stoner rock

Nine Circles ov…Metal I Missed During Blood Red

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Each year I take a break from writing about metal on this site to regale the 10-12 of you who read Blood Red with reviews on horror films from every corner of the globe.  Different sub-genres, different themes…vastly different modes of execution.

Kinda like metal, no?

Anyway, I’ve managed to vaguely keep up with some of what’s been going on in the extreme metal scene a bit, with different sounds catching my ears when I wasn’t knee-deep in Evil Dead homages and terrible, terrible remakes of mediocre horror films.  So for this edition of Nine Circles ov… I wanted to say a few (very few – I’m tapped at the moment after writing over 16,000 words on horror movies) words on some metal that wasn’t coveted here on the site, but managed to stick in my ears long enough to register as something I dug.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.  Continue reading →

Album Review: Lo-Pan – “Subtle”

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lo-pan - subtle

Somewhere in the tangle of stoner metal and hard rock, where the sinew of heavy distortion meets the sweet muscle of melody and hook, lay the spark of what just might be my favorite kind of music.  Hard, biting, but never afraid to grab onto a hook and hold on for dear life.  Sometimes you want to roar and smash your head, and sometimes you just want to close your eyes, reach out to the universe and sing along loud enough to let it know you exist, you matter, and you feel the connection the music brings.

The point being, again (for those that missed it the last time): Lo-Pan.  Specifically their new album Subtle, which is anything but when it comes to my adoration for it. Continue reading →

Nine Circles ov…Red Lead Media & PR

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red lead media

“But hey,” you ask.  “Where do all those promos come from?”

They come from PR groups, my friends.  Many, many PR groups.  Inboxes get stuffed to the gills with pleas for some kind of coverage, whether its a review, interview, profile, track premiere…and as the release date for an album gets closer and the reminders come in, it can get even more overwhelming.  But with so much music out there, having a good PR person in your corner can make the difference between selling your album to six of your friends and family, and getting exposure (any exposure) to an audience that can pick up and carry your work forward.  I’d say PR groups are a necessary evil, except my experience as both a writer and a musician has found, for the most part, these dogged flag wavers to be anything but evil.

And so I thought for this edition of Nine Circles ov… I’d highlight the music that’s come to my attention via Jadd and the folks from Red Lead Media & PR.  Focusing on punk and hard rock in a variety of styles (not to mention being the in-house PR division for Magnetic Eye Records) there’s a healthy variety of music below so keep cool and dig in.  Who knows, maybe something will take your fancy…. Continue reading →

Album Review: Spaceslug – “Eye the Tide”

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Spaceslug - Eye the Tide

Spaceslug.  The very name implies the music contained therein.  Swirling cosmic waves of fuzz that move along slowly, inexorably to some distant unknown horizon.  Releasing their third full length and fourth overall album in a little over two years, Eye of the Tide sees the Polish band moving in a heavier melange of doom and post-rock aggression that keeps the foundation of psychedelic stoner rock from losing the thread.   Continue reading →

Nine Circles ov…2018: A Mid-Year Report

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2018 mid year report

We’re about to hit the mid-point of the year, and as ever the amount of quality releases seems to increase with each passing breath.  I’ve spent some portion of attention to 183 metal releases so far, and in a year where I find my personal tastes drifting more and more away from metal there’s always something that manages to pull me back in.  So far there doesn’t seem to be a particular genre or style pressing its nose against the Trend Window™ (unless you count the amount of sax going on I guess…) and I’ve been surprised at the sheer variety of music pulling at my nerve endings these past six months.

So similar to last year, consider this edition of Nine Circles ov… a snapshot.  It’s a measure of a point in time, personal to me and indicative as to where my head’s at halfway through the shitstorm that is 2018.  And since that’s probably all the justification I’m going to give, so let’s do this. Continue reading →