Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover Art by Francesco Gemelli] I need to make a confession to you, my friends. Lately, I’ve been taking a little break from pouring the sound of heavy metal into my ears. I can explain. First, I’m trying to get …
Friend, here’s a truth that I hope you will carry with you, especially if you ever feel even a twinge of guilt or shame about being unfamiliar with a particular album, or about being not quite as well-versed in a …
[Cover artwork by Joachim Luetke] I have always found thrash to be one of the more interesting case studies in heavy metal because thrash in its purest form experienced one of the more spectacular near deaths following a notably scorching …
Let’s just blow the lid right off this review from the start. When you absolutely, positively have to rip everything to shreds, only a band like Sweden’s Mutation will do. Debut Esoteric Order of Debauchery is one of the rudest, …
Howdy, friends. It’s time, once again, to bask in the Last Rites staff’s exquisite musical taste, with a little feature we call Staff Infections. Before we get to the music, though, let’s take a moment …
[Cover art by Noah Cutter Meihoff] It’s been more than 40 years since Watchtower really ushered in the age of tech metal with their debut Energetic Disassembly, and in all those years, the techy arms …
[Album artwork by Tomáš Mitura] What I love most about Sněť is that it dips its toes into but never fully commits to doom. That is, Sněť is not a death/doom band. Rather, Sněť is …
Here’s one for the “two things can be true” files: Death metal, in its purest, most feral, regular-assed form, can be the most thrilling, primally satisfying music out there, AND Death metal, in its purest, …
[Album artwork by THEE Travis Smith] If you manage to get old(er)—and I sincerely hope you do—and you also happen to be music-obsessed and surrounded by like-minded chums, you will likely notice that at some …
[Artwork by Petri Ala-Maunus] There’s nothing quite like that sense that you get as a listener that you’ve fully connected with an artist through their music. There’s about a million ways it can happen, from …
[Cover art by Christian Ward] No one has ever accused Dreadnought of being doggedly orthodox in any respect. Their music is a product of the watercolored mishmash of monoculture in which it was and is …
[Album artwork by Maciej Kamuda] I’ve always been fascinated by Japanese culture, but more importantly, I admire its people. That fascination has persisted throughout my life, stemming from childhood when I was just captivated by …
