If you’ve been following along, I talk about time a lot and mostly how fast it escapes us. On that theme, as of this month Nine Circles turns three years old. And it’s been an amazing ride thus far. To all writers and contributors, past and present, thank you sincerely. To our readers, thank you from the bottom of our blackened hearts for spending your time with us and being the best audience ever. And to the PR firms, labels, bands and venues we appreciate you. Now, we have metal to get to and truth be told that’s why you came so without further ado: Nameless Hideous Manifestations is a scorcher of a death metal debut from Chile’s Soulrot but also one that will have you rockin your headbanging skills like it’s 1990 again. Life of Agony have finally returned after 12 years with A Place Where There’s No More Pain and truthfully they haven’t missed a step since then and this album is a firm declaration of where they are now — a good place I might add. Buildings return with their third full length You Are Not One of Us (A+ for that title) and it’s a massively dynamic noise/punk/rock album that finds the band at their best yet. And rounding out the opening slots is Duel with Witchbanger, this band just gets better and better at their brand of doom by way of classic heavy rock — proto metal if you will, highly recommended. As usual we have much, much more to get to so jump in and stay awhile. Once more, thank you for spending time with us and we hope to be sending this message out again next year. Continue reading →