Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Album artwork by Jean-Pascal Fournier] In order to fully appreciate the impact of a record like The Longest Night, we really need to hop into our handy Bill & Ted’s phone booth and dip back 20-25 years to get a …
[Album artwork by Mario López] You would never know the very USPM-sounding Leatherhead are Greek. Yet here we are, reviewing Leatherhead’s sophomore effort, the bluntly titled Violent Horror Stories, which is … you guessed it, eight scary tales delivered in …
Monolith Of Ephemerality is the ambitious debut of Italian quartet Dwellnought, which formed in 2023 and released one prior demo last year. The band proclaims it blends black metal and doom, but you’ll find moments of death metal within as …
[Cover art by Jesse Jacobi] A recent conversation among friends – all current or former Last Rites writers – discussed Opeth’s (in)famous song “Black Rose Immortal,” and its merits and pitfalls. Some friends love the track, and one friend quite …
Howdy, friends. It’s time for your monthly insight into the Last Rites staff’s listening habits with a little feature we call Staff Infections. February finds most of us here deep in the heart of Winter, …
After a particularly strong 2025, the bar is high for traditional metal in 2026. And the debut from Turbo’s Tribunal, Mills of Tribunal, just clears it. The band Turbo’s Tribunal is but one Danish man, …
[Cover artwork by Juanjo Castellano] I dove into Nocturnal Visions – Invictus’s sophomore effort – having heard zero seconds of the Japanese death metal band’s debut, The Catacombs of Fear. In some ways, it’s an …
Artwork by Robin Mckenzie Do you like beautiful things? Your answer to that question is surely “yes, of course,” but also likely involves some concept of “beautiful” that might be up for discussion between individuals. …
[Cobweb Logo by Tanya Finder] As an individual who’s spent the better part of the last four decades venerating and meditating over the works of Mercyful Fate (and King Diamond), I have made my stance …
[Artwork by Rudi Yanto] By most measures, Stabbing’s second album, Eon of Obscenity, is good. In a way, it is certainly more successful than its predecessor, 2022’s Extirpated Mortal Process, the Texas brutal death metal …
It’s extremely difficult to win a championship in sports. Everything has to align: player personnel, performance, coaching, and health are all requirements, and a little luck doesn’t hurt. Sure, you hear of teams “overcoming adversity” …
Have you ever stubbed your toe and then cursed so violently that you accidentally opened a portal to an alternate universe where it’s always raining and everyone scowls at you like you owe their grandmother …
