Staff Infections: April 2018

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