Greetings, ladies and germs. It’s time once again to share what’s been tickling our eardrums here at Last Rites with a feature we call Staff Infections.
Though spring seems to be taking it’s sweet-assed time to get sprung, April is technically the first full month of spring, and spring, dear friends, is a time to kick the old seasonal-affective-disorder blues to the curb—a time, as my pal Mudbone would say, to get some sunshine on your face and crank some good old-fashioned, pure heavy metal. That’s what a few of us here think, anyway, as the purest heavy metal band there is, Judas Priest, tops the collective playlist this month with its latest album Firepower. In case you missed it, we recently dedicated a whole week to celebrating the mighty Judas Priest, and you can find those features here.
There is a three-way tie for second place this month. First up, another traditional heavy metal band, Terminus, whose 2015 album, The Reaper’s Spiral, shows up on both Manny and Cap’s playlists. Speaking of those two idiots, they have a feature you should read that’s fittingly titled Ask 2 Idiots.
Next up is the soon-to-be-released album IV from San Francisco’s progressive metal trio Grayceon, which features two former members of the possibly defunct (but officially “on hold”) Giant Squid. As some of you might know, Last Rites is practically the Giant Squid fan club, so it’s no surprise to see the promo for IV getting some spins. You can no-doubt expect a review in the near future.
The last tine on this trident is Weathered Statues’ Borderlands, which I can find very little information about, and no sample tracks, so to heck with it. However, you may enjoy samples from both Terminus and Grayceon below. Until next month, get some sunshine on your face, get some metal in your ears, and be sure to share your playlist in the comments.
- Zach Duvall
Bestial Invasion – Contra Omnes
Swans – Cop
Ascended Dead – Abhorrent Manifestation
Ulver – Perdition City
Amon Amarth – Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds
Neil Young – just about every damn thing - Manny-O-War
Necros Christos – Domedon Doxomedon
Tomorrow’s Outlook – A Voice Unheard
Aura Noir – Hades Rise
Hades – Alone Walkyng
Terminus – The Reaper’s Spiral
Weathered Statues – Borderlands - Ryan Tysinger
Traveler – Demo 2018
Street Force – Infinite Battles
Drudkh – Їм часто сниться капіж (They Often See Dreams About The Spring)
Golgothan Remains – Perverse Offerings To The Void
Mournful Congregation – The Incubus Of Karma
Iteru – Ars Moriendi EP - Konrad Kantor
Bembeya Jazz National – The Syliphone Years
Fates Warning – Perfect Symmetry
Fates Warning – Parallels
Arckanum – Kostogher
Gang Starr – Moment of Truth
Judas Priest – Firepower - Andrew Edmunds
Judas Priest – Firepower
Wake – Misery Rites
Screaming Trees – Even If And Especially When
Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff
Paradise Lost – The Plague Within
Loudness – Rise To Glory - Captain
Virus – The Black Flux
Terminus – The Reaper’s Spiral
Drawn And Quartered – Hail Infernal Darkness
Halford – Crucible
Grayceon – IV
Professor Black – You Bastard! - Matthew Cooper
Grayceon – IV
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Messa – A Feast for Water
Napalm Death – Coded Smears and More Uncommon Slurs
Weathered Statues – Borderlands
Primordial – Exile Among the Ruins - Jeremy Morse
Judas Priest – Firepower
Destroyer 666 – Phoenix Rising
Suffocation – …Of the Dark Light
Fates Warning – Awaken the Guardian
Solstice – White Horse Hill
Nile – What Should Not Be Unearthed - Dave Pirtle
Ira Newborn – The Naked Gun Trilogy
Rocka Rollas – Celtic Kings
Septic Tank – Rotting Civilisation
David Byrne – American Utopia
Caliban – Elements
Bettye LaVette – Things Have Changed
- Zach Duvall
Morrow – Fallow (my current album of the year… that actually came out last Christmas Eve)
Morrow – Covenant of Teeth
Slugdge – Esoteric Malacology
Gygax – 2nd Edition
Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime
The Pax Cecilia – Blessed Are the Bonds
Oh cool, Covenant of Teeth was really powerful! Hadn’t noticed there was a new one out.
Yamantaka//Sonic Titan – Dirt
Cradle o’ Filth – Cryptoriana
Panopticon – Scars….
Quelle Chris & Jean Grae – Everything’s Fine
Krolok – Flying Above Ancient Ruins
Judicator – The Last Emperor
Dawnbringer – Nucleus
Occulta – Night Without End
Messa – Belfry
Savage Master – Mask of the Devil
Furia – Księżyc milczy luty
Furia – Nocel
Boards of Canada – “Music Has the Right to Children”
Judas Priest – “Painkiller”
Slayer – “Show No Mercy”
Ulver – “Bergtatt”
Opeth – “Watershed”
Enslaved – “Frost”
Lychgate – Contagion in Nine Steps
Elite – We Own the Mountains
Messa – Feast for Water
Judas Priest – Firepower
Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
The Crown – Cobra Speed Venom
Gra – Ending
Pestlegion – Dominus Profundum
Dumal – The Lesser God
Panopticon – The Scars of Man…
Augury – Illusive Golden Age
Au-Dessus – End of Chapter
The Crawling – Anatomy of Loss
Lecherous Nocturne – Occutaclysmic
Elande – Dodens Rike
Deadly Carnage – Through the Void, Above the Stars
Sojourner – The Shadowed Road
Barren Earth – A Complex of Cages
Still mostly the same this month, but I think I’ve finally clicked with the new Barren Earth album. Still not convinced by On Lonely Towers though 😛
Barren Earth – A Complex of Cages
Hamferð – Támsins Likam
Horizon Ablaze – The Weight of a Thousand Suns
Necrophobic – Mark of the Necrogram
Susperia – The Lyricist
Trail of Lies – W.A.R (Konrad, what say you?)
Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality
Judas Priest – Stained Class
Street Force – Infinite Battles
Sepultura – Schizophrenia
Misfits – Walk Among Us
Erik B & Rakim – Paid in Full
Hmmm, I’ll have to check it out and let you know. Never heard of it before!
Good stuff. Found them on bandcamp. Straight-up hardcore.
Rotting Christ – Non Serviam
Rotting Christ – Triarchy of Lost Lovers
Spite Extreme Wing – Magnificat
Grand Belial’s Key – Judeobeast Assasination
Twin Obscenity – Where Light Touches None
Nosaj Thing – Parallels