Continue reading →

Profile Twofer: Nick LaRocca of Barren Heir and Jeff Wojtysiak of Cokegoat

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Cokegoat / Barren Heir - Split

Steeping away from our standard Profile, today we are featuring a twofer or double or dos attack (however you want to look at it) of bands, Barren Heir and Cokegoat, who have just released their collaborative and independent split Sunshine / Tracing Light. It’s an extremely forward thinking sludge and doom affair that kicks like a mule one minute and plays with tension / release the next. Simply put, this is six tracks of music you need in your life. As luck may have it, Nine Circler Vincent just featured this split right here so be sure check that out in full. We recently had the chance to ask our set of questions to Barren Heir’s drummer Nick LaRocca and Cokegoat’s guitarist / vocalist Jeff Wojtysiak so head inside to get the scoop and hit the links to support the bands. Continue reading →

Initial Descent: June 24 – 30, 2018

JoshLeave a comment

kevin hufnagel
Kevin Hufnagel

I’m back. Miss me? Of course you didn’t because Chris killed it here on Initial Descent last week. Either way, I’m still picking sand out of…places. But anyway, you came here for new metal and that we have plenty of this week. See what I did there? Saved you from a dumb story about sand, proud and elated you must be.

Enough about that, let’s focus on music. By now Kevin Hufnagel is a household name to a much larger audience than just metal and on Messages To the Past he proves why as he effortlessly recalls guitar virtuosos, past and present, but furthermore offers up a fantastic album full of beautiful peaks and valleys. Cokegoat and Barren Heir bathe in sludge and doom on their split Sunshine / Tracing Light, Italy’s Nomura and Nulla+ leave a trail of bloody ears with their blackened hardcore / punk split impronte / lacrime and Converge drop an EP, Beautiful Ruin, on us out of nowhere — it is a good day indeed.

Good opening four but there’s much more. I’m a poet and didn’t know it…(drum roll). Anyway, grab a coffee or a cold one and stick around, the metal awaits. Continue reading →

Receiving the Evcharist: Cokegoat & Barren Heir and 702 Pale Ale

Vincent1 Comment

Receiving the Evcharist

Receiving the Evcharist is our weekly feature where we pair choice albums with our favorite libations.  Drink from the cup of heresy.  This week’s offering: Cokegoat & Barren Heir’s Sunshine/Tracing Light and Tenaya Creek Brewery’s 702 Pale.  
Continue reading →