Nine Circles

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 410 (10.18.2025) The 410th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist remembers as a kid using two boomboxes to tape Terry Brennan's copy of Destroyer, and being amazing watching KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. Ace Frehley was always the best band member, and his solo output often was better than anything Paul, Gene, and the rest were doing (

RIP Ace. This week's Nine Circles Playlist is dedicated to you. But there's also new music from Coroner, Giöbia, and more.

CANTO: Gaerea, Despised Icon, The Hunt, and More It's Friday night. Hockey is on. I'm drinking out of a spoopy mug. That thing I'm drinking is a beer. Things don't suck. We begin our evening with the melodic death metal newcomers out of Redwood City, The Hunt. A video for their second single, "Onslaught", can be seen here. German industrial metallers Soulbound revealed "Chaos & Amen", the second track…

CANTO: Gaerea, Despised Icon, The Hunt, and More

CANTO: Sleeping Giant, Entheos, Burned In Effigy, and More I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am that tomorrow is Friday. Neoclassical melodic death metal sounds like a fun way to start. Check out the clip from Burned In Effigy for "The Racking" here. That's the third sample pulled from Tyrannus Aeternum, which is out on October 31st. Icelandic stoner doom project Sleeping Giant have signed on with Octopus Rising / Argonauta Records and unveiled the…

CANTO: Sleeping Giant, Entheos, Burned In Effigy, and More

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Album Review: Afsky - “Fællesskab”

https://ninecircles.co/2025/10/16/album-review-afsky-faellesskab/

CANTO: Enthroned, Thunder Rising, Hyperion, and More This is already the longest week ever. At least hockey is back. (Let's see how long I feel that sentiment, shall we?) Finnish metal band Soulgrind shared the second single from Ad Pulchram Mortem, titled "Tears of the Earth". Their 10th album will be out through Inverse Records. Hyperion revealed the first single from their new album, a track titled "Deafening"

CANTO: Enthroned, Thunder Rising, Hyperion, and More

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Album Review: Graveripper - "From Welkin to Tundra"

https://ninecircles.co/2025/10/15/album-review-graveripper-from-welkin-to-tundra/

CANTO: Oromet, Agnostic Front, Drowned in Silver, and More 28 Years Later and.... go! Funeral doom out of Sacramento to start. Oromet are releasing their second full-length album, The Sinking Isle, on November 7th through Hypaethral Records. Check out "Forsaken Tarn" through Bandcamp. Hardcore legends Agnostic Front dropped a new single titled "Matter of Life & Death" which features Darryl "DMC" McDaniels. Check out the video here…

CANTO: Oromet, Agnostic Front, Drowned in Silver, and More

Profile: North Carolina doomers Cosmic Reaper We're bringing the doom in the early stages of this week, and some damn good doom at that. Last month North Carolina's Cosmic Reaper released Bleed The Wicked, Drown The Damned through Heavy Psych Sounds and I'm thrilled to offer it up as our latest feature. Having spent some time with this one already, I can attest to how well Cosmic Reaper celebrates the roots of the genre while still creating something that is uniquely their own.

Profile: North Carolina doomers Cosmic Reaper

CANTO: Liminal Spirit, Wolfbrigade, Ocean of Illusions, and More I have returned from the latest Detroit trip and am only slightly worse for wear. And the Red Wings won a game. Great success! Leading off we have cinematic doom project Liminal Spirit who are releasing the debut full-length album Unwell on October 31st. Give the title track a listen over at Bandcamp. Next up, something totally new. Melodic hard rock/metal entity…

CANTO: Liminal Spirit, Wolfbrigade, Ocean of Illusions, and More

Initial Descent: October 13 – 19, 2025 An Abstract Illusion Fearless Editor™ Josh is recuperating from all the weariness and travel that wrapped him in a hundred different directions last week, so I'm taking the reins on Initial Descent this week, and you know what that means? Uh, basically the same as it always did: highlights and releases for the forthcoming week! And that means I get to spotlight the latest from progressive death metallers…

Initial Descent: October 13 – 19, 2025

An Abstract Illusion Fearless Editor™ Josh is recuperating from all the weariness and travel that wrapped him in a hundred different directions last week, so I'm taking the reins on Initial Descent this week, and you know what that means? Uh, basically the…

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 409 (10.11.2025) The 409th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist only has 11 films left to review in the annual Hooptober horror marathon before he return to metal writing here. Who else is going to tell you how great the new single from Howling Giant is? Or that the latest from Sanguisugabogg is their best yet? Or that OG thrashers Testament…

Another Saturday, another beefy playlist for you, featuring new music from Howling Giant, Primitive Man, and more!

Album Review: God Alone – The Beep Test When ETC came out in 2022, I immediately jumped on it because of how much it didn’t sound like anything else out there. “Risky” was the word I used, if I recall correctly, but without risk there is no reward, and for God Alone, the reward was great. County Cork’s native sons blew up into the spotlight, and for good reason.

Can you pass The Beep Test? God Alone knows, and now Ian does too in his new review.

Album Review: Terzij de Horde – Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone About three years ago I wrote about In One of These, I Am Your Enemy, a dense album that dealt with the perception of reality and how the choices we make are both influenced by others and driven by our own autonomy. It haunted me, its themes staying so close it managed to rank very high in my 2022 AOTY list…

There's a new Terzij de Horde out, and Hera wrote about it.

Profile: Swedish melodic death/thrashers Vittra One more Profile this week, and this time we have Swedish outfit Vittra. They just released their second full-length album Intense Indifference back in September, and it's one you should absolutely add to your list. Inspired by the mythical creatures of Swedish folklore, Vittra offers something in both theme and sound for all fans of melodic death metal and thrash, so I'd say it's about time we all dive into the new record.

Profile: Swedish melodic death/thrashers Vittra

Album Review: Fauna — Ochre & Ash Album Review: Fauna - "Ochre & Ash"

Album Review: Fauna — Ochre & Ash

Album Review: Fauna - "Ochre & Ash"

Profile: Chicago riff-drivers Motherless Oh look. Another killer project and album I missed from last month. But I assure you, I am making up for the lost time. Chicago's Motherless released Do You Feel Safe? through Prosthetic Records, and it is one hell of a debut. But that shouldn't be much of a surprise. Stavros Giannopoulos and Alex Klein of The Atlas Moth came together with Gary Naples and Anthony Cwan of Without Waves and they certainly brought the riffs.

Profile: Chicago riff-drivers Motherless

CANTO: Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin, Primitive Man, I See Stars, and More 24 hours and it's time to jump on another plane. After a day in Boston. I'll catch you all next week! We'll start with something I'm really excited about. Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin announced the impending release of Stygian Bough Vol. II, set to arrive on November 14th through Profound Lore. Check out "Waves Became The Sky".

CANTO: Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin, Primitive Man, I See Stars, and More

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Album Review: Morke - "To Carry On"

https://ninecircles.co/2025/10/07/album-review-morke-to-carry-on/

CANTO: Blue Heron, Abominator, Kontusion, and More I get back on a plane in two days. Wild. To start, Australian outfit Abominator revealed the second track from their upcoming new album. Give "Covens for Azmodeus" a listen here. Their sixth album, The Fire Brethren, is out on October 31st through Hells Headbangers. Death metallers Kontusion (who we recently profiled) have some East Coast dates coming in December…

CANTO: Blue Heron, Abominator, Kontusion, and More

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Initial Descent: October 06 - 12, 2025

https://ninecircles.co/2025/10/06/initial-descent-october-06-12-2025/

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 408 (10.04.2025) The 408th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist left early for a wedding and Parents Weekend, so fingers crossed this gets published! Anyway lots of cool stuff (I'm assuming - I'm not here, remember?) including new Forbidden, some Direwind, and uh, new Ghost filtered through VHS? I dunno, looked cute, might delete later. The 9C crew will cover all there est of your needs, with some killer tracks from the likes of…

Another weekend, another playlist full of stuff that'll get you moving, like Defeated Sanity and Direwind!

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Album Review: Agriculture - “The Spiritual Sound”

https://ninecircles.co/2025/10/03/album-review-agriculture-the-spiritual-sound/

Profile: Australian metal/hardcore crew Nicolas Cage Fighter In case you missed it, there were a lot of awesome releases in September, and I'm still crawling my way through the pile. Next on my list, the (awesomely-named) Nicolas Cage Fighter. The four-piece metal/hardcore outfit out of Ballarat, Victoria released their debut, The Bones That Grew From Pain, back in 2022, and now they're back a few years later with…

Profile: Australian metal/hardcore crew Nicolas Cage Fighter

CANTO: Lamb of God, The Narrator, Mental Cruelty, and More I sure am looking forward to the schedule opening up a bit... in like a month. Eh, maybe I'm not. We open with an obvious one. Lamb of God are back with "Sepsis", their first new song since 2022's Omens. That single is out through Epic Records. Pick your preferred streaming platform here. Italian black metal band Vacua…

CANTO: Lamb of God, The Narrator, Mental Cruelty, and More

Profile: Connecticut noise rock entity Intercourse Again gang, I'm back from the woods and waters of California, and I'm here to bring you some fresh noise rock straight out of Connecticut. Intercourse have been on a release-per-year pace going back to their formation and 2013, and earlier this month they gave us How I Fell In Love With The Void via Brutal Panda Records. It's for outsiders, it's intense, and I most certainly dig it.

Profile: Connecticut noise rock entity Intercourse

CANTO: Pupil Slicer, 1349, Soul Blind, and More I am back from a long and grueling run along the California coast, amongst other things! And then right back down to Boston tomorrow. We'll start with militant black metal project Hammerfilosofi and the new track "Funeral Veil". That's the first to be revealed from Signum, which is out on October 31st through Osmose Productions. 1349 announced a new live album, …

CANTO: Pupil Slicer, 1349, Soul Blind, and More

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Initial Descent: September 29 - October 05, 2025

https://ninecircles.co/2025/09/29/initial-descent-september-29-october-05-2025/

Receiving the Evcharist: Nibiridis and Pipeworks Brewing Company We’re back with a little day-drinking Sunday special: just a little something to dull the pain of the end of the weekend and prepare your mind, body and spirit for the beginning of another long slog. Drink from the cup of heresy. This week’s offerings: Nibiridis’ Knight’s Heart and Pipeworks Brewing Company’s Oak Aged Märzen Lager.

Receiving the Evcharist: Nibiridis and Pipeworks Brewing Company

The Nine Circles Playlist Vol. 407 (09.27.2025) The 407th edition of the Nine Circles Playlist is overwhelmed with the 12th annual Hooptober Horror Marathon as well as a near-unhealthy obsession with the Grateful Dead at the moment, so I'm going to let others steer the course of the playlist this week, lest you get nothing but extended jams of "Viola Lee Blues" and different configurations of "Help On The Way>Slipknot>Franklin's Tower".

Once again we're here for your weekend musical needs, featuring new tracks from Voidceremony, Revocation, and Psychonaut.

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Album Review: Mors Principium Est – "Darkness Invisible"

https://ninecircles.co/2025/09/26/album-review-mors-principium-est-darkness-invisible/