gothic metal

Album Review: Hanging Garden — “The Garden”

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hanging garden - the garden album cover

It had been a few years since I properly listened to a Hanging Garden album, so when I heard they were releasing a new album this year, it made me want to see how and what the band was doing. Between this and their 2017 effort, the band had some line-up changes including a new vocalist, whose voice was featured in I Am Become, and expanded into what I like to call melodic death-doom. While I am heavily acquainted with death/doom – Swallow the Sun being one of the most prominent – this style of death-doom reminded me heavily of my favorite Draconian album, A Rose for the Apocalypse. Curiosity now fully piqued, I decided to see what The Garden was all about, and whether nostalgia was informing my enjoyment.

Spoiler alert: If this album is not a 2023 AOTY contender, someone come find me.

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Album Review: Deathwhite — “Grey Everlasting”

Angela Block1 Comment

I often forget how vast the doom metal genre really is.  I fall into my favorite sub-sets, get comfortable, and forget to explore.  Many bands fit under the doom umbrella but move in all sorts of directions and styles.  One direction I have not dived too deeply into is melodic doom.  Deathwhite‘s latest album Grey Everlasting seemed like the perfect place to plunge a little further.  This band has been established now for ten years, so I would say they have some expertise in the genre.  With two amazing full-length releases under their belt, Grey Everlasting marks the third and quite possibly the best yet from the quartet.

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The Nine Circles Audio Thing: Tribulation was January 2021’s Album of the Month!

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  • Tribulation - Where the Gloom Becomes Sound

Episode 64 of The Nine Circles Audio Thing kicks off 2021 with a bang, as the gang waxes poetic about the latest from Swedish prog/goth/death rock/kitchen sink outfit Tribulation, whose new album Where the Gloom Becomes Sound has folks in a tizzy. Buke again assumes the captains chair and leads the chase with the usual suspects, and introduces newest member of the 9C gang Didrik to the insanity.

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Tribulation’s Adam Zaars on their new album “Where the Gloom Becomes Sound,” Jonathan Hultén’s exit and Joseph Tholl’s entry, Adam’s entry into, and fascination with, heavy metal, writing an album in the midst of a pandemic, what 2021 may hold for the band, and so much more!

opethbodom1 Comment

At this point, Tribulation need zero introduction since they have been a powerhouse of both death metal and gothic metal over the course of four full lengths. And, with Where the Gloom Becomes Sound the band fully cement their gothic meets death metal stance. It’s January but already we’re feeling vibes of “best of 2021” with this album since it truly is their best yet and fully fleshed out album to date. And, that’s saying a lot since any fan of the band would already say they’ve climbed that hill. Such is the power of Tribulation. Head below to get the details of a chat between Buke and guitarist Adam Zaars.

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Profile: Laura Vargas of The Inferno Doll

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The Inferno Doll

Sacrifice is more than just a follow up EP to The Inferno Doll‘s 2015 full length Dollmination it also continues the story of the main character being possessed by an alter ego with no vision of which one is the enemy. This time out, the character is awakened and summoned by a High Priestess who controls the element of fire and offers a second chance. For this story to play out, the music must match not only the occult at work here but the battle at hand. And it does, in spades. This is dark, gothic metal at its theatrical and evil best. The slow burn enchantment of the title track crashing head first into the gnashing teeth of Land of the Lords shows just how talented vocalist and songwriter Laura Vargas is at bringing this all to successful, albeit dark, fruition. Sacrifice saw digital release back in October and as of this month has seen a physical release. Just behind this particular release we had the chance to pose our Profile questions to Laura in hopes of finding out more about the project and the artist. She opens up with a ton of info so head below to see how it went down.

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