What ho!
Wait, what?
Ho, what?
What happened here.
Everything looks different.
People don’t like different.
People like uniformity.
People like routine.
We like routine.
Last Rites has had the same routine for as many years as some of you have had beers, and we haven’t changed our look since… Well, a pretty dang long time ago. Why fix it if it ain’t broke, right?
Change is natural. Change is good. Change is necessary. We’re still the same people writing about the same genre we all love, but there have been some changes afoot at Last Rites since the end of last year. Namely, we’re under new management.
Which brings us to our first order of business. A heartfelt HAIL and salute is due Matt Brown, the guy who’s been at the helm behind the scenes of Last Rites since it first started as Metalreview way back in 2001. Matt built the site from the ground up, and he was responsible for all the redesigns over the last 15+ years. He also happens to be responsible for the Haulix digital promotion service so many of us in this industry are intimately familiar with, and that endeavor eats up enough of his waking hours that the time was finally right to hand the LR reins over to three new (old) knuckleheads: Me (Captain. Michael. Michael Wuensch. Hi. Hello.), Zach “Boys, let’s get to drinkin’” Duvall, and Andrew “IT’S NOT A PUFFIN” Edmunds. We three sultans are now responsible for steering the Last Rites ship through the stormy waters of Heavy Metal for the foreseeable future. Or at least until we’re all killed in some horrifically violent coup. The rest of the crew is made up of the same snuggle-bunnies you’ve all grown to love more than your actual family, and you can check us all out by visiting the Crew area.
Second order of business: We wanted a fresh look to accompany the new era, so we did it. Here it is. You are looking at it as you read these words. Maybe it’s a lot to take in at first, but we’ve been playing around with it behind the scenes for a while now, and we think you’ll like how it all came together. Give it a little time. Searching is easier, zipping around by categories is a cinch, and the graphics are big – that’s the basic gist. Plus, you can donate to us if you’re tired of giving $5 to your local High School marching band twice a year. Or, just keep reading for nothing, we’re not tyrants.
That’s it. Here’s the new Last Rites. We hope you still enjoy the game as much as we still enjoy playing it with you.
Forward ho.
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I’m all for change and a fresh look but could you please bring back the ability to browse your extensive reviews by Genre again. I’d be damned if I could find a way to do it. Thanks gents.
There isn’t a direct way because the tags work differently now. The good thing is that the tags work! Just find a review in that style, then click the tag. Not a direct path, I know, but generally (hopefully?) what you’re after. We might put this on our “projects” list of something to solve, we’ll see.
Thanks for the tip Admiral – works well enough for me!
I’ve been a visitor here since you guys had an all-black page (which I liked), and lots of comments by mr. rotten, so I’ve seen a few big changes already. Anyway, I am sticking around! Keep up the good work.
Good luck with the new arrangements.
CGAF about the layout, as long as it’s not clunky (which it isn’t). I come for the writing, which has been and continues to be consistently informative, accessible, and interesting.
Looks like a blog. Nice work gents.
As a follower during the Metalreview i still miss the scores of the albums because sometimes the reviews are not easy to understand for a non-native speaker even you are fluent. But this is the first choice for reading metal album reviews anyway.
Thank you for this refreshed look you gave to the site.
Looks good guys. Runs better too. I often had trouble with screens not loading properly or at all on multiple devices including PC, Mac, and phone. That seems to be a thing of the past now. The Search option works better as well, although I do miss the ability to browse by artist.
Hey Matt, I know it’s not a perfect fix, but similar to what Zach mentioned above, if you pull up a review for a particular artist, you can click on the tag to pull up anything else they’ve been tagged in.
For what it’s worth. I like it. I didn’t bug out when Metalreview switeched to lastrit.es. Then there was the time I thought y’all ghosted me … until a few days later when I realized the domain had changed, unbeknownst to me, to the current one. I didn’t abandon it then either. I’m here until the bitter end… lucky you.
We’re glad you’re still around too, DocChoc!
Awww….you’re sweet.
Looks great, and loads way better on my phone. Change or not, it’s still the only metal site that matters to me.
Fav metal site, keep it up!
Thanks! And we plan on it.