Hello again, dear readers. It’s time for Staff Infections, wherein we, the astute and cultured staff of Last Rites, reveal to you the selections of sublime music we’ve been listening to lately. Gasping in awe at our refined taste is encouraged but not compulsory.
It’s winter, it’s cold and mostly dark, and we’re still in the middle (hopefully late middle) of a global pandemic. I reckon that sums up current events sufficiently, so let’s get right to the tunes, because we have a lot to talk about. This time around we have a four-way tie for album of the month.
First, we have Ancient Mastery with Chapter One: Across the Mountains of the Drämmarskol. Ancient Mastery is an Austrian, symphonic, one-man black metal band that was featured in our pal Ryan Tysinger’s recent article, Black, Raw, & Bleeding: Shanghaied On The Celestial Shores Of The Black Metal Underground. Ryan dove deep and wrote extensively to highlight some of the best underground black metal from around the world. If black metal is your bag, this is a must read. Next up we have the not-fucking-at-all-metal album Isles from some outfit called Bicep. I don’t really know what you call this shit, so you’re on your own. Elephant Tree brings us back to the heavier side of things, with some psychedelic doom via its third full-length from 2020, Habits. Continuing in the psychedelic doom vein and rounding our quartet of winners, we have Slift with another forgotten slab from 2020, Ummon. I’m lukewarm on Slift’s music, but I’ll be goddamned if Ummon’s cover art isn’t spectacular.
That’ll do for this month, friends. I hope you all have a lovely Valentine’s Day, whether you spend it with someone special or just your cat. In any case, heavy metal will always love you, and we here at Last Rites will, too, unless you listen to Megadeth albums after Rust in Peace. Our hearts are big, but not that fucking big. Be sure to check out the Spotify playlist below, and share your own playlist in the comments. [JEREMY MORSE]
- Ryan Tysinger
Fortress – Waiting for the Night
Ancient Mastery – Chapter One: Across the Mountains of Drämmarskol
Pus – Pus
Sodom – Persecution Mania
Ferriterium – Calvaire
Divlje Jagode – Konji - Zach Duvall
Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
Anneke van Giersbergen – The Darkest Skies are the Brightest
Fields of the Nephilim – Elizium
Blitzkrieg – A Time of Changes
Talking Heads – Remain in Light
Swans – Filth - Andrew Edmunds
Queensrÿche – The Verdict
King’s X – Dogman
Asphyx – Necroceros
Paradise Lost – Draconian Times (25th Anniversary Edition)
Galactic Cowboys – Galactic Cowboys
Dropdead – Dropdead 2020 - Captain
Bathory – Blood On Ice
Ancient Mastery – Chapter One: Across the Mountains of the Drämmarskol
Slift – Ummon
Elephant Tree – Habits
Lowrider – Refractions
Bicep – Isles - Danhammer Obstkrieg
Fractal Generator – Macrocosmos
Reptant – Return to Planet X’trapolis
Bicep – Isles
Grima – Rotten Garden
Suffering Hour – The Cyclic Reckoning
Illuvia – Iridescence of Clouds - Spencer Hotz
Mother of Graves – In Somber Dreams
Enrapture – Another Green Drought
Ominous Ruin – Amidst Voices That Echo In Stone
Morbid Angel – Domination
Napalm Death – Utilitarian
Phoebe Bridgers- Punisher - Megan Astrael
Children of Bodom – Follow the Reaper
Cradle of Filth – Dusk… And Her Embrace
Morbid Angel – Covenant
Type O Negative – October Rust
Valborg – Nekrodepression
All About Eve – Scarlet and Other Stories - Lone Watie
Kombynat Robotron – Spontane Emission
Slift – Ummon
Elephant Tree – Habits
Causa Sui – Szabodelica
Fish – Weltschmerz
Glass Kites – Glass Kites II - Dave Pirtle
Korpiklaani – Jylhä
Mudhoney – Real Low Vibe: The Reprise Recordings 1992-1998
Antti Martikainen – Sonic Savior
Steven Wilson – The Future Bites
Tuatha de Danaan – In Nomine Eireann
Accept – Too Tough to Die - Jeremy Morse
StarGazer – Psychic Secretions
Overkill – Ironbound
Black Breath – Heavy Breathing
Obituary – Obituary
Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black
Only Living Witness – Prone Mortal Form
Opeth – Still Life
The Ruins of Beverast – Exuvia
Anaal Nathrakh – Passion
Pennywise – Full Circle
Stargazer – A Great Work of Ages
Psychotic Waltz – Into the Everflow
Rainbow – Rising
The Black Queen – Fever Daydream
Metallica – Master of Puppets
Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness
Blut aus Nord – Cosmosophy
Melechesh – Emissaries
Riot – Fire Down Under
Return to Forever – Romantic Warrior
Emma Ruth Rundle – On Dark Horses
Yoth Iria – As the Flame Withers
Stargazer – Psychic Secretions
Dark Fortress – Spectres of the Old World
Tribulation. – Where Gloom becomes Sound
Soen – Imperial
Sanctuary – Into the Mirror Black
Accept-too tough to die
Hallas- conundrum
Cave in- final transmission
Steve Miller Band- Book of Dreams
James Hillman- psychology of alchemy
The Ruins of Beverast – “The Thule Grimoires”
Panopticon – “Live Migration”
StarGazer – “The Scream That Tore the Sky”
Madlib – “Sound Ancestors”
The Avalanches – “We Will Always Love You”
The Waterboys – “Fisherman’s Blues”
Blue Holocaust – Flesh for the Cannibal God
Insect Inside – The First Shining of New Genus
Nervosa – Perpetual Chaos
Hulder – Godslastering…
Summoning Death – The House that Screamed
Necrot – Mortal