Video Premiere: SVNEATR — “The Consequence of Fear”

Nine Circles

As we quickly approach the official release date for Chinook, the impressive sophomore effort from Canadian black metal collective SVNEATR, it is our pleasure to premiere the new video for “The Consequence of Fear.” A leap forward from 2018’s The Howl, the Whisper, the Hunt, Chinook offers a brilliantly complex take on the genre, and this couldn’t be more evident than what’s contained within the passages of “The Consequence of Fear.” But don’t take my word for it. Give it a watch and listen immediately below. The video, by the way, is equally as awesome.

View original post 273 more words

Clouds Collide allow grief and dark emotions to be tackled on gazey ‘They Don’t Sleep Anymore’

Meat Mead Metal

Sadness and grief are things we cannot avoid, and at some point in our lives, we’ve all had to deal with these entities. The result can bring depression, anxiety, and hopelessness, all of which are pretty hard to shake, especially when it feels like you’ve had a gigantic cavern drilled into the center of your heart. Where we go from there depends on how we pull through.

Chris Pandolfo always has used his Clouds Collide project to delve deep into his soul, but never more so than on his third record “They Don’t Sleep Anymore.” This five-track offering has Pandolfo, the band’s only member, reflecting on the 10^th anniversary of his mother’s passing as he himself stares 30 in the face. The record isn’t really about that thematically, as he said there isn’t an ongoing plot. Instead, it’s him digging through his emotions, his darkness, and creating music he…

View original post 505 more words

Review: Clouds Collide – They Don’t Sleep Anymore

The Sound Not The Word

Label: War Crime Recordings

Crossing genre lines as if they don’t exist, They Don’t Sleep Anymore is an intensely personal album. The latest Clouds Collide release pulls from post-black metal, post-rock, post-hardcore, post-punk, and shoegaze, They Don’t Sleep Anymore is – as that collection of reference points may imply – a sprawling, spacious, emotionally-laden album that isn’t too often musically heavy, but certainly is emotionally. As with previous Clouds Collide releases, it draws heavily from sole member Chris Pandolfo’s personal life; in this instance, dealing with a longing for the past, finding your sense of self in the present, and how you cope with that as you move forward in to the future. Whilst this could have easily made for an album that is difficult to listen to, instead They Don’t Sleep Anymore is remarkably cathartic, with its universal themes and gorgeous music granting it a surprising accessibility.

View original post 341 more words

Circle Pit: Albums We Missed Q1, 2019

Nine Circles

I don’t know about you, but 2019 started a little thin and then by the first quarter’s end just exploded all over the good linen like a beast.  This year, more than most, we’ve been a little behind the ball in getting reviews out, but with a lot of new blood coming in I have a feeling that’s going to change soon.  In the meantime we got your quarterly round up right here of all the stuff we wanted to review, should have reviewed, but didn’t.

Until now.  So let’s dive in.

View original post 1,729 more words

Best of 2018: 50 killer tracks

Meat Mead Metal

The insane amount of good music we’ve gotten this past year really reveals itself when you try to narrow down 50 songs from January to December you want to feature in a year-end playlist. This thing took a while to put together, but it was fun revisiting a ton of great shit from the year, with every corner of extreme music covered in these 50 tracks and five hours of content. These also aren’t necessarily the 50 best songs of the year, but we wanted to pick one per artist that we wanted to feature, so some stuff got left behind. But this list is 50 bands, 50 songs, and all of them killers.

View original post

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

Nine Circles

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!

View original post 222 more words

Receiving the Evcharist: Twilight Fauna and Cherry Jane Sour Ale

Nine Circles

Receiving the Evcharist is our weekly feature where we pair choice albums with our favorite libations.  Drink from the cup of heresy.  This week’s offering: Twilight Fauna’s Where Birds Sing My Name and Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Cherry Jane.  

View original post 426 more words

Review: Anchorhold – From a Father’s Son

The Sound Not The Word

Label: The Fear and the Void Recordings

“Man plans and god laughs”; so goes the old saying. There are things that will happen to all of us that we have no control over, and that will come upon us with no warning, upending the order of our lives and leaving us to do what we can to pick up the pieces and carry on. Aside from the everyday practicalities of coping with a major loss or change, there is the emotional aspect too, which is where From a Father’s Son comes in. When his father was diagnosed with an advanced cancer that would soon take his life, Jimmy Sisco created the Anchorhold project to document that time and his memories. As you’d expect, it’s an emotional journey, and hugely heart-felt, with an intensely personal – yet universal – heart.

View original post 352 more words

Premiere: Anchorhold – “Five Weeks”

Nine Circles

Atmospheric black metal can take many shapes and forms, that much we’ve definitely seen and heard in the recent past. But when the subject matter deals with the decline and eventual loss of a loved one, it takes on a whole new meaning as well as provide a bottomless canvas to document the harrowing experience. This is exactly what Jimmy Sisco (Platoon 1107, Absolved) did with his project Anchorhold after his father was diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer. From A Father’s Son, due out August 10 on The Fear and the Void Recordings, is a four track documentation of the human side to this process and unfolds in an extremely stirring maelstrom of emotions. Today, Nine Circles is pleased to bring you a premiere of the EP’s third track “Five Weeks.”

View original post 217 more words

Meat Mead Metal’s complete guide to Migration Fest 2018

Meat Mead Metal

We’ve made no secret over the years that we’re a Pittsburgh-based site, even though our reach is worldwide, and we write about bands from every corner of the Earth. But we represent Pittsburgh, and this coming weekend, one of the finest metal festivals going will emanate from here. To say we’re excited is a vast understatement.

The festival came to life six years ago as Gilead Fest, and it took place at Gilead Media’s home headquarters city of Oshkosh, Wisc. The event returned to the same place two years later (which was my first experience there) before Gilead joined up with 20 Buck Spin to create Migration Fest, which took place in Olympia, Wash., in 2016. The event highlights most of the artists from both labels’ stellar rosters, as well as some hand-picked favorites. This year’s event takes place at Mr. Smalls in Millvale, which is just a few minutes…

View original post 2,291 more words