Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Album artwork by Staffan Lindroth] The last time we gathered together under the Dimhav banner, I was busy losing my grip over the Swede’s very excellent and very sudden debut, 2019’s The Boreal Flame. I say ‘very sudden’ in that …
[Cover art by Caelan Stokkermans] “Change–and everything is change; nothing can be held on to–to the degree that you go with a stream, you see, you are are still, you are flowing with it. But to the degree you resist …
[Album artwork by Adam Hill] It’s kind of amazing how Elder has maintained their identity over the course of nearly 20 years and seven albums (plus EPs, a collaboration, and live albums), because, when you put Elder right up against …
[Cover art by Matt Stephens – sole full-time member of the band] If you’re reading this, there’s a very good chance that you are a music obsessive. More than likely, that means you consume other forms of media with a …
[Cover artwork by Daryl Kahan] If you, like many of us here at Last Rites, are an ancient, or at least ancient-adjacent, then perhaps you’ve been listening to death metal for quite some time. For …
[Cover artwork by Douglas Leal] Listening to the new album from Brazil’s Deafkids, Cicatrizes Do Futuro, I’ve been thinking about rivers. [indignant voice from the back]: WHAT? Mea culpa, friend. I’m here today to preach …
[Album artwork by Harshanand Singh] The third album is in some ways a litmus test for a band’s longevity. Three albums is a sufficient sample size—you can generally tell where a band is headed, whether …
Howdy, friends. May is upon us, and although almost everything is still terrible, at least it’s getting a little warmer. In no time, I’ll be bitching about the heat. But at the time of this …
[Pre]-historically speaking, the boys, Nocturno Culto and Fenriz, have always been influenced by the likes of Celtic Frost, Bathory, and all things ‘80s. In fact, they don’t shy away from the fact that it’s always …
[Cover art by Quinn Henderson] You’re familiar with the term, “unc,” right? If not, it generally refers to a washed up older feller whose personality in large part revolves around extravagantly performing confusion and/or displeasure …
[Artwork by Caroline Harrison] “Nonsense” opens with a slow fade-in of distorted guitars and seismic drums — the chaos before the swarm. It’s a trick of the trade, the extreme metal equivalent of a camera …
[Cover artwork by Luca “Zeero” Zironi] There was always something uniquely charming about Konquest’s brand of traditional heavy metal—an almost whimsical breeziness that still felt like a near perfect balance of playful and substantive. A …
