Generally Impressed With Riffs
Not sure what happened for the boys in Valkyrie since 2015, but it’s pretty clear that, at some point, the blue sky gave way to gray clouds. Judging by the song titles and lyrics on Fear, the Harrisonburg, Virginia, quartet’s …
[Artwork by Adrian Stubican] Finally hauling Death Angel into the Diamonds & Rust ring and electing to award sacred gem status to an album other than The Ultra-Violence somehow feels… Unseemly? Misguided? Crazier than a snake’s armpit? The band’s debut …
The story so far: The first two Running Wild albums are the best Running Wild albums. This has made a lot of people very angry and is occasionally regarded as a bad take. Certainly, Under Jolly Roger, Port Royal, and especially Death …
Let us pause and take a moment to just bask in the glory of that album cover. Rendered in the style of After School Detention on Xerox, it resembles the more refined works of that one kid named Joel who …
That snuggly blanket you wrap around yourself at night with your glass of red wine or hot cocoa. That ice cold tea or frosty beer that you always enjoy on the back porch after you …
As a proud citizen of Aotearoa New Zealand, let me remind you that NZ’s tourist-poster image is mostly smoke and mirrors. Sure, we’re a relaxed, friendly, and socially liberal bunch down here, and we’ve got …
Consider, if you will, the splendor and aura of a classic detective film noir. One where the men all wear suits with bowler hats calling ladies dames while they chain smoke in a diner somehow …
Romanticism can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can create a distorted view of the past, skewing and altering history, recalling good old days that never really ever were. On the other, it …
There might have been a situation in high school where you liked jam bands. Don’t worry about it, we aren’t going to out you to the heavy metal police, the scenester militia, or even the …
To the Death is the latest pitch-black, all-enveloping masterwork from Aotearoa New Zealand colossus Vassafor. The band’s third full-length is a mammoth work of esoteric artistry, which paints nightmarish scenes while imperious black and death …
Last night marked the new moon. The darkest night of the lunar month, when the terrestrial body, in its tireless rotation about the tellurian rock, is blackened by the very shadow of the earth itself, …
Greetings, friends. It’s time for Staff infections—the feature wherein the Last Rites staff shares what it’s been listening to for the last month, and you, dear readers, get to marvel at our spectacularly good taste …
