morne – Nine Circles

Initial Descent: November 22 – 28, 2020

November 23, 2020November 19, 2020JoshLeave a comment

Turkey week, folks. Do it up. New stuff this week brings us some dissonant black metal from Deveneror, blackened death metal from Azarath that favors speed and brutality, an excellent thrash return from Sodom, and an outstanding live album from Morne. Beyond that, the list is yet again very long so there’s certainly something here for everyone. If you’re reading this and in a band with an upcoming release you want featured here, send us an email with the details. And, if you’re wondering why X band is not featured here, tell us in the comments what we missed and why it should’ve been here. You never know, your favorite might become ours as well. Sharing is caring. Or, something like that.

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CANTO: Morne, Imperial Triumphant, Comatose, and More

November 19, 2020November 19, 2020CoreyLeave a comment

Now the challenging task of re-listening to like 60 albums in the next couple of weeks.

Morne is streaming their Live at Roadburn album, and you should probably go check it out. Hard to find a better way to spend a bleak, cold day in late November.
Atmospheric rock crew Comatose, which features members of Chrome Waves, Amiensus, and Fail To Decay, are releasing their debut on January 22nd. That will be out through Transcending Records, and you can listen to a new track called “Inside” right now.
Imperial Triumphant dropped a new video for “Excelsior”, which premiered over on Heavy Consequence. Alphaville dropped back in the summer, and I’m sure we’ll see it pop up on some EOY lists now that 2020 is almost a wrap.
Finally, a new lyric video from Ruff Majik for “Gregory”. The Devils Cattle is out now through Mongrel Records. Let’s end our day with a little fuzz, yeah?

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

Nine Circles ov…Mistakes Made on End of Year Lists

November 17, 2020November 16, 2020Chris2 Comments

Sometimes you make a snap judgement on an album. Sometimes in the heat of the moment with the hype and the accolades you convince yourself this or that record IS deserving of a place on the list. Sometimes that record takes the place of a record you find yourself listening to constantly years later.

It happens. Even when your annual end of year list(s) top out at close to 50 records after all the hemming and hawing is over with. And so for this edition of Nine Circles ov… in preparation of the 2020 end-of-year ranking I look back at my past lists and find nine albums that, frankly, I made a mistake on.
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Best of 2019: Chris’s List

January 2, 2020January 1, 2020Chris3 Comments

Best of 2019

Fourth verse, same as the first? Or second, or third for that matter?

This is my fourth End of Year List for Nine Circles, and the more the music changes, the more the sentiment stays the same. With each new dance partner our hands clasp; our eyes lock and I see and hear and ask the same thing: What does this do for me? What does it mean? Why this, and not something else?

I tried to spend this year answering those questions, particularly the last one. In a year where I finally acknowledged that – while still important and cherished – metal was no longer the driving musical force in my life, I wanted to understand why the metal that I was drawn to impacted me. What was it about the way this riff, or that vocal line, or that lyric touched me in a way maybe some other song, track, or album didn’t? Continue reading →

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 103 (11.02.2019)

November 2, 2019November 2, 2019ninecirclesadminLeave a comment

playlist - mixtape

Welcome to another Saturday morning playlist. Hope your Halloween was more treat than trick. We’re eschewing the movie clips this week and going back to our regular format. This week, I’m still jamming the new Alcest on repeat, Josh throws the new Schammasch song in, which a few of us are loving, and Chris reminds me take another listen to the last Morne album. Take a listen to these and more down below:

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