Best of 2022: Vincent’s List

Best of 2022

I think that we all have a tendency to give more personhood to years than they deserve. “So long 2022!” is the defining refrain this January, and I know I will be among those more than glad to see last year in the rear view mirror, but 2022 didn’t purposefully single me out to do me wrong. The passage of time is like a natural disaster; we give human names to hurricanes, but a hurricane doesn’t have malicious intent. It simply is. 2023 will be a year that is as well. It will have good days and bad days in store for me just like its predecessor. So instead of imploring for something better and pretending the bad days are all behind me now, I will start this year as is my tradition to start every year, and say only this:

I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.

You, of course, didn’t come to me for my half-baked philosophical ideas. You came here because you are interested in what it was that I listened to and loved this year. Thank you for that, sincerely. However small the number might be, the thought that there are people who take genuine interest in what I talk about is what keeps me wanting to talk about it more. 2022 certainly gave me a lot more to talk about than in previous years, and brought with it some of my favorite discoveries in recent memory. Some of these you’ve heard me mention more than once, some I haven’t had the pleasure to yet, all are worthy of being reminisced on here. Read about them all below.

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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 258 (11.19.2022)

I love the phrase “cold comfort”. Taken in its intended meaning, the world may be falling apart, but at least the music’s been good, right? But I also find that with the cold weather comes the deep desire to drown in a wash of the nostalgic, the lived in, the…well, comfortable. So we’re kicking off the 258th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist with the remaster of “Total Eclipse”, rightfully put back in the track listing for Iron Maiden‘s seminal 1982 album, now packaged with the incredible Beast Over Hammersmith live album.

From there we move onto more extreme corners, kicking things off with new Candlemass before going full on throat ripping with Sanguisugabogg, Ribspreader, Psionic Madness, Turbid North, Spider God, and new Nothingness. There are small breaks with classics from Against Me! and Refused before diving back into the filth with Cloud Rat, Wormrot, Falls of Rauros, The Otolith, new Gaupa and a lot more.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

Chris

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 254 (10.22.2022)

There are numbers, and there are numbers. For example, this is in fact the 254th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist, which I’ve been painstakingly assembling for you for almost exactly one year – since the 202nd edition, to be precise. But the real important number to consider is SIX. Because in six days my beloved Darkthrone will be releasing a new album. So even though we featured it in there Cantos this week you know we have to use “Caravan of Broken Ghosts” to kick things off with bang.

And though I could easily just continue filling the playlist with more Darkthrone, there’s a hell of a lot more out there to get you through the week, am I right? So how about some scuzzy Sabbath metal from Peth, some sax skronking stoner rock from Ecstatic Vision, and then some killer metal from Lykotonon, Ultar, -(16)-, Sarcator, Bonecarver, Atrocity, Boris, Sonja, and some older cuts from the likes of Thursday, Cloud Rat, and hell…even some Sisters of Mercy?

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

Chris

Album Review: Cloud Rat — “Threshold”

Cloud Rat - Threshold

Grind is having a massive couple of weeks right now. Last Friday brought us a new Escuela Grind album (review courtesy of my esteemed colleague and brother), and now I have the sublime pleasure to convince you that you should drop whatever you are doing this Friday and check out Threshold, the latest from Michigan grind stalwarts Cloud Rat. And trust me, I do mean whatever you are doing.

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Initial Descent: October 2 – 8, 2022

Goatwhore
Goatwhore – image courtesy of Stephanie Cabral

First up, our thoughts are with all those negatively impacted by the hurricane. There’s plenty of options and ways out there to help if you can so if you’re so inclined, type it in the search bar and go from there. It’s time for new and upcoming metal, and that we have plenty of this week, yet again. Goatwhore kicks things off with their eighth full length and it is massive (more on that later in the week), Armed For Apocalypse and Coffin Torture kick out the sludge metal jams, Cloud Rat again show shy they are at the top of ‘extreme mountain,’ and there’s a slew of other releases hiding out in the list below that keeps the quality pegged. Plenty here to keep you busy throughout the week so happy hunting and stay tuned.

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