Nine Circles ov…”Obscure” Metal Records We Didn’t Review in 2017 (Until Now)

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We here at Nine Circles endeavor to bring to you, our devoted readers, as much razor sharp insight and commentary into the hidden pockets, nooks, and crevices the extreme metal world can offer.  We have burrowed into the underground scenes of Singapore and the Philippines, profiled some of the best and darkest metal labels around, and even reviewed a record or two.

But even our exacting eye and archeological know-how can’t dig up every release that comes out in a year.  Sometimes things get lost in the panoply of splits, reissues, cassette only demos and 800g quadruple sided splattered with the tears of an angel vinyl exclusive.  Who knows how these obscure nuggets missed our Sauron gaze? Lack of marketing funds? Little social media presence?  It doesn’t matter, for in today’s edition of Nine Circles ov… I attempt to shed some light on these obscure, little known bands…

…Lord knows they could use the exposure.   Continue reading

Nine Circles ov…My (unlistened to) Bandcamp Collection

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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