mare cognitum – Nine Circles

Best of 2021: Ian’s Honorable Mentions

December 20, 2021December 18, 2021IanLeave a comment

I really like honorable mentions. When people talk about their favorite albums of any given year, I think I am actually more interested in by what *almost* made the cut than what took the number one spot. It’s so interesting to see where the absolutely arbitrary line gets drawn between “the best” and “the still pretty fucking good”. Once again, I find myself truly hashtag blessed to be in another year where there was so much good metal that I couldn’t bring myself to write just one list. As always, just because these are honorable mentions doesn’t mean they’re not worth your time. This list is just a musical amuse bouche before the real thing, but it is nonetheless delicious on its own.

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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 179 (5.1.2021)

May 1, 2021April 30, 2021VincentLeave a comment

Greetings, fellow travelers of the path, and welcome to another Nine Circles Saturday morning mixtape. This time around, we’ve got a slew of death metal tracks, BIG|BRAVE’s noisy, glorious sludge, a little Alcest, and some classic Tom Waits & newer Steve Von Till to round things out. Check it out below.

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– Vincent

Album Review: Mare Cognitum — “Solar Paroxysm”

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021Vincent2 Comments

My review of Mare Cognitum’s 2016 album Luminiferous Aether was one of the earliest pieces of writing I published when I first started writing for Nine Circles. As such, they are a band that occupies a special place in my heart, not just because I think they are one of the best names in black metal today, but because each album that I have a chance to engage with is a chance to see how both I and they have grown. It feels much like checking in with an old friend, even though Jacob Buczarski wouldn’t know me from Adam, a way to mark the passage of time and the distance we’ve come on our respective journies, and on Solar Paroxysm, it seems the passage of time has left both of us with no patience for fucking around.

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Initial Descent: March 14 – 20, 2021

March 15, 2021March 14, 2021JoshLeave a comment

Last week was a week. Here’s hoping this one isn’t. Who’s ready for live shows? Anyone got a wager for when that’ll be? Will we ever get back to normal? All pertinent questions that no one really has an answer for, but all are questions that burn in all our minds. News to no one, I get it. Anyway, we can dream…I guess. Moving on to some new metal, and at least that rubs me the right way; OLDE are back with their outstanding brand of blue collar doom/sludge (seriously, this thing rules and consequently, this band can do no wrong), Mare Cognitum are still excelling at cosmic black metal, Dvne get massively heavy and surprisingly subdued at the same time (it works, trust me), and how about some slam meets deathcore from Distant who actually do a great job at crushing this genre combo. Go get all these new tunes and dream for the day when we might actually get to see all this live again.

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CANTO: Cannibal Corpse, Culted, Mare Cognitum, and More

February 2, 2021February 2, 2021CoreyLeave a comment

It’s not like there wasn’t any news yesterday, it was more that I didn’t feel like sharing it.

Let’s start with Cannibal Corpse, because updates from them are always fun. Violence Unimagined, their 15th studio album, drops on April 16th through Metal Blade Records. A new single taken from that record, “Inhumane Harvest”, is available for your listening pleasure now.
My favorite news for today, however, comes from I, Voidhanger Records, who announced the release date for the next Mare Cognitum album. Solar Paroxysm drops on March 19th, so snag your pre-order here. Check out a new track over at Invisible Oranges, as well.
Polish stoner doom act Dopelord is dropping a new EP on February 19th titled Reality Dagger. That will be released through Green Plague Records. I tried to find a pre-order link for everyone, but then laziness set in and I moved on.
We’ll wrap up with new music video from Culted for “Maze”, which you can check out below. That’s another sample from Nous, which is out on February 26th through Season of Mist. Here’s that crucial pre-order link, that I did manage to find, as well.