(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 59: The Mid-Year Metal Report

I’ll be honest: about half of my trip to Italy was spent listening to Italian progressive rock – mainly the Quella Vecchio Locanda debut, the debut from Le Orme I also picked up while at Discoteca Laziale in Rome, and some mid-70s Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. Another quarter was spent listening to David Bowie live albums, and then the last few days was a mad escapade trying to sort my mid-year report for Nine Circles. Usually I do nine records as part of our Nine Circles ov… series, but something happened. Turns out I loved metal this year. I think it gave me a lot of comfort in times of great stress and depression. So not nine, not even a baker’s dozen…but 32 albums, a tasting of which is presented for your perusal, enjoyment, or distress below.

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nite - cult of the serpent sun

Nite: Cult Of The Serpent Sun (2025)

Only three months into the new year and traditional heavy metal is having one hell of a banner year. First there was Century in January bringing us their debut Sign of the Storm; in February came the streetwise and ripping Mean Mistreater with their second album Do Or Die. And now in March we have the big one: the furious blackened rock and roll heavy metal swagger of San Francisco’s Nite returning with album #3. Cult of the Serpent Sun embraces the spirit of denim and leather, of the NWOBHM and makes sure to inject some lethal dark majesty in its riffs and lyrics, taking the “heavy” part of heavy metal to its zenith. Goddamn do I love this album…

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(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 41: Getting The Prog Out (mostly)

In this case I mean literally. I spent the whole week absorbing one Italian Prog album after another, and while I genuinely liked everything I listened to (I really, really loved the Errata Corrige) I really needed to cleanse the palate when it was over. And since I had so much music come in over the week it spurred me to not only focus on that for this playlist, but for next week’s theme as well. Lots of new music, and music new to me this week, even if the length of one of the tracks makes this a shorter playlist than normal. Let’s dig in; I’ll see you on the other side.

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