device

Steve Von Till - Harvestman — Steve Von Till (Harvestman) – Photo courtesy of Niela Von Till

I’ve said this a couple of times since hearing the tragic news of Chris Cornell’s passing: you never stop long enough to realize just how ingrained in the fabric of your own life an artist really is until it’s too late. Badmotorfinger came out when I was 17, a time when I was 10 feet tall and bulletproof but really just trying to figure it all out. What I gained from Soundgarden and the soulful, visionary vocals of Cornell was a safe place away from it all. A place I could just…be, tune out everything and escape. Throughout the years and other projects, solo or otherwise I’ve always been able to find that safe place, that frequency that allowed me to get lost in his music. Today it hits even harder. We’ve lost so many good ones but because of that time and place, being 10 feet tall and not knowing anything and hearing that voice, this one really hit home. Chris “Outshined” them all…rest in peace. Nine Circles offers heartfelt condolences to family, friends, bandmates and fans across the globe that were touched in any way by his music.

This week gives us yet another escape and it couldn’t have come at a better time: Steve Von Till’s project Harvestman returns with Music For Megaliths, the fourth full length of folk inspired ambient drone and its one you cannot miss (but if you’re a Von Till fan you already know that). Vancouver’s Device gives us their next — and unfortunately last — full length Good Things Never Last, an album full of classic and classy traditional heavy metal. We need this right now so do yourself a favor and pick this one up, trust me. Somnium Nox offers up their menacing take on atmospheric black metal with debut full length Terra Inanis and Abkehr suck every bit of air out of the room on their dark and sinister black metal debut EP In Asche. So there you have it, a week I wish we could do over with different results and new releases that give us somewhere to find some sort of comfort and escape. Please, be well friends. Continue reading →

Second Circle

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.

Here’s the way it usually works. Our illustrious editor gets in dozens and dozens of promos each week that he puts up on a Google doc for the writers, who converge like a pack of wild dogs, starving and scrabbling to get a cut of the juiciest meat. That’s how it usually works, but every so often you just come across something else, whether it’s an obscure band you found in you Bandcamp collection one day because of a label subscription with an AMAZING cover or a surprise drop from a band saying goodbye. In this edition of Second Circle we’re stepping away from the promo box to alert you, however briefly, to the wonders of Mountains Crave and Device. So let’s find those comfortable pants you wear when no one’s watching and dig in… Continue reading →