gilead media – Nine Circles

Album Review: Big Garden — “To the Rind”

June 30, 2023June 29, 2023Ian1 Comment

You can’t talk about my musical origin story without mentioning how much the radio in Chicago in the late 90’s and early Aughts meant to me. I was only 3 when Siamese Dream came out but thanks to 94.7 The Zone (RIP) and Q101.1 I had access to smatterings of all the classic alternative music I could ever want, and it changed me as a small person. Apparently, I’m not the only one. Although Big Garden hail from NOLA, their debut To the Rind captures everything that was so magical about alternative music in that time period.

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CANTO: Enforced, Wailin Storms, Deathstars, and More

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023CoreyLeave a comment

I have been on quite the Four Stroke Baron binge today. Wild.

We’ll start with something in more of the prog rock space. Black Orchid Empire are releasing Tempus Veritas on April 14 through Season of Mist, and today they unveiled “Glory To The King”. Give the lyric video for that a watch here.
How about a tour next? Wailin Storms have some North American dates coming up, running from May 17 through early June. Naturally, they’ll be supporting last year’s The Silver Snake Unfolds, which is out through Gilead.
Cemetary have signed on to join the Atomic Fire Records roster, with a new record on the horizon sometime later this year. Considering all the years of inactivity, we’re going to keep a close eye on what the Swedish cult metal project is up to.
More Swedish things! Industrial collective Deathstars are releasing Everything Destroys You on May 5 through Nuclear Blast, and today they shared a new video for the second single from that effort, “Midnight Party”.
Enforced are releasing War Remains on April 28 through Century Media, and I feel like I need some thrash in my life this evening, so I’ll see myself out with their new track “Hanged By My Hand”. Give it a watch below.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

All In: Nine Circles ov 2022 — The Staff’s Combined List

January 24, 2023January 23, 2023ninecirclesadmin1 Comment

Greetings! Just when you thought it was finally over, we have one last piece of 2022 content to share with the masses. I’m sure you’ve already gotten a sense of this across our individual lists, but 2022 was a really, REALLY strong year. In nearly every corner of every metal subgenre one quality release emerged after another. Personally, I can’t remember having a harder time picking the best of the best. And spoiler alert: our team stats at the end of this list reflect that. So while the doomsday clock keeps ticking forward, and the world gets increasingly uglier, we can rest assured that metal as an outlet is as strong as ever. So, once again, we’ve rounded up our favorite albums as a writing team and nailed down the top nine albums between all of us. Here’s how it all works…

Like last year (and previous years), each member of the Nine Circles staff (well, most of them), chose their nine favorite albums (inclusive of EPs), listed in order, and up to nine honorable mentions. Obviously, branding counts. A scoring system was applied to the rankings. For example, one person’s first place album received 10 points, the second received 9, and so on and so forth… and all honorable mentions received 1 point. Then, combining the scores across everyone’s lists, we have ourselves a Nine Circles ov 2022, brought to you by, well, everyone. Almost everyone.

Immediately after the break, you’ll find the top albums of 2022 as chosen by the Nine Circles staff, starting with number 9 and working down to number 1 at the end. And again, we also tracked the labels that produced these albums, allowing us to crown a label of the year, using the same scoring process as above. This is clearly the highest honor in the industry, so I’m sure the anticipation couldn’t be higher. Who claimed this title for 2022? You’ll have to wait until the very end to find out.

Simple enough, right? Right. Enough reading, let’s get into it…

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Album Review: Wailin Storms — “The Silver Snake Unfolds”

July 21, 2022July 20, 2022Angela2 Comments

A week prior to kicking off a US tour, gothic noise rockers Wailin Storms are coming in hot with their fourth full-length release, The Silver Snake Unfolds. This album is an incredible addition to the band’s blooming discography. Each song is diverse and brings something a little different to the table. Some tracks are moody, dark, and angsty while others are lively, danceable, and, yes, angsty. I mean… we are talking about a band with a heavy doom influence, so angst is to be expected. Wailin Storms has a unique signature blend of southern gothic/psychedelic/doom/post-grunge/punk/rock and it shines very brightly in this release.

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Album Review: Inexorum – “Equinox Vigil”

June 17, 2022June 14, 2022Ian5 Comments

Inexorum have quickly climbed up the ranks of bands I need to keep my eyes on, but it was not always so. You know how this story goes: someone (usually Vince or Angela) mentions an album they are thrilled about, in this case it was 2020’s Moonlit Navigation, I swear on God I’m going to listen to it, and then I don’t. It took me far too long to get around to Moonlit Navigation, but when I did it was like a cartoon mallet came down on my head: I couldn’t avoid it if I wanted anymore. So, I told myself I would make the same mistake twice when the next release came around. Enter: Equinox Vigil.

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