heilung – Nine Circles

CANTO: Spectral Voice, Sonata Arctica, Heilung, and More

December 8, 2023December 8, 2023CoreyLeave a comment

I think, maybe, my 2023 list is complete? We’ll see how I feel in an hour.

Sonata Arctica unveiled a new single, accompanied by a lyric video. Check out “A Monster Only You Can’t See” here. Clear Cold Beyond, their new album, will be out on March 8 through Atomic Fire Records.
Heilung premiered a new song at The Game Awards last night in Los Angeles, one written in collaboration with Ninja Theory for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, scheduled for a 2024 release. Check out footage of the performance here.
The debut album from Seltsame Erden, a black metal project out of Germany, is coming early next year. Gedankentempeln officially drops on February 9 through Chaos Records, and it can be streamed in its entirety over on Bandcamp.
Danish progressive metallers Manticora shared a new single and lyric video from Mycelium, titled “Necropolitans”. That album arrives on January 26 through Mighty Music.
I suppose it would be silly to not wrap up with Spectral Voice. At last, a new album is on the horizon. Sparagmos is slated for a February 9 release through Dark Descent Records and a video for “Red Feasts Condensed into One” is available below. Crushing death doom, in all the ways we want it.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

CANTO: Heilung, An Autumn for Crippled Children, Knife, and More

June 14, 2023June 14, 2023CoreyLeave a comment

Two more days until the weekend. Holy Christ.

Heilung have announced some U.S. dates in October and early November, kicking off in Greensboro on October 17. The complete schedule can be found here. As usual, tickets go on sale this coming Friday.
Atmospheric black metal band An Autumn for Crippled Children dropped a new single titled “I See You… But Never Clearly”. That’s the latest from Closure, which is due on August 4 through Prosthetic Records.
This is a European tour I’d love to check out, but won’t be able to: The Ocean and This Will Destroy You. Those dates are in September and October. Tickets go on sale, you guessed it, this coming Friday.
Polish pagan black metal collective Varmia dropped a video for “Dies Tremor”, a track taken from nie nas widzę ahead of its Friday release through M-Theory Audio.
German metal newcomers Knife are releasing their new album, and debut through Napalm Records, on August 25. Preorder Heaven Into Dust here, and give the video for the title-track a watch (and listen) below.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

Rainbows in the Dark: Ian’s Best of 2022

January 1, 2023December 28, 2022IanLeave a comment

Wow, it really has been a while since I’ve visited this column, huh? Things got really busy really fast over here, and it’s kinda hard to sit and write two articles a week when life is finally starting to pick up. However, the tunes did not stop this year, and some of my favorite and most anticipated releases this year were from more than just the metal world. It’s my pleasure to bring you another year of the best of all things metal-adjacent and non-metal. Any of these albums can stand up to the world of buzzsaw guitars, blast beats and screamed vocals. Maybe not in terms of sheer force, but in terms of emotional depth and good times, absolutely. Without further ado, here we go:

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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 243 (8.6.2022)

August 6, 2022August 5, 2022ChrisLeave a comment

Thanks Fearless Editor Josh™ for covering the last two weeks of the playlist while I was away. I survived on a steady diet of alcohol and 80s thrash, and I *think* I got most of it out of my system by now.

Anyway, we’re gonna streamline this thing moving forward. You got tracks from the likes of Warforged, City of Caterpillar, Krisiun, and Amon Amarth, not to mention a whole lot of other stuff that may or may not be heavy. I mean, it’s the 243rd edition of the Nine Circles playlist, after all. What else did you expect? Well, since I’m back maybe you expected some classic rock or maybe some 80s thrash. We’ll see. There will definitely be some Boris, that’s for damn sure…maybe some Incantation, Night Eternal, you know – stuff like that.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

—

– Chris

CANTO: Benighted, Capra, Heilung, and More

June 1, 2022June 1, 2022CoreyLeave a comment

Home from Boston early enough to knock out a Canto? Not bad at all.

Leading off, we have new material for Capra. Here is the video for “Red Guillotine”, a track taken from In Transmission, which dropped last year through Blacklight and Metal Blade. As an aside, be sure to catch them on the road with Whores and Bummer all through this month.
Heilung are releasing their third full-length album on August 19th through Season of Mist, titled Drif. Along with this news, they released a video teaser for a track titled “Anoana”, which can be seen and heard here.
Black metal solo artist Hulder is releasing The Eternal Fanfare MLP through 20 Buck Spin this coming July, and today unveiled the artwork, track list, and most importantly the first single, “Sylvan Awakening”. July tour dates with Skeleton are on the horizon as well.
Let’s close with the new video from Benighted for “Casual Piece of Meat”. It’s pretty damn wild. That’s another sample from their 2020 album, Obscene Repressed, which is out through Season of Mist. If you need to round out your day with some deathgrind, this is a good place to start.