slegest – Nine Circles

Nine* Circles ov…What “Didn’t” Make My 2018 End of Year List (But Could Have)

December 11, 2018December 12, 2018Chris6 Comments

EOY 2018 Header 9C

* SPOILERS: it’s gonna be 20 albums…buckle your seat belts.

I told myself this year I was going to take it easy – do the Honorable Mentions, get the final list out, and put 2018 to rest. On a global, national, and personal front the year’s been pretty much a disaster from the start, and the quicker I can put it in my rearview mirror the better. But the more I tweaked and played with my end of year selections (thank you Trello for making that shit so easy) the more I realized that – like always – music was the thing that propped me up and made every setback if not better, at least tolerable. And when the dust cleared from all the list building I found a huge excess of albums that didn’t make my lists but easily could have on another day. Everything is interchangeable; we are not the people we were even a moment ago, and those experiences constantly inform our perspective on the world, metal albums included. Continue reading →

Second Circle: Slegest and Ævangelist

November 15, 2018November 13, 2018Josh2 Comments

Second Circle

Life is all about contrasts. Some big, some small, some noticeable and some not so much. But in the end, without them, this would be a boring and laborious life. With that said, for this edition of Second Circle I’m taking a look at two albums that are sharp and stark in their contrasts but both have made an indelible impact on my listening habits as of late and both stood out instantly as albums I’d be engrossed in for different reasons and for some time to come. These albums are Slegest‘s Introvert and Ævangelist‘s Matricide In the Temple of Omega. Continue reading →

Initial Descent: November 11 – 17, 2018

November 12, 2018December 1, 2018JoshLeave a comment

By the time this goes to print, I’ll be on the way back from the Holy City where I’ll have indulged in breweries, old architecture and a graveyard or two (hey, old architecture there too) but for sure will have several of this week’s new offerings in my ears for the duration. What exactly is new this week? Read on to find out…

Kicking this thing off in grand fashion is the ever suffocating and esoteric maelstrom of darkness that is Ævangelist on Matricide In the Temple of Omega, this is a band that defies categorization but always pushes the boundaries of black and death metal as well as its listener’s limits. Don’t just sample it, completely bury yourself in its hour of audio terror. Next up is Ghostly White from Deceased who over the course of 30 years and some change have put out consistently great death metal and this eighth full length is no exception but furthermore after all this time the band seems to have more energy than ever and dare I say the best chops yet. Moving along is Introvert from Norway’s Slegest which really scratches that black ‘n’ roll itch I get from time to time, this things just rocks. Period. Last in this week’s opening four is Arête with their debut full length Hymnal which expands on everything that made their 2016 EP such a hit. They’ve taken a genre tag, atmospheric black metal, and offered us the very definition of its parts – as the weather turns cold this is an outstanding companion to steal away from the surrounding world and its crazed pace.