slowdive

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 248 (9.10.2022)

Chris1 Comment
playlist - mixtape

My work is cut out for me this week. Ladies and gentlemen, today the Brothers Martinek™ celebrate a birthday. Which makes this playlist for them. Which means you’re going to get more Mountain Goats and Broken Social Scene and indie sad alt goodness than either you or I expected or intended.

Don’t worry, though. The others are still around with more extreme offerings…although who’s to say which is more extreme in the context of a metal site’s playlist? Bloodbath or My Bloody Valentine? Rotborn or Ride? Anyway, expect that as well as tracks from A Pregnant Light, Blackbraid, Judicator, Holy Fawn, Cloudrat, Black Anvil, Whitespade, Psionic Madness, Spitpool, Lamentations, as well as a slew of other tracks to kick your weekend off right.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

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– Chris

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 244 (8.13.2022)

ChrisLeave a comment
playlist - mixtape

Can we all agree the world is a garbage fire right now? I think we can all agree. We might not agree on the reasons WHY we think it’s a garbage fire, but maybe we can all unite under the commonality that the flames are curling ever closer to our toes. And if not, there’s always metal, right?

And to that end we’re kicking off the 244th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist with a couple veterans churning out some kille rnew music, like the latest from Megadeth and the reunion of Fates Warning alums Ray Alder and Mark Zonder in the aptly named A-Z. Plus we have razor sharp slices of new (not nu) metal from the likes of Sigh, Sumerlands, The Antichrist Imperium, Liminal Shroud and Arch Enemy. Plus some off the beaten path tracks from bands like Slowdive and Ride before jumping back into extremity with Black Anvil, In Flames, The Answer Lies in the Black Void and more!

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Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week.

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– Chris

Best of 2017: Dan’s Rainbows in the Dark Edition

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9C 2017 EOY Header Image

I know I’m far from the only person on our staff capable of writing an end-of-year Rainbows in the Dark post, but I guess I called “dibs” first? So here we are. As you may recall, I made a point to keep my 2017 metal recap strictly metal. So now that 2018’s here, we’ll take a look back at 2017-in-Non-Metal, and keep it strictly non-metal. And don’t worry, this one will be a much shorter read than the metal list. (That’s not to suggest that these aren’t as good, or are less worth of extended written rants; it’s to suggest that at this point, I’m just kinda tired of writing about music from 2017.)

One stipulation: again — despite what the title may imply — I’m not suggesting these are the Best of 2017. I can’t make that call. These are just some albums I enjoyed from outside the metal spectrum. Okay. That’s it. Let’s get started…  Continue reading →

Nine Circles ov…My Metal “Retreat”

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beach-guitar

Man cannot live on metal alone.

“Blasphemy!” you may cry, but true…at least in this dude’s case.  The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of stress and activity as I turned another year older, paid another bill, worked another late night, blah blah blah.  It gets to a point sometimes when you just need to clear your head and take a little time for yourself.  Not to mention that after a while when you’re digesting promo after promo you run the danger of not giving the music the attention it warrants.  And you start to look for shortcuts.  “Well,” you tell yourself, “I heard the first four songs, I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to really change my mind about this thing.” Or worse, you start just leaning more and more on the materials in the press release: “Oh! A cross of Joan Baez and Incantation?  But with drone elements?  I’ll say a mix of Joni Mitchell and Malevolent Creation with, uh….fuck it, drone elements.”

You know what I’m taking about.  For me, it’s a matter of disconnecting in order to reconnect.  And there’s been plenty of music I’ve been discovering over the past few months that have helped me to reconnect with what it is I love about loud noises.  So for this edition of Nine Circles ov… I want to share a few of the records that have been recharging the batteries and re-calibrating the heavy sensors.  Let’s dig in.   Continue reading →