obsidian kingdom

CANTO: Cryptosis, Voivod, Obsidian Kingdom, and More

CoreyLeave a comment
cryptosis - bionic swarm

I took a day off from work today, and still barely found time to get this done. Life is hard.

  • Cryptosis have announced a free Bionic Swarm release show tomorrow, April 24th. That starts at 2:45 PM EST, and you can join the event here. That album dropped back on March 26th, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, be sure to scoop it up ASAP.
  • Oh shit, another stream event. Two of them actually! Voivod have announced streaming shows on May 30th and June 27th, the second and third installment of the “Hypercube Sessions”. You can purchase tickets for each event individually, or as a bundle.
  • Swedish prog-rock collective TheNightTimeProject have released a new standalone track, “Merkurius”. That’s available on all digital platforms, but Dronicon Films directed a video for it, so that’s obviously what we’re going to share here.
  • In case you missed the premiere during Roadburn Redux, you can take a peak at a live performance from Obsidian Kingdom for “Womb of Wire” here. That footage is taken from last December’s AMFest.
  • Capra released a new video today for “Medusa”, and that sounds like the right thing to wrap up the week with. In Transmission is officially out today through Blacklight Media/Metal Blade, so be sure to pick it up here.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

Best of 2020: Zyklonius’s List

Zyklonius2 Comments
Best of 2020

In 2020, time became a melting flat circle and the concept of eternal recurrence became far too real, mundane and inescapable. Thankfully the high quality of metal released during the year provided solace, perspective and inspiration that helped endure the blizzard of blurring days, weeks and months. Time lost all structural integrity and meaning also in the sense that you will find full-length albums, EPs and even single-track releases on my list, owing to their excellence, innovation, enjoyability, distinct identity and sound as well the evolutionary leaps the featured bands took. The fact that I could omit from my list so many fantastic releases, from the likes of Afterbirth, Havukruunu, Mare Cognitum & Spectral Lore, Serocs, Sweven, Wake and Wills Dissolve, is simply indicative of the sheer quantity of stellar-grade metal in 2020. The list is long and full of flowery prose elaborating why these particular releases resonated with me, so enough with the prefacing.

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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 140 (8.1.2020)

VincentLeave a comment

playlist - mixtape

Did we get the date wrong in the title of last week’s column? When time has no meaning anymore, who can say? All we know is that THIS week’s playlist is jammed full of a diverse mix of what we’ve all been listening to this week, from Anhedonist (RIP Kim Harrington and thank you for some of my favorite riffs ever written) to Obsidian Kingdom’ new single, to Margo Price and Diarrhea Planet. Get in there and find something good.

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– Vincent

CANTO: Wolves In The Throne Room, Obsidian Kingdom, Tomorrow’s Rain, and More

CoreyLeave a comment

wolvesinthethroneroom.2.17.18.52-4100

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

Best of 2016: Zyklonius’ List

Zyklonius9 Comments

Nine Circles Best of 2016 Standard

I am writing this intro blurb on Christmas eve, on Lemmy’s birthday and almost exactly a year after his death. Today, the largest newspaper in Finland published a fascinating article discussing Lemmy’s life (unfortunately in Finnish). The article’s lead paragraph notes the failure of humanity to carry on without Lemmy and the shockwave his death created, paving the way for 2016 in all its depressing grimness. Continue reading →