rhythm of fear

I’ve been thinking about Honorable Mentions lately. We differentiate them from our main lists, but in the grand scheme of things every album we call out on the site is an honorable mention: there’s something about the music, about the power the chords and melodies hold over us that warrants notice, that deserves a voice to amplify the message to a wider, often preoccupied world. In a time when we too often use the tools of social media and the internet to confront, to argue, to parrot – even in the name of awareness – toxic behavior, I find myself moving steadily inward, barricading myself from the noise and burying my head in the sonic pulse of drums, guitar, bass, and vocals both sung and shouted, screamed and pitched in ways that insulate me from the static of the world.

But the music, dumbass! It calls for notice, deserves it. And like 2020 and 2021 this is just the start of a conversation, not the end. So once again: 15 records in alphabetical order. Any other day, any other minute from the time I write this it can change. Does that make it any less valid?

Does it matter if I got you to – even for a moment – consider the virtues of these fantastic records?

You decide. In the meantime, let’s do this.

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For the last five days I’ve been trapped, sequestered in this tiny 9’X12′ space not because I’m sick, but because I’m the only one not sick. After more than two and half years my entire family have fallen ill to the COVID, and I attribute my still (reasonably) healthy body to the massive amounts of metal sliding into my brain pan. May this, the 253rd edition of the Nine Circles Playlist, keep you free from illness as well.¹

We’re kicking things off with some Rhythm of Fear, whose brand of thrash has my old man bones quaking with nostalgic joy. From there we have a cut from the recent EP by Asarhaddon which hits that atmospheric black metal button I thought I had tucked away for a while now. Elsewhere the crew is pushing some great stuff, including new cuts from a slew of great bands, including Lamentations, Lost in Kiev, Exhumed, Distant, A Pregnant Light, Woods of Desolation, Envy, and frickin’ Blink-182, which is a big ol’ blast of fun. There’s even more surprises in store, but I don’t want to give away the whole store, you know?

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

—

– Chris

^{1 Listening to copious amounts of metal shouldn’t be the only thing used in the fight against disease. Use your brain, get vaccinated, and maybe wash those hands a little more often, ya filthy animals.}