the wandering daughter

Best of 2018: Chris’s List

Chris8 Comments

EOY 2018 Header 9C

What does music do for you?

In the end, it’s the only question that matters.  An admittedly hard question to hear, what with the screaming of every opinion in every corner of the internet, but in the end when you step away from the noise and muck of screen shouting and scene guarding it’s your opinion in the end.  Every year that I’ve written an end of year list for Nine Circles it’s been a variation of the same theme: when we write about music, we’re writing about ourselves.  What matters is what the music does to you, and only for you.

But what’s the point, if you’re really only writing for yourself? Continue reading →

Nine Circles ov…Recent Albums I Only Have Time to Review in One Sentence

Chris2 Comments

9C inbox

Sometimes you hit that point in your inbox where you just want to take the poor thing outside and put it out of its misery.  The glut of things unassigned, unread or untouched is a sight to behold.  We tread in fear of accidentally clicking on a link and having the whole thing fall in on our heads, Romanian hardcode tolling against the latest skate punk out of California busting heads with Australian progressive black metal and whatever the hell that weird buzzing sound is coming out of Europe.

It is, as they say in the parlance of the time, swole.

So for this edition of Nine Circles ov…. I thought I’d try to run through a few recent releases and give them a little space here on the site, and also ease the burgeoning hemorrhage our inbox is suffering.  But time is short, and I can already see the next wave of promos coming in, so we’re gonna make this quick and relegate each release to a single sentence.  Ready? Set? Go!   Continue reading →

Premiere: Piah Mater – “Solace In Oblivion”

ninecirclesadmin3 Comments

Piah Mater - The Wandering Daughter

With a Profile appearance and a top slot in Initial Descent, Brazil’s Piah Mater have made a big impact, with their forthcoming The Wandering Daughter, here in the halls of Nine Circles. Their truly progressive approach to death and black metal is robust, forward thinking and memorable. Now, I know progressive is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days but when a band actually favors or promotes change and innovation within their music as this trio does they’ve earned the right to flaunt the tag with impunity. Today, we are extremely pleased to bring you a premiere of the album’s second track “Solace In Oblivion” which is an excellent example of everything just mentioned and furthermore is an ambitious statement for a relatively young band. Head directly below to hear and experience it for yourself. Continue reading →

Profile: Kalki Avatara of Piah Mater

Josh5 Comments
Piah Mater
Piah Mater

In metal, when I see Brazil as a band’s locale my brain automatically goes to blood curdling death metal or chants of ‘ROOOOOOTS.’ And because of that I’d never associate it with a powerfully progressive death metal band sporting a hint of black metal and veiled in rock regalia but Piah Mater have officially changed my reaction on this matter. If you’ve listened to their solid debut Memories of Inexistence I’m sure you’re already aware of their proximity to Opeth and Enslaved (not a bad place to be). On their upcoming second album, The Wandering Daughter, they won’t be shedding those comparisons but as much as they’ve grown musically since 2015 they can stand tall as a band that ACTUALLY pulls this marriage off. And does it extremely well I might add. Comparisons alone don’t tell the real, or whole, story but the thought provoking and ingenious songwriting, extremely talented chops, and impressive vocal range do – and a beautifully memorable story it is. Just ahead of the October 5 release date, we had the chance to ask drummer Kalki Avatara our set of Profile questions, read on to see what he had to say and don’t miss the links contained within to grab your copy. Continue reading →