The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 212 (1.1.2022)

playlist - mixtape

Welcome to the future, everyone. I spent the last day of 2021 applying beauty masks and drinking champagne with my wife and son because you know what? That shit felt NICE. Even the boy admitted it it was cool, although I suspect his favorite part was the horror of peeling the mask off like dead skin. Yes, we had Slayer playing in the background…couldn’t resist.

To kick off 2022 and the 212th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist I put on my metal playlist and hit random to see what came out, so you’re getting the year off to a brutal start with some Unanimated and Chapel of Disease, as well as some classic Katatonia. Josh comes into the year guns blazing with some Wommbath, Barghest, and Everclear before finishing up with the ripping live Corrosion of Conformity. Vincent changes the mood a bit with The Hotelier, Alcest, and King Woman before Jon comes out of the snow to go full tech death, blasting some new Allegaeon, Spawn of Possession, and Archspire. Anton continues to play the left field choices, bringing in some choice cuts from his AOTY band Code as well as tracks from Eschatos and Fleshvessel. Bringing up the rearguard this time is Buke, and as awakes he’s ready with the classic of the genre, from Ahab, Death, Manowar, Saviours, and even a little Trivium.

That’s it. We’re officially in the new year. Let’s see if we can make it better than the last two, huh?

Chris

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 203 (10.30.2021)

playlist - mixtape

I’m not sure where you all are, but here in New York it finally feels like Autumn…right on the porch knocking at the door of All Hallow’s Eve. It’s the time of frights, of golds and browns and dark and whispers. So I can’t think of a better way to kick off the two hundred and third Nine Circles playlist than with a little Samhain to get you all in the mood. And since more than a few of the staff are completely head over heels for the new Mastodon, we threw a doozy of a late track in here for you, too.

Elsewhere we got you covered no matter your tastes: Josh comes in hot with some classic Fastway and one of my favorites for the year, Green Lung. Zyklonius is gushing over the new tech metal from Allegaeon, while Vincent throws some delicious curveballs with toe and his beloved Mountain Goats. We’re not quite back to the extreme, as our Northern Brother Jon dips into his first tastes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, but tempers it with some mewithoutyou. The Man with the Mic himself Buke goes old and new school with Manowar and Monolord, while Ian goes crazy for Archspire and Angela digs into the new Ghost Bath and closes us out with a bonafide classic from Siouxsie and the Banshees. And that’s only the tip of iceberg of what’s in store, so buckle up, grab your mask, and hit play below. We’ll see you next week.

Chris

Best of 2020: Zyklonius’s List

Best of 2020

In 2020, time became a melting flat circle and the concept of eternal recurrence became far too real, mundane and inescapable. Thankfully the high quality of metal released during the year provided solace, perspective and inspiration that helped endure the blizzard of blurring days, weeks and months. Time lost all structural integrity and meaning also in the sense that you will find full-length albums, EPs and even single-track releases on my list, owing to their excellence, innovation, enjoyability, distinct identity and sound as well the evolutionary leaps the featured bands took. The fact that I could omit from my list so many fantastic releases, from the likes of Afterbirth, Havukruunu, Mare Cognitum & Spectral Lore, Serocs, Sweven, Wake and Wills Dissolve, is simply indicative of the sheer quantity of stellar-grade metal in 2020. The list is long and full of flowery prose elaborating why these particular releases resonated with me, so enough with the prefacing.

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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 130 (5.23.2020)

playlist - mixtape

We had this playlist all sorted until Enslaved dropped “Homebound” and now we’ve got a new lead off video. If this is any indication of what to expect from their next album, we are in for a treat, folks. A TREAT, I tell you. We’ve got that, some new Couch Slut, a new one from Ulcerate and Triptykon, Sorcerer and Binary Code, and Zyklonius closes things out in epic fashion with a 24 minute Fleshvessel pick. All that and much more awaits directly below. Making your Saturday better is our goal so we hope you’ll enjoy. Missing brother Vince? No worries, he’s off saving the world but he’ll be back in short order. Kick back, pop a top or fresh crack a bourbon, and enjoy some tunes. See you here again soon.

– Josh