piah mater

Best of 2024: Dan’s List

Dan2 Comments
Best of 2024

Of all the years to have ever yeared, 2024 was certainly one of them.

I can’t even say it was the 2024th of them, because then we’re reducing time to exclusively Christian terms, and… nah, dude. Time existed long before Mary and Joe’s kid and will exist long after folks (someday?) (maybe?) awaken to the fact that he’s much more — though, okay, not exclusively — a mechanism for control and subjugation than a spiritual symbol these days.

I digress. In any case, 2024! Some stuff happened, as it tends to do. I wasn’t a fan of a lot of it, as I tend not to be. But, also, a whole buttload of new metal came out, and here’s where my tendencies fail me: I actually took a more active role in listening to and participating in that stuff throughout the year than I have in… at least five years, if not longer.

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Best of 2024: Chris’s List

Chris3 Comments
Best of 2024

Every year it’s like screaming into the void.

I sit and scramble, fine-tuning, adjusting, and then justifying why I listed albums a certain way. Why albums I listen to way more are in the Honorable Mentions list rather than this one. Why some albums aren’t really metal, why “metal” is not the same as “heavy” and some albums are one, some the other, some both.

Some neither.

In the end, this year, here’s what I came away with: I do this because I love music, and I want this silly website to succeed because behind its CSS scripts and server costs I found lifelong friends and brothers (broyters even, Dan). As frustrating as this scene makes us, as infuriating as the gatekeepers who gatekeep even as they scream about gatekeeping are, in the end there is nothing like sitting back and completely geeking out over an album that moved us, that spoke to us in a way that keeps the light of this silly flame called heavy metal from extinguishing.

So again, once more into the breach. Stoner and Psych callouts are here, Honorable Mentions are here. And now, another 25 albums that rocked my world, to close out the old and welcome in the new. Because if I’ve learned nothing else, it’s that there’s still so much I haven’t heard yet, and so much yet to be created.

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The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 340 (6.15.2024)

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playlist - mixtape

Nothing could stop the 340th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist from making its way into reality, not even my valiant, nigh Herculean efforts to procrastinate do anything other than assemble the playlist for you, the discerning 9C reader. Honestly, much as I would like to talk about how good the new Orden Ogan is, or that the forthcoming Piah Mater will satisfy that nasty “vintage Opeth” sound you’ve been shaking in the streets for, the truth is I haven’t been listening to metal at all. Really, not even the new Black Sites, which despite not having listened to AT ALL is one of my favorite sounds I’ve had beamed into my canals this year.

Nope, haven’t been listening to metal at all…

Good thing the 9C staff have been listening to stuff like Health and Glassing and Uprising and Hail Spirit Noir and Midwife and more awesome bands…some I can’t even pronounce or spell without assistance and so am to be shamed…

There’s also some Cure.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

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– Chris

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 101 (10.19.19)

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playlist - mixtape

Welcome back to number 101 folks.  We may have just hit mixtape number 100 in our weekly series, but the confetti is all swept up and we’re back in business mode here at 9CHQ.  Just kidding, it’s always a party when we do these things, because we love sharing music with you all.  This week, I’m in Yeehaw Mode (TM), our interview wizard Matt is loving the new Toxic Holocaust, and the return of Castle Metal gives us all something to be grateful for.  Check out these and much more (ed: and DEATH METAL) below.

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– Vincent

Best of 2018: Josh’s List

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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 →

Best of 2018: Chris’s List

Chris9 Comments

EOY 2018 Header 9C

What does music do for you?

In the end, it’s the only question that matters.  An admittedly hard question to hear, what with the screaming of every opinion in every corner of the internet, but in the end when you step away from the noise and muck of screen shouting and scene guarding it’s your opinion in the end.  Every year that I’ve written an end of year list for Nine Circles it’s been a variation of the same theme: when we write about music, we’re writing about ourselves.  What matters is what the music does to you, and only for you.

But what’s the point, if you’re really only writing for yourself? Continue reading →