zeal and ardor – Nine Circles

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 333 (4.27.2024)

April 27, 2024April 26, 2024JoshLeave a comment

Happy frickin’ Saturday and welcome to the 333rd edition of our weekly mixtape, aka The Nine Circles Playlist. It’s been an insane few weeks release wise so between that and the nearly infinite possibilities of music picks we’ve got a killer playlist for you here this week. I kick things off with 200 Stab Wounds because…hell yea and an acoustic version of a favorite Periphery song of mine. Spoiler here: I do miss Matt Halpern’s presence behind the kit but this track still rules. Elsewhere, our esteemed team of 9C writers have their own favorites to share which include cuts from Hail Spirit Noir, Alcest, YOB, Zeal and Ardor, Zelenaya, Darkthrone, and a ton more.

Get listening. Stay safe. See you next week. Oh, Chris will probably be back next week. He’s off doing metal stuff in case you were wondering.

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— Josh

Best of 2022: Ian’s Honorable Mentions

December 23, 2022December 22, 2022IanLeave a comment

What a year. It’s hard to believe that most of the hubbub and fervor of the last few years is fading into the background (read: not gone, not even a little bit). I feel like for once I had so much going on outside of sitting at home that I felt like it was a little hard to keep up with everything that came out this year, but nonetheless, there were a ton of albums that captivated me and kept me company, and we’re going to start with the honorable mentions. You get it by now: these albums are fantastic, but I only have room in my personal tops for nine albums, so don’t feel like I’m shortchanging any of these. Without further ado, here we go:

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CANTO: Cynic, Opeth, Vile Creature, and More

September 15, 2021September 15, 2021CoreyLeave a comment

I have returned from a long weekend in which I ran way too many miles. Now let’s see how many new singles we can cram into this thing.

Let’s start with Cynic, who have announced new album details and shared a new single. Ascension Codes will be out on November 26th through Season of Mist, and “Mythical Serpents” can be heard at this location.
This is from yesterday, but there’s no doubt I still need to include it. Opeth have announced a fall 2021 tour with Mastodon and Zeal & Ardor. Those dates are in November and early December, and take place at some really cool venues. Hopefully this tour plays out as planned, because I absolutely plan on making this happen.
Vile Creature covered Kittie’s “Paperdoll”, and that sounds like a fun thing to add to the pile today. That’s part of The Flenser’s Send the Pain Below compilation, which you can find a vinyl copy of somewhere in here.
I’m really excited about The Silver, the new group featuring members of Horrendous and Crypt Sermon. So here’s the new track from that project, titled “Breathe”. Their debut, Ward of Roses, drops on October 15th through Gilead Media.
Let’s close with the new video from Aeon, because I’m still excited about their new stuff. Check out the clip for “God Ends Here” below, the title-track from their new album set for an October 15th release through Metal Blade Records.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 183 (05.29.2021)

May 29, 2021May 28, 2021VincentLeave a comment

Welcome to this week’s Nine Circles Saturday morning mixtape playlist. This week, we’ve got the much requested (seriously like four people picked this one) new single from Zeal and Ardor, some classic Necrophagist, and a usual barrage of death metal from our esteemed Editor in Chief. Take a listen below and kick that (hopefully for most of you) long weekend off.

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– Vincent

Best of 2020: Angela’s List

January 14, 2021January 12, 2021AngelaLeave a comment

We all know that 2020 was a very unpleasant year (to say the least). You don’t need me to list all the ways it was awful. We are all painfully aware of the details, and even more so as we look back at our 2020 new year’s resolutions we had made (travel more, drink less; you know). So enough of that, let’s focus on a bit of positivity and good that emerged from the past 12 months. For instance, there were so many new and wonderful musical releases that I could not even keep up. Every new album I listened to brought some joy, some goosebumps, and some pain—but in a good, cathartic way. As usual, my super indecisive self had a difficult time narrowing down the list of favorites. I managed to finally settle(ish) on a list. These selections are different (with the exception of my number one pick) from when I weighed in on the group list and different on the EOY Podcast episode—apologies for the inconsistency but, again, I’m indecisive (and also anxious).

Here are my top 13 as of this moment (because I love all things spooky, and c’mon, we’ve already had all the bad luck brought upon us) and a little list of some nonmetal favorites.

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