The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 78 (05.04.2019)

playlist - mixtape

This is one of those weeks where I sincerely hope you all are doing better than I am.  As you can probably tell by my absence in our Friday column, I am laid up with all manner of plague, illness, and devilry this week.  The one saving grace has been a barrage of good music, both new and old.  The trifecta of new Gilead Media releases have all had their first tracks released, a rip-roaring new single dropped from my hometown heroes Immortal Bird, a stunning new collab between Full of Hell and Lingua Ignota, and the 30th birthday of The Cure’s Disintegration reminded me just what a masterpiece that album truly is.  These things have been carrying me through the week on their shoulders, and I’ll let them speak for themselves in our mixtape playlist below.  Now, to keep watching Diners, Drive-In’s, and Dives to remember a time when solid food was an option for me…

– Vincent

Best of 2018: Josh’s List

EOY 2018 Header 9C

I had a plan in January. The same plan I have every January: to only document the albums that strike a major chord in one way or another. Yet, here we sit in December and I’m debating on at least one or two of my locked list and mourning those who fell off. Don’t take ‘fell off’ as a knock either. It simply means there was no shortage of amazing albums this year and well, I just enjoy the torture of whittling away on my favorites (not).

I’ve spoken at length about how important music is for life in general and how important it is for me as someone that had a finger on the play button for nearly all 8,760 hours that made up this year. EOY lists, I love them – always have and always will. It’s a chance to purge all the best and move on to yet another cycle into the unknown. Fire walk with me through the albums that hit home the hardest… Continue reading

Initial Descent: September 23 – 29, 2018

Hexripper

Blasting into this week with a movie that if you’re a horror fan, is an absolute must: Mandy. You may have heard the hubbub over this thing but I’m here to tell you said hubbub is on point. I won’t spoil it but Nicolas Cage is a beast and there’s a nod to Celtic Frost. Grab it on your favorite VOD platform and get ready to come unhinged. Now, for what you came for: new metal and there’s a heaping platter of it this week so let’s jump in the fire…

Opening this week’s festivities is an album that dropped late last week but I’m including it here because it blew me away with its ferocious nod to the kings of heavy metal but one that we, as heavy metal fans, desperately need to remind us that staying grounded to our roots is extremely important so go immediately and grab a copy of Hexripper’s Demo 2018 – I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun with five songs or the last time I felt such a joyous rush of nostalgia. Next up is Bonehunter with their third full length Children of the Atom and if speed metal laced with black and punk interests you then this is a no-brainer – kick the tires and light the fires folks, the band certainly did here. Ambient black metallers From the Bogs of Aughiska grace us with quite possibly their best, darkest and harshest effort yet with Mineral Bearing Veins which still has my jaw planted firmly on the floor, just sayin’. Closing out these top four with a bang is Valdrin who return with their second full length of occult mythology by way of blackened death metal, Two Carrion Talismans.

So, there’s a peek but this list is longer than we’ve had in recent weeks and all we got is time – I mean, what else are you going to do on a Monday that’s better than this?! Get in there and click those links. Continue reading