What can I say? Sometimes it’s not that the promo pile is brimming over with releases and you miss out on a few things, sometimes you just get so caught up you simply forget. You miss the signs that something you’ve been waiting for forever slips by (ahem, *Hällas*) or that one album your friend has been telling you is damn good and you need to hear it and…you don’t. Sometimes a band you love just ups and sneaks one past you without a word.
And sometimes…sometimes children…you don’t get a promo at all.
We’re not complaining; we’re a small site and we do this for the simplest of reasons, and whether or not that also happens to feed the vicious masochistic streak hiding below our tender skins well, so be it. So for this edition of Nine Circles ov… let’s check out a few that got away.
We’re back, and it feels like Spring is really starting to take a hold. I’ve been re-organizing my vinyl collection the past few days, figuring out just where the hell everything is going to fit and how I’m going to explain to my wife why I need to take over another room before the next stack arrives. First world problems to be sure, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use it to kick off the 225th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist, you know?
We’re gonna kick things off with some of the surprises I’ve discovered the last week, starting with new music from Michael Romeo, who brings the heavy prog I crave from Symphony X on his new solo joint. Anton ups the tech factor with some ripping new Inanimate Existence and follows it up with Luminous Vault and Lustmord collaborating with The Ocean. Josh digs into the dank earth of death metal to give light to Analepsy, Visceral Explosion, and Flesh Configuration before shaking things up a bit with Downcross and Real Steel. Vincent goes wide as usual with the newest single from Devil Master, Tzompantli, Falls of Rauros and deep cut from the Pieces of April soundtrack by Stephin Merrit. Hera returns to the playlist and brings Ibaraki, Ghost, Terzij de Horde, Playgrounded, Sadist, and something I’m assuming is called You May Kiss the Bride? I don’t know..it’s heavy though! Next up is Angela bringing some long awaited new music from Meshuggah as well as Frayle, Amenra, and Bhleg. Once again bringing up rear guard is Buke, and he’s chock full of great stuff, from the new Haunt single to some real old classic Opeth, Morbid Angel, Ripping Corpse, Autopsy, and finally some truly classic prog in the way of the might Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
A renewed sense of panic and crushing weight settles in…ah, it’s Monday again. But, fear not, the memes will come hot and fresh, the sun will come out this week, AND we’ve got a full clip of new metal that consists of more treats than tricks this week starting off with Atlanta’s black metal practitioners Vimur returning with their third offering and this one blisters their previous material, Meshuggah roar back to life after a six year slumber and whether you call them tech or djent, they still got it in spades, traditional heavy metal gets a swift kick in the ass from both Satan and Wolf, and, as always, a full list of other stuff to explore. Just FYI: as much as we try to feature as many releases as possible, we miss them occasionally so if we’ve missed any here, or in the future, feel free to drop them in the comments so everyone can benefit. And, if your (metal of some sort) band wants to be featured here, click on our about page to find our email and send us one. We’d love to hear from you…probably.
Each week seems to be slightly weirder than the last.
Midnight has their new album out today, Let There Be Witchery, so we’ll lead off with the new video for “Szex Witchery”. It’s a lot of fun, I promise. Anyway, their fifth full-length is out through Metal Blade, just in case you still need it.
SepticFlesh have a new album on the horizon. Modern Primitive is scheduled for a May 20th release through Nuclear Blast. The first single taken from their 11th album, “Hierophant”, is available here.
As long as Meshuggah keeps unveiling new material, I’m going to keep sharing it. “Light The Shortening Fuse” is the latest track taken from Immutable, which drops on April 1st through Atomic Fire.
And we’ll wrap up with the new video from The Defaced. Their new album, Charlatans, is also out today through Sound Pollution, and the new video for “Wreck” is immediately below.
Hey! I officially, and finally, have an order for the latest Stormkeep vinyl locked in!
Starting with Spirit Adrift is always a sound decision. They’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power with a cover of “Hollow”. Check out the visualizer here.
Ithaca is popular around these parts, so let’s check out their new stuff. The video for “They Fear Us” is available here, the title-track from their new album. That’s out on July 29th through Hassle Records.
So, I hadn’t listened to Allegaeon in a minute, but I have to say that I am very impressed with Damnum. As such, here’s their new video for “Vermin”, taken from that album, which is out now on Metal Blade.
Adding a little blackened/industrial doom to the pile, we have the new clip from Culted for “Dirt Black Chalice”. That’s taken from their 2019 mini album, Vespertina Synaxis – A Prayer For Union and Emptiness.
And, of course, we’re closing the week with the new (and very impressive) video from Meshuggah for “The Abysmal Eye”. Immutable is out on April 1st through Atomic Fire.
Nine Circles 