century media records – Nine Circles

CANTO: North Sea Echoes, Hideous Divinity, Iron Monkey, and More

February 22, 2024February 22, 2024CoreyLeave a comment

Today was, once again, a fucking day.

Leading off, we have new stuff from Heavy Temple. “Hiraeth”, the second single taken from Garden of Heathens, can be seen here. Their sophomore full-length will be out on April 12 through Magnetic Eye Records.
North Sea Echoes, the project featuring Ray Alder & Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, shared the new single “Empty” just ahead of the release of Really Good Terrible Things. Their debut album is out tomorrow through Metal Blade.
Sludge trio Iron Monkey are releasing a new album on April 5 through Relapse Records titled Spleen & Goad. Here’s a video for the new track “Misanthropizer” if you want to get a sense of what’s coming.
How about some progressive metalcore out of Australia? Reliqa have signed on with Nuclear Blast, and to add to the announcement they also dropped a video for their new single “Terminal”.
Hideous Divinity unveiled a new visualizer for “Against the Sovereignty of Mankind”, which is how we’re going to wrap up the day. That track is taken from Unextinct, which arrives on March 22 through Century Media.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

The Nine Circles Audio Thing: Vitriol was January 2024’s Album of the Month!

February 14, 2024February 12, 2024ninecirclesadminLeave a comment

It’s a well known fact that Vitriol slap, as they say. But did you know that they are one of a very few and select bands pushing death metal to new heights? That’s kind of a rhetorical question…more of a fact tidbit for you than anything since their latest effort Suffer & Become is somehow better than anything they’ve touched to date and blows everything out of the water thus far this year. Fitting it is that this album lands at our collective Album of the Month pick and also fitting that it was pretty much unanimous for those in attendance for this chat as well as those absent for this chat. No spoilers beyond the obvious though so you’ll need to grab a piece of floor or something comfy and kick back while we embellish on this album as well as several other highlights from the month and of course all the other places we meander to during these things. Dive in and enjoy.

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Album Review: Insomnium — “Songs of the Dusk” (EP)

November 2, 2023October 30, 2023Hera1 Comment

Earlier this year, Insomnium released Anno 1696, an album that dealt with the horrors of plague, hunger, and the loss of life. Now, almost at the end of the year, the band follows that with Songs of the Dusk, a collection of three tracks that act as an addendum to the story set in Anno 1696. As someone who appreciates Insomnium’s storytelling and music, I was all in for another campfire story a la Argent Moon.

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Initial Descent: October 29 – November 4, 2023

October 30, 2023October 28, 2023JoshLeave a comment

Ok. Day before Halloween. Are you ready? If not, get there homie. I stay ready all year so there’s that. New week means new metal and topping this week’s list is the MIGHTY Suffocation coming back for the album none of us ever thought possible, then we’ve got more death metal… well, deathgrind from Psionic Madness which is a damn treat, let me tell ya, next up is some excellent gloomy doomy post-metal from Morne, and closing us out is another release from melodic metallers Insomnium but this time it’s a quick EP, and it’s good but that’s not a shocker. Indeed, it’s a KILLER week here on Initial Descent and one at home if you’d hurry up and get in the spooky spirit. Do that, then hunt down a favorite album out of the list below. We’ll see you here over the next few days, if we make it out of tomorrow alive…muhahahaHAHAHA………

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CANTO: Primordial, Shylmagoghnar, Graveyard, and More

September 5, 2023September 5, 2023CoreyLeave a comment

This post will be unreliable for the next several days. Promise.

I have multiple emails about it in the inbox, so I guess I’ll with Primordial. They released a lyric video for “Pilgrimage To The World’s End”, the latest single taken from How It Ends. That album is set for a September 29 release through Metal Blade.
And then we have the latest Season of Mist signing. Night Shall Drape Us, the raw black metal band out of Finland, led by members of Behexen and Horna, are expected to drop their debut album sometime next spring.
Next up, some more black metal… but different! Atmospheric black metal project Shylmagoghnar revealed details surrounding Convergence, a new album set to drop on November 10 through Napalm Records. Give “Follow The River” a listen here.
Voivod is always a good time. Check out their new video for “Fix My Heart (2023 Version)” here. That’s taken from Morgöth Tales, their 40th Anniversary album, which is out now through Century Media Records.
Alright we’re definitely going to mix it up as we wrap up Monday. Below is the new single and video from Graveyard, titled “Breathe In, Breathe Out”. That’s the second single from their upcoming new album, 6, which is out September 29 through Nuclear Blast.