bindrune recordings – Nine Circles

All In: Nine Circles ov 2022 — The Staff’s Combined List

January 24, 2023January 23, 2023ninecirclesadminLeave a comment

Greetings! Just when you thought it was finally over, we have one last piece of 2022 content to share with the masses. I’m sure you’ve already gotten a sense of this across our individual lists, but 2022 was a really, REALLY strong year. In nearly every corner of every metal subgenre one quality release emerged after another. Personally, I can’t remember having a harder time picking the best of the best. And spoiler alert: our team stats at the end of this list reflect that. So while the doomsday clock keeps ticking forward, and the world gets increasingly uglier, we can rest assured that metal as an outlet is as strong as ever. So, once again, we’ve rounded up our favorite albums as a writing team and nailed down the top nine albums between all of us. Here’s how it all works…

Like last year (and previous years), each member of the Nine Circles staff (well, most of them), chose their nine favorite albums (inclusive of EPs), listed in order, and up to nine honorable mentions. Obviously, branding counts. A scoring system was applied to the rankings. For example, one person’s first place album received 10 points, the second received 9, and so on and so forth… and all honorable mentions received 1 point. Then, combining the scores across everyone’s lists, we have ourselves a Nine Circles ov 2022, brought to you by, well, everyone. Almost everyone.

Immediately after the break, you’ll find the top albums of 2022 as chosen by the Nine Circles staff, starting with number 9 and working down to number 1 at the end. And again, we also tracked the labels that produced these albums, allowing us to crown a label of the year, using the same scoring process as above. This is clearly the highest honor in the industry, so I’m sure the anticipation couldn’t be higher. Who claimed this title for 2022? You’ll have to wait until the very end to find out.

Simple enough, right? Right. Enough reading, let’s get into it…

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Nechochwen’s Aaron on new album “Kanawha Black,” and much more!

June 3, 2022June 1, 2022opethbodom2 Comments

When it comes to folk inspired black metal, there’s not many bands better than West Virginia’s Nechochwen. And, on their fourth full length, Kanawha Black, they’ve managed to pull themselves to the front of the pack and widely eclipse their past work. This album has become a fast staff favorite here at Nine Circles for a myriad of reasons, but plainly put, no one out there is doing it better right now. Buke recently sat down with Aaron (aka Nechochwen) to discuss the new album and how it came to be, how the band are fans of French Indian warfare and Native American history and how those topics were lacking in heavy metal when the band formed, how the band got its start, their relationship with Panopticon‘s Austin Lunn and with Bindrune Recordings, the fact that Aaron is a classically trained guitarist, and so much more. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

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Second Circle: Nechochwen and Predatory Light

May 19, 2022May 17, 2022Vincent3 Comments

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.

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CANTO: Anomalie, Brand of Sacrifice, Abhoria, and More

November 11, 2021November 11, 2021CoreyLeave a comment

After this, I get to write about music and alcohol at the same time!

Brand of Sacrifice dropped a reissue of the title track from their most recent album, Lifeblood. The album was released back in March originally, and this version of the track features Will Ramos of Lorna Shore. Give it a listen here.
Prosthetic Records have added a new name to their roster in Abhoria. Their self-titled debut album will be out on February 4th. Check out their first single, “Mountebank”, right now.
Updates from Bindrune Recordings are always notable. Nechochwen have returned with the title track from their next album, “Kanawha Black”. Give it a listen here. That album should be out sometime next year, so keep your eye out for more updates.
I’m a really big fan of the new Anomalie album, Tranceformation, so we’ll close with the new video for the third single from that. Check out “Trance I: The Tree”, and remember to pick that album up, which is out November 26th through AOP Records.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

CANTO: Insomnium, Panopticon, Helloween, and More

March 19, 2021March 19, 2021CoreyLeave a comment

College basketball: still a sport!

We’ll start with news of high importance. Pre-orders are up for …And Again into the Light, the latest LP from Panopticon. …Oops! Those pre-orders are now sold out! But because Bindrune Recordings is awesome, you can still snag a vinyl bundle which includes that album, plus Tvaer’s Uvaer and the self-titled Nemorous album. Solid.
Helloween are wasting no time dropping major updates lately. Following the new album news, they’ve recently announced a 2022 tour with Hammerfall. Those European dates run through March, April, and May next year. On top of that, we also got a glimpse of the new album art in the past week, which is as entertaining as you would hope for.
Serj Tankian is up to stuff! Check out the new single and video for “Electric Yerevan”. That track is taken from a brand new EP, Elasticity, which is available through Alchemy Recordings/BMG. Vinyl copies will be available on April 30th, if physical media is your thing.
Insomnium semi-surprised us with a new single and video, titled “The Conjurer”. That’s available through Century Media, and it’s as epic and impressive as you would expect. Insomnium continues to do no wrong. Pick up the single here, and watch the video below.