The Nine Circles Audio Thing

Somewhere around the intersection of Behemoth, Amorphis, and Amon Amarth you'll find the bombastic mix of black and death metal that Unbowed have perfected over the course of their last two full lengths. And now with their third effort, Colour the Soul, out on the airwaves it's clear to hear these influences as well as a larger sense of self than ever before. Buke recently sat down with members of the band to discuss the new album and how it came to be, they also discussed flipping the bird to social media when it's used negatively, how the band formed and what got them into metal, DnD campaigns, and so much more. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

When it comes to folk inspired black metal, there’s not many bands better than West Virginia’s Nechochwen. And, on their fourth full length, Kanawha Black (Bindrune Recordings), they’ve managed to pull themselves to the front of the pack and widely eclipse their past work. This album has become a fast staff favorite here at Nine Circles for a myriad of reasons, but plainly put, no one out there is doing it better right now. Buke recently sat down with Aaron (aka Nechochwen) to discuss the new album and how it came to be, how the band are fans of French Indian warfare and Native American history and how those topics were lacking in heavy metal when the band formed, how the band got its start, their relationship with Panopticon‘s Austin Lunn and with Bindrune Recordings, the fact that Aaron is a classically trained guitarist, and so much more. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

They say "third time's the charm" but we here at Nine Circles believe for Temple of Void, the fourth time's the charm on Summoning the Slayer (Relapse Records). The band is death doom at its core and has been extremely good at it since forming in 2013, but for Summoning... they bring out the ghosts of heavy metal, worship at the altar of the almighty riff, and truly find their calling in the world of extreme sounds. Buke recently sat down with guitarist Alex Awn to discuss the new album and how it came to be, they also discussed album art, working with the highly esteemed Arthur Rizk, the untimely passing of Trevor Strnad, playing Warhammer, and tons more. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

It has been said that Gridfailure is for those that love a challenging listen. And, we are not ones to argue that point. However, Gridfailure is a band that must be experienced as the way they mold noise, drone, ambient, jazz, and dark sounds of all natures together into a cohesive mass of thought provoking music is a thing of beauty. Their most recent album, Dismemberment Cabaret (Nefarious Industries) finds the band collaborating with veteran trumpet player Mac Gollehon and the results are astounding. Buke recently sat down with David Brenner for a wide ranging discussion surrounding the new album, how it came to be, how it was working with Mac, and a multitude of other topics. This discussion is one for the record books so we don't want to spoil it any further. With that being said, we now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

The Spirit just released their third full length of cosmic black and death metal, Of Clarity and Galactic Structures (AOP Records), and as expected, it rules. The edges are sharper, the riffs are more violent, and the cosmic aspect is more up front and center. Plus, it helps that they really paid attention to how memorable the songs are this time out as well as the pacing of the album. All in all, we'd say this is their best yet. Buke recently sat down with vocalist and guitarist Matthias Trautes for a wide ranging discussion surrounding the new album and how it came to be. They also discussed the music scene in and around their homebase of Germany, the value of good production, Matthias' origins into playing music, and so much more. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

Anton had this month's pick and joins with Ian, and Vincent while Buke once again helms the show. The gang covers the alternative timeline of Form in Motion in different musical context from Autarkh, Autarkh III Roadburn Redux 2021 (Roadburn Records). As usual, the group covers this album at length and talks about nearly every facet of it as well as catching up since last chatting together, and a lengthy section on what else tripped our triggers in the month of April, in and around the metal spectrum.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram  

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

Corpsessed just released their fourth full length, Succumb To Rot (Dark Descent Records), and it is an absolute beast of Finnish death metal that shines a light on where they've been but is a huge step forward in both the songwriting aspect and their heaviness factor as a whole. Buke sat down with guitarist and backing vocalist Matti Mäkelä to discuss the new album and how he feels it's different from the past, Finnish death metal and the differences to its Swedish and American counterparts, all of his various side projects and some breaking news on an upcoming black metal album, beer and how backstage beers are always the worst, how he is very hard on hisself and has thrown away tons of completed songs for even the slightest of details being off, and so much more. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

Creative and unique barely scratch the surface when referring to the electronic metal of Master Boot Record. On Personal Computer (Metal Blade Records) the tagline of "100% sythesized, 100% dehumanized" comes full circle as it sounds like what would happen between a war of computers and quite possibly the band's best effort to date. Buke sat down with mastermind Victor Love to discuss the new album and how it came to be, how he got into making music and using computer sounds, the early days of the internet, his thoughts on signing to Metal Blade and how it has been working with them, his thoughts on pirating software and his music, and so much more. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

As far as debuts go, The Word of His Law (20 Buck Spin) from Canada’s Egregore is a masterclass in black and death metal shrouded in mysticism, death, and occult themes. The use of synth, chanting, and even neofolk serve as vessels to enhance the experience and make for a unique outing. Buke recently sat down with Egregore to discuss the new album and how it came to be. They also discussed the band’s musical journeys, as well as the importance of letting the music speak for itself and preference for the listeners to draw their own conclusions and opinions about it. We now bring you this conversation in its entirety so grab your beverage of choice, a seat, and enjoy.

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky

Improvisational metal can take many faces, obviously, as it's about as close as you can get to free jazz, but from a metal lens. Abhorrent Expanse not only explore the world of improv metal, but they make it an extreme ride with black and death metal, funeral doom, noise, and yes, free jazz mixed in on their debut Gateways to Resplendence (Amalgam Music, Lurker Bias). Buke sat down with Luke Polipnick and Brian Courage to discuss the new album, improv metal as whole and how on the one hand is incredibly difficult, but on the other hand incredibly fun to play off the artists in the room, how the band literally set up the mics and just went for it, and so much more. We now present that conversation to you in its entirety so grab your drink of choice, a chair, and enjoy. 

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

9C LINKS: Website | Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram | Bluesky