Best of 2024: Dan and Chris recap the year in NOT-Metal!
Another year down -- okay, another year and a couple of weeks, give or take -- and that means another whole buttload of new music released in genres other than our beloved metal. Just sit with that for a second and ponder. There was punk! There was indie! There was shoegaze! And that's just in the rock sub-categories. What about jazz? Hip-hop? Electronic?"Whoa. I need to sit down for a minute," you're thinking to yourself. No you don't, you big dummy! Dan and Chris have you covered!Well, okay, they couldn't -- and, to be fair, don't -- even pretend to have you fully covered on all the myriad 2024 things that weren't metal. But bless their hearts, they do try on this, their... fifth or sixth annual end-of-year NON-metal podcast. It's a wide-ranging, two-plus-hour convo about all the best stuff they listened to from outside the heavy realm. Wanna catch up with 'em? Grab a (+/-) alcoholic beverage of your choice and get listening!
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2:13:19
Thy Catafalque was November 2024's Album of the Month!
Once again the gang comes forth with candidates, this time under the watchful gaze of Ian. But although strong arguments were put forth for the raw black metal conceptual piece by Ungfell, the morose progressive post-doom of Crippled Black Phoenix, and whatever insane caterwauling The Body did in the month of American Thanksgiving and apocalyptic elections, the rose could only be gifted to one. And that one was Hera with her pick of Thy Catafalque and their progressive world stew that is the unwieldy titled XII: A Gyönyörü Álmok Ezután Jönnek, which I’m sure is fantastic since I pre-ordered the vinyl but in all honestly haven’t had time to listen to it yet.But that’s okay because the crew talked about it and a lot more, so unwrap your audio gift and check out what else the group was listening to in November!
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1:32:34
Chat Pile was October 2024's Album of the Month!
The Nine Circles Audio Thing is back with our Album of the Month for October!Once again the gang comes forth with candidates, this time under the watchful gaze of Angela. But although strong arguments were put forth for the avant-black metal of Doedsmaghird, the exploratory and modern melodic black metal of Gaerea, and the ripping, quite possibly AOTY contender Blood Incantation the rose could only be gifted to one. And that one was Chris with his pick of Chat Pile and their sledgehammer classic in the making Cool World, which ups the ambition and stands as the voice for the rage and raw pain of a global space far greater than their native Oaklahoma. Dig into the feast and also check out what else the group was listening to in October!
9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram
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1:39:34
Alunah was September 2024's Album of the Month!
The Nine Circles Audio Thing is back with our Album of the Month for September!Once again the gang comes forth with candidates, this time under the baleful glare of Hera. But although strong arguments were put forth for the Brazilian prog of Papangu, the icy cold black metal of Marrow of Man, the might return of melodic death metal giants The Black Dahlia Murder, and the woeful fragile beauty of 40 Watt Sun the rose could only be gifted to one. And that one was Angela with her pick of Alunah and their fantastic new album Fever Dream, which isn't afraid to mix some Skynrd and flute in with their specific brand of stoner doom.This one runs long (sorry, too much going on for a proper edit!), so dig into the feast and also check out what else the group was listening to in September!
9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram
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2:11:23
Melt-Banana was August's 2024's Album of the Month!
A month to the day the Nine Circles Audio Thing is back with our Album of the Month for August!The staff approached, their pitiful, mewling offerings raised with trembling hands in full view of the gnarled stonework to vie for the attentions and affections of the new Judge. But despite Hera's impassioned plea for the acidic sludge post metal of Norna, Angela's sadly tossed asides poetics to the virtue of black metal chameleons Zeal & Ardor, Colin's progressive medieval circus ride that is the latest from Sur Austru and Ian's gleeful presentation of the blackened speed thrash attack of Demiser the Demiser's Demiser the rose could only be gifted to one. And that one was Chris, who revelled in the hyper-glitchy grind punk noise rock of Melt-Banana, back with their first album in 11 years 3+5, a blizzard of wonder that races by in only 24 minutes.The gang gets in deep, with lots of talk about vocal tics and tremors, the increasingly silly labelling and confining our notions of what constitutes "heavy" or "extreme", and whether we can all kill Hera if we make her listen to enough thrash metal. There's also a lot of talk about what else we listened to in August, including a way too long conversation about how positively limp and punched in the long awaited(?) Time II from Wintersun is...you've been warned!
9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram
Welcome to The Nine Circles Audio Thing, a podcast supplement to the wide-ranging metal coverage we offer up on a daily basis over at the Nine Circles blog. We'll have all kinds of metal-related audio #content geared toward people averse to the written word! (And/or people who maybe just prefer the drunkenly-spoken word, to be fair. But just those two types of people. No others.) Check back regularly for the latest!
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