Profile: Los Angeles’ Caustic Death/Doom Quintet Civerous

civerous band 2024


Are you shocked that we here at Nine Circles are fans of the death metal? Particularly the soiled filth attack that routinely comes out of the 20 Buck Spin stables and – even more specifically – the unique onslaught brought to bear by Los Angeles five-piece Civerous. Our own Vince reviewed their debut album Maze Envy here, and hell – even I got in on the action after picking up the vinyl over on my own site. Bassist Drew Horton took some time away from engaging the world with his sick tone (seriously – check out the bass sound on “Shrouded in Crystals”) to answer our Profile questions, expounding on the joys of seeing younger faces in the scene, and lighting the torch for some Kook Keith. Check it out after the jump and don’t sleep on Maze Envy…it’s a killer.

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Profile: Post-hardcore outfit Sons of Alpha Centauri

Our first artist profile of 2024 features UK/US-based post-hardcore act Sons of Alpha Centauri, a project that features members of Far, Will Haven, and more. Fresh off the release of Pull, their endlessly captivating fourth LP, which is out now through Exile On Mainstream, founding bassist Nick Hannon took a few moments to answer our questions and share more about SOAC, moments in their history, thoughts on the current scene, and much more. Give it a read after the jump and be sure to smash that play button on Pull before you do.

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Profile: Portland’s Felsenmirror

Felsenmirror

Sometimes the best things happen purely out of chance but end up being excellent experiences in this human vacuum we’re all living in. Such is the case with Portland Oregon’s atmospheric / black / doom metal project Felsenmirror. Pure happenstance brought us together and here we are with their Profile and new friends to boot. If you’re not familiar, Felsenmirror play a very emotionally driven and ultra thick brand of atmospheric blackened doom metal. You all know we hate those RIYL things so none of that here but, the four tracks on their current self-titled album (released in January of this year) are nothing short of stunning. The weight of “Embodied Spirits” alone is worth the price of admission but you’ve also got the pained vocals of “The Truth Reveals Itself in the Dark” that tugs on the heartstrings to a point it almost hurts… I could go on and on here about how great this album is and why but, you need to read how this Profile went down then, or now, go grab yourself a copy of this via the links contained within.

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Profile: Samantha and Andrew Marandola of Oldest Sea

Doom and the words “beautiful,” “angelic,” “euphoric” generally don’t go together but in the more than capable hands of husband and wife duo Oldest Sea, those terms take on a life of their own on their latest full length A Birdsong, A Ghost. Some of you can’t function without a RIYL but a) we don’t do those and b) just trust us here and take a chance. Obviously any music is all about perspectives but this thing, to me, is…let’s put it this way: in prep for this I curled up with an excellent coffee, my dog, a warm camp blanket, and my best headphones and was completely blown away for 40 minutes as I all but forgot about earthly problems and stressors. It’s doom with a pulse, a heart, and a unique life all its own. Subsequent listens proved better and better so it’s a win, win situation. We had the opportunity to pose this duo of Samantha and Andrew Marandola our set of Profile questions in hopes of pulling back the curtains just a bit so keep reading to see how it all went down. And, do not miss this album – we dropped links everywhere in this post so do the needful.

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Profile: Death Doom Duo Nott

Nott
Image courtesy of Cole Paramore

Some bands can go lifetimes and never explore their music, never take it that next step, or never just experiment and take some liberties. Nott, on the other hand, are unafraid to peer off that cliff and take the plunge. On Hiraeth, the band’s sophomore full length, the proverbial ‘doom gloves’ are off and it’s bare knuckles raining down. Not gone completely are the tech death flourishes from The Wretched Sounds but these are used very sparingly here as each track is packed with some of the most whip smart songwriting and whip ass bleakness we’ve heard in some time. So, it’s not a complete about face into the abyss but it is a HUGE leap forward for a band that already had a knockout punch of a debut. We don’t want to spoil it too much so we’ll stop there and give you the outcome of posing our Profile questions to guitarist, basist, and vocalist Tyler Campbell and drummer Julia Geaman. Head below and check it out and be sure to support the band buy grabbing your own copy from the links contained within.

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