Best of 2018: Chris’s Honorable Mentions List

EOY 2018 Header 9C

We’ll save the long-winded rhetoric for the final list.  There’s fifteen albums listed here that are categorized as “Honorable Mentions” because that’s typically how these list things work.  But in reality it’s a disservice to relegate the incredible music contained herein to a tier of “also ran.”  I spent much of the year thinking about what I needed music to do for me, and hunting for the songs, the bands, and the albums that worked – selfishly – for me.  All of the albums listed below work on me and for me: pushing me to move further, holding me back when I’ve gone too far.  I can’t ask for much more than that.  Last year I titled my honorable mentions albums #40-26, but in truth a number can’t define the reinforcement and excitement this music provided.

So let’s dive in and talk about them for a spell. Continue reading

The Nine Circles Audio Thing: Imperial Triumphant was July 2018’s Album of the Month!

How ’bout that new podcast logo, huh? HUH? Anyway, it’s mid-August, and that means it’s time to look back at July for our latest Album of the Month podcast. This month’s honoree: Imperial Triumphant!

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Album Review: Imperial Triumphant – “Vile Luxury”

Imperial Triumphant - Vile Luxury

Every once in a while, an inventive style of music full of creative vitriol and an album representative of its sound and ethos comes to encapsulate the character and essence of New York City, captured in time and place. Like music, the City keeps on evolving, mutating, shedding its skin and confronting its internal parasites as part of a grand struggle between a glorious past, the crossroads of the present and the paradigm shift and rebirth looming on the horizon, so bright and violent that it burns retinas. In 2018, Imperial Triumphant take up the torch and joins this lineage with Vile Luxury. Continue reading

Profile: New York’s Dark and Challenging Metallers Imperial Triumphant

Imperial Triumphant
Imperial Triumphant

Happy 4th everyone. Initially, there was a thought of holding this until after the holiday but listening to and experiencing Imperial Triumphant is equivalent to the most dazzling fireworks display ever. So, we rolled with it. The band will be releasing their newest sonic adventure, Vile Luxury, next week via Gilead Media in the US and Throatruiner in Europe. Experiencing Vile Luxury is somewhere along the lines of rolling up to a late night 60s style jazz club and witnessing a collaboration with your favorite black / death metal band. Only, this black / death metal band just happens to be one of the best examples of what avant-garde, progressive, and downright visionary really means. It’s carefully controlled chaos that shines a dark light on their theme of society’s — particularly their own home turf — downfall and through the use of extremely packed song structures they carve a bleak picture yet keep listeners returning for more since there’s simply no way to dissect this beast on one or even ten listens. Even more than that, Vile Luxury is the most cohesive effort from the band to date. Yes, true statement.

I could go on and on but I’m calling it there. Keep an eye out for a full review in the coming days. Until then, we recently had the chance to ask Kenny Grohowski (drums) and Zachary Ilya Ezrin (guitars, vocals) our set of Profile questions to dig a little deeper into the band. Check it out below and be sure to grab your own copy from the links contained within.

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