The Nine Circles Audio Thing

Someday, we'll be able to do these horror excursions in a more timely manner. But until then, here's the good news: we're sorry! By way of an apology for our first episode in... almost two months... we jump back in the saddle with a conversation about TWO horror films for your listening, er... pleasure? And guess what? Our resident horror noob, Buke, picked both of them! First up, we dig into Host...

Portland Maine's Forêt Endormie recently released their second full length Une voile déchirée which sees the band further their vision of apocalyptic chamber folk with the theme of place and how it relates to each individual that experiences it for themselves. Since 2016, their music has been unique in not only sound but in the effect it has when enjoyed in the right setting. Just behind Une voile...

Sweden's Lik have just released their third full length Misanthropic Breed and stand to crush it in the Swedeath scene with a sound that is instantly recognizable yet inherently unique. It's heavy as hell yet deep in the pocket with fellow countrymen of the same ilk. Just ahead of Misanthropic Breed 's release, guitarist Niklas Sandin took some time to chat with Buke about their new album and the...

Episode 55 of The Nine Circles Audio Thing is all about the Album of the Month for September which is Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic by Germany's post metal/progressive metal juggernauts The Ocean which is available now on Metal Blade Records and Pelagic Records . Buke once again captains the episode joined by Vince, Ian, Angela, Hera (Cat), and Jon! The pick this month was a mere suggestion...

We're back, baby! A multitude of events in this increasingly dystopian world of ours forced us to sideline Blood Red for... [checks notes] ...three months... but now, with less than a month until the return of the annual Hooptober horror film marathon, we return with a doozie of a discussion on a highly entertaining, not-quite "horror," not-quite-"film." It's Verotika . The thi...

Iceland's Cult of Lilith are technically a young band in the sense that they only have one EP available but with the release of their impending full length debut Mara they stand to crush it in the death metal scene with a sound that's akin to modern heavy weights in the scene but with their own unique take on it and unique use of odd instruments to firmly place the exclamation mark on it all. Harp...

Baltimore, MD's Exist have a deep lineage across the metal spectrum and with some of the most heralded bands in history. So it should come as no surprise they've made a splash since their mid 2000s debut or that they've shared tours with many elite bands. Their first two albums were an encyclopedia of how progressive metal is done and now with their third, Egoiista , ready to roll they, yet again,...

Denver Colorado's Primitive Man have been banging out the sickest and gnarliest sludge/doom jams since 2012 and have risen to the top of this heap in very short order. No light, no hope, ear smashing, and soul crushing are all things this band has been doing with aplomb since their debut Scorn . And now, with their third full length Immersion , the band is poised to slaughter eardrums and souls wo...

FIFTY EPISODES! HOLY CRAP! I wish we could say we had something special planned for this milestone, but nope...it's just another round of the Nine Circles Audio Thing. The gang gets together for July's Album of the Month: the blistering power metal opus Let There Be Nothing by USPM masters Judicator . Buke managed to wrangle Ian, Angela, Vince, and - in a rare sighting - DAN! Who incidentally had...

Bay Area's Necrot have, in short order, become a household name for those of us that love our death metal sinewy and with tons of blood and guts yet keeping intact the basic tenets that death metal was built upon. Their first full length Blood Offerings saw the band explode with tons of positive coverage and electrifying live shows to back it up. And now with their second offering Mortal they buil...

Episode 48 of The Nine Circles Audio Thing is all about the Album of the Month for June which is Behold the Silent Dwellers by Spain's black metal purveyors Aversio Humanitatis . Buke once again captains the episode joined by Vince, Ian, Charles, and Anton who had the pick for the month! The crowd may have been thin for this episode but that doesn't mean the discussion was any less than stellar re...

Power metal elicits passion like no other fanbase in metal.  As a genre it's stuck to its guns of pomp and bombast, technical wizardry and anthemic hooks and carved a truly unique niche that continues to surprise to this day.  And for 20 years over the course of nine albums Falconer have been staunch advocates for forward-thinking, aggressive and righteous metal that never catered to a fad.  New a...

Current events have been a bitch for artists the world over but for Brooklyn rockers, Netherlands , it's afforded the opportunity to double down on creating music. Last week the band released their fifth full length Zombie Techno via frontman Timo Ellis 's Records and Tapes Records imprint and it's another in a long line that's incredibly hard to pin down but for those of you living under a rock a...

Wilderun have, in a short timeframe, become a household name for progressive heavy metal fans and on the strength of their third full length Veil of Imagination , first for Century Media, they quite firmly place themselves at the forefront of thinking man's progressive metal. We all need a reason to jump, cheer, and throw the horns right now and this band, and new album, is reason for all this. In...

Episode 44 of The Nine Circles Audio Thing is all about the Album of the Month for May which is Obsidian by veteran UK gothic/death/doom/metal purveyors Paradise Lost . Buke once again captains the episode joined by Vince, Angela, and Ian, who had the pick for the month! The crowd may have been thin for this episode but that doesn't mean the discussion was any less than stellar regarding the lates...

Is COVID still a thing? COVID must still be a thing, because we're all bored out of our minds in quarantine. But that's okay, because that boredom has brought us here: to the debut aural edition of the Blood Red column here on the Nine Circles Audio Thing! That's right: we're gonna be talking horror here on the Audio Thing, folks. Blood Red mastermind Chris rounded up Dan and Chris for the first o...

On May 7, No. 1 overall seed Mathdaniel Squirrel cleaned up in the annual Name of the Year championship. The convicted carjacker from Topeka, KS, cleaned up not just the fan-voted tournament bracket, but also took top honors from the Name of the Year High Committee. It was a two-fer achieved only three times prior in the almost 40-year history of the tournament, by previous winners Vanilla Dong (2...

Denver's Pile of Priests have been around since 2009 and have slowly been carving out a name for themselves in the death metal arena. Their first full length Void To Enlightenment saw the band get down and dirty with their own style which traverses tech death but offered so much more than just tech and old school. And now with their second offering Pile of Priests they truly carve their own path i...

Holy crap, we made it to Episode 40 of The Nine Circles Audio Thing! It may be May, but this here is the Album of the Month for April which is City Burials by veteran Swedish art/doom/metal/anything goes rockets Katatonia . Buke once again captains the episode joined by Vince, Ian, Angela, Charles, and Hera, who had the pick for the month! Hearts may be divided concerning the latest by Katatonia,...

Do you miss sports? Basket hoops and kicky foot...man, how have we gone a whole month-plus without those? Well, some of the podcast crew here at Nine Circles misses sports, and others still are pretending to miss sports, so we decided to act on all that... missing... happening right now and create our own sports thing! Specifically, we made a March Madness-style bracket of 64 metal bands and decid...

Calgary heavyweights WAKE dropped their fifth full-length, Devouring Ruin , on March 27. The album marks a further sonic departure for the one-time grindsters; this time out, the quintet serves up a compelling amalgam of black-, death-, post- and everything in between. The album's gotten a ton of acclaim since its release, and that extends to the crew here at Nine Circles -- with a couple of folks...

It's metal-adjacent time as Buke goes all in on his other passion - video games - with Alex Navarro of GiantBomb ! I know...it's crazy to think we have other interests other than fist-raising, head-banging riffage, but video games are near and dear to many of our blackened hearts, and in this new world of self isolation there are few better diversions than jumping in for an hour (or eight or ten)...

In a year's time, Canada's Traveler have become a household name for heavy metal fans and are set to release their sophomore effort Termination Shock a month from now. Plainly put, it is yet another example of how necessary traditional heavy metal is in today's terms. We all need a reason to jump, cheer, and throw the horns right now and this band, and new album, is reason for all this. The band's...

Fluid Existential Inversions is the sixth full length from L.A.'s Intronaut and it's another stellar stop on their journey that's taken them from sludge to atmospheric post-metal to truly progressive metal and everything in between. But, one thing is, and has been, abundantly clear about the band; each new album sees them actually progress in lieu of stagnate. Because of that, the conversation was...

Episode 34 of the Nine Circles Audio Thing takes a break from all that loud metal for the holidays as Chris and Dan go on for probably too long about their favorite non-metal music of 2019. NOW WITH FIXED AUDIO...KIND OF! We don't often get a chance to wax poetic about the things that float our boat that don't include blast beats, breakdowns, and screaming on the site or podcast, so Chris and Dan...