The Nine Circles Audio Thing

You know how this works...team members take turn picking their favorite each month and As the Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes ( Prosthetic Records ) was Vincent's pick. He had two reasons for doing so; one because it's up his alley and the other...you'll have to listen in to find out. The gang covers a slew of different angles and takes on the album, compares it to previous releases and attempts t...

Over the course of, now, five albums with Family the Smiling Thrush ( Ripple Music ) Boss Keloid have gone from stoner metal to a progressive metal giant. They defy easy categorization and genre tags by keeping fans, and new listeners, on their toes with an amalgamation of styles and varying degrees of heaviness. To put it plain, no one else is doing what this band is doing, nor has the balls to p...

Synthwave is one of those genres that has become a go to for metalheads due to its horror movie kinship, its wildly creative sound and its imagery which at times can mirror some of extreme metal's most enduring gorehounds. Perturbator and James Kent have been at the tip of this spear since Terror 404 back in 2012 and has shown more and more growth and depth on each successive album. Now, with Lust...

Technically Inclined is back! And Hera -- having NOW (but not at the time of recording) newly completed grad school -- has rejoined the fold once again! And this time out, we're talking about Greek progressive death crew Cerebrum and their third album, Iridium . But we're also talking about other stuff! Like Gojira. And how Hera is synesthetic, which mesmerized the hell out of Buke. And also, band...

Anyone familiar with Epitaph era Necrophagist or Obscura or Alkaloid, to name a few, will undoubtedly be familiar with Hannes Grossmann as he was an integral driving force behind all of it. Beyond drumming, he's also a sound engineer and producer with a long list of credits under his belt. As if all that wasn't enough, we're on the eve of his fourth solo album, To Where the Light Retreats , which...

Metal Blade Records has been a household name for metal, and heavier music in general, lovers for longer than some of you listening to this podcast have been alive. Founder, owner, and CEO Brian Slagel had a vision back in 1982 with the first of the Metal Massacre compilation series, to highlight, then, unknown heavy artists. This led to the beginnings of Metal Blade Records and a long standing re...

You know how this works...team members take turns picking their favorite album of the month and In Transmission ( Metal Blade Records and Blacklight Media ) was Ian's pick. This album was pretty much an instant hit, all the way around the back office, as soon as Ian announced it and it has only grown closer and closer to the heart as time has passed. It's an incredibly vicious album but with a dee...

Another round of Technically Inclined ! This time out, Dan and Buke dig into The Faceless , and their second album, Planetary Duality . Planetary Duality came out in 2008 on Sumerian Records, and has since become a well-loved gem within the tech death landscape. It's too bad Dan thought The Faceless played deathcore and never listened to it until just this week! So, how'd the album land with Nine...

Ageless Oblivion just broke a seven year hiatus with the outstanding Suspended Between Earth and Sky . This, their third full length, sees the band's sound veer further towards the ominously atmospheric side of death metal than their last outing, Penthos . This is an album that is as vicious as it is dark and as dense as it is vast. Put in other words, a truly excellent album for death metal fans...

Mount Carcass is the latest from German death metal merchants Endseeker , and it dives deep into that classic old school sound pioneered by the likes of Entombed, Carnage, and Dismember.  Sure, it's easy to grab an HM-2 and tune down to Drop B, but Endseeker bring the songwriting chops and vision to not just emulate the old guard but bring their own modern spin to the genre.  The riffs are tight,...

Bionic Swarm , the debut from Cryptosis has become an early favorite for many of the staff at Nine Circles.  Jamming together old school thrash, progressive death metal, and a healthy dose of symphonic black metal in its arrangements, it's the kind of debut that instantly slams into your skull and rewires your brain.   So it's only natural that Buke not only championed the band and album to everyo...

Welcome back to another edition of Technically Inclined! In Round 3, we took a gander at Quebecois quartet Beyond Creation , and their debut album, The Aura . Beyond Creation formed in Montreal in 2005 and released The Aura via PRC Music in 2011. (Season of Mist later reissued the album in 2013.) While the album can frustrate at times, it also showcases a (then-)young band with a lot of promise --...

You know how this works...team members take turns picking their favorite album of the month and Through the Gate Eternal ( Boris Records ) was Josh's pick. This album fast became a favorite due to its blistering blackened thrash and its self awareness as well as its devilishly on point song titles and nods to the old guard of metal. There's plenty of back and forth on how this album forces involun...

Capra has caught lightning in a bottle on their upcoming full length debut In Transmission . It's equal parts metal, punk, and hardcore but the sum is way more than its parts. Blistering riffs, crushing blasts, and obliterating vocals are just some of what the band has to offer across these eleven tracks. It's hostile yet authentic, aggressive and angry yet carries so much depth and feeling and ov...

Cave Of Swimmers have been around since 2012 and have finally released their debut full length Aurora . And what a surprise it is after two EP's worth of what could be described as "doom-prog." This album shifts effortlessly between a Mars Volta meets System of a Down vibe to a thrashtastic Megadeth vibe while giving a world music spin to their particular brand of metal. It's a mouthful on paper b...

You know how this works...team members take turns picking the AOTM, and this month technically was a group pick but Vince screamed the loudest over The Thule Grimoires ( Ván Records ) as soon as it hit our inbox and, as you'll hear, is also The Ruins of Beverast 's biggest fan. However, all is not in balance in the House of 9C, as there's plenty of back and forth on the vocals and how different th...

We're back for another round of Technically Inclined ! Episode 2 -- which, for those keeping score at home, means this idea already has more traction than approximately 70% of ideas Dan has had for Nine Circles over the years -- features a conversation on Spawn of Possession , and their landmark final album, Incurso . Plus, a new fighter joins! Nine Circles'  own Scholar of the First Sin, Hera, en...

Cannibal Corpse have been an absolute death metal juggernaut for over thirty years now and have long since past the point of having to prove anything. They've toured all over the world, been recognized by outlets that many would think not metal friendly, been featured in movies, and have had a career that most bands could only dream of. And with their upcoming fifteenth full length, Violence Unima...

Woohoo, it's new segment time! Technically Inclined will be a new jam here on the Audio Thing, devoted primarily to appreciating the oft-overlooked -- at least on this blog -- genre of technical death metal. Tech death: Buke's known and loved it for years; Dan's neutral and limited in his knowledge of it. And so, Technically Inclined will celebrate the genre by having Sensei Buke educate Padawan D...

Episode 64 of The Nine Circles Audio Thing kicks off 2021 with a bang, as the gang waxes poetic about the latest from Swedish prog/goth/death rock/kitchen sink outfit Tribulation , whose new album Where the Gloom Becomes Sound out on Century Media and Metal Blade has folks in a tizzy.  Buke again assumes the captains chair and leads the chase with the usual suspects, and introduces newest member o...

At this point, Tribulation need zero introduction since they have been a powerhouse of both death metal and gothic metal over the course of four full lengths. And, with Where the Gloom Becomes Sound the band fully cement their gothic meets death metal stance. It's January but already we're feeling vibes of "best of 2021" with this album since it truly is their best yet and fully fleshed out album...

With #BestOf2020 coverage having been fully underway here at Nine Circles for a couple of weeks, it’s time for a bit of a breather. Time to crank down the volume, switch off the HM-2 pedal, and talk some non-metal for a change. If you read Ian’s end-of-year Rainbows in the Dark blog post and thought to yourself, “boy, I sure would like a two-and-a-half-hour audio version of THAT,” well, reader, ha...

For this episode we go all in with most of the staff for our best of 2020 picks. We hit the high notes of what tickled our fancies for the year that was a shitstorm and even welcomed in a new member to the family. So, buckle up for an epic episode that has a wealth of stuff you may have missed and be sure to take notes, artists we mention need your support so open up those wallets and purses. Need...

Tombs are on the eve of releasing their fifth full length Under Sullen Skies which is much like biting the head off a rocket and reveling in the burn of the explosion. No surprise really, the band have been incendiary since their debut Winter Hours and just get better and better with each release. This album however finds them better and more vicious than ever. It's not a stretch at all that they'...

Sweden's Wolverine have just released their seventh full length, A Darkened Sun , and continue to be on the forefront of the progressive rock/metal landscape with lush melodies, heavy lyrical content, powerful performances, and music that is truly timeless. Along with that list of accomplishments they can now add an audio/visual release that is stunning, to say the least. Just on the heels of this...