Staff Infections – February 2021

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

Posted by Jeremy Morse

Riffs or GTFO.

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