blackened thrash

Album Review: Lucifera – “La Caceria De Brujas”

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Lucifera - La Caceria De Brujas

Sometimes you just want that nasty shit, amirite?  Toss away the time changes, the exotic instruments and the polished production, get those choirs and orchestras right out the door.  Grab some beer, head to the nearest dank and sweaty basement and just blast until the sun rises.  Step into the light with the king of all hangovers and the festering rot of a thousand razor sharps cuts from all the riffing.  That was me the first time I heard Colombia’s Lucifera back in 2017.  And I’m happy but sore to report that two years later nothing’s changed with new album La Caceria De Brujas. Continue reading →

Nine Circles ov…Recent Albums I Only Have Time to Review in One Sentence

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9C inbox

Sometimes you hit that point in your inbox where you just want to take the poor thing outside and put it out of its misery.  The glut of things unassigned, unread or untouched is a sight to behold.  We tread in fear of accidentally clicking on a link and having the whole thing fall in on our heads, Romanian hardcode tolling against the latest skate punk out of California busting heads with Australian progressive black metal and whatever the hell that weird buzzing sound is coming out of Europe.

It is, as they say in the parlance of the time, swole.

So for this edition of Nine Circles ov…. I thought I’d try to run through a few recent releases and give them a little space here on the site, and also ease the burgeoning hemorrhage our inbox is suffering.  But time is short, and I can already see the next wave of promos coming in, so we’re gonna make this quick and relegate each release to a single sentence.  Ready? Set? Go!   Continue reading →

Album Review: Bloodlust – “At the Devil’s Left Hand”

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bloodlust at the devil's left hand

You know fun when you see it.  Sometimes it’s a massive water slide on a hot summer’s day.  Sometimes it’s a tapped keg in a bucket of ice with your best friends in the backyard, burgers on the grill and a hammock no one’s laying in yet.  And sometimes it’s a vicious mix of blackened thrash from Australia, emphasis on the thrash (for once), a logo with not one but TWO inverted crosses with pentagrams etched in, and a picture of Old Scratch himself on the cover.

Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s At the Devil’s Left Hand, the second album from Bloodlust.   Continue reading →

Nine Circles ov…My (unlistened to) Bandcamp Collection

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bandcamp-logo-i0

Hello. My name is Chris, and I have a problem.

I started using Bandcamp about 2 years ago. At first it was innocent: maybe an album here or there I read about in Decibel but couldn’t find on a streaming service. Occasioanlly a compilation or anthology I heard about from Henry Rollins’s amazing weekly radio show on KCRW. It was fun, it was innocent, and most importantly, no one was getting hurt. And then, in January of 2016, someone had the bright idea to start this #metalbandcampgiftclub thing and everything just kind of went out the window. At first it was just giving, you know? What’s wrong with giving? But then I started getting, too. And it got harder to just give, right? Because maybe you wanted that album too, you see? And it just spiraled and skyrocketed and every other terrible metaphor you can think of to say things, well…got out of hand.

Seriously, Bandcamp is a great service for both fans and artists. And when I sat down to think about what to write for this week’s Nine Circles ov… I realized I had all this great music I hadn’t listened to yet, so why not pick a few highlights and share ’em here with the fine Nine Circles readership. I’ll try to remember the whys and wherefores, you just check out some great metal.   Continue reading →

Album Review: Witchery – “In His Infernal Majesty’s Service”

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witchery-new-album

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: band releases a gem of a debut that sounds different from the muddled mass of music vying for attention. Said band releases a couple more records the muddled masses rave over, then a few years later take a bit of a left turn. With each new album coming after increasingly expanding lengths of time the muddled masses mumble and mewl, yearning for the return to the vibe of the classic, earlier albums. And while I’m sure James and Lars are shedding copious tears because they’ve left their “true” fans behind, we’re actually talking about Witchery, who are probably going to have to weather the same bullshit from metal pundits over their new album In His Infernal Majesty’s Service. Continue reading →