Howdy, friends. It’s time, once again, to bask in the Last Rites staff’s exquisite musical taste, with a little feature we call Staff Infections. Before we get to the music, though, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the passing of Andy Williams, guitarist of Every Time I Die and professional wrestler known as “The Butcher”. I was vaguely aware of Andy’s career as both a professional musician and professional wrestler, but I can’t claim any real familiarity with his work in either field. However, in the days since Andy’s passing, I have heard nothing but good things about him form many of his colleagues, and to succeed in not one, but two grueling careers is an impressive feat. He must have been a Hell of a man. May he rest in peace.
On to the music. It’s a short story this time around; we have a tie for album of the month with no runners-up. Sharing first place are Death Angel with its 1990 thrash classic Act III and Brazilian progressive rock, etc. act Papangu with its recently released album, Celestial, of which Captain has a review right here.
For our group discussion this month, give us your favorite metalcore album and/or your favorite professional wrestler. Metalcore isn’t really my bag, but, if it’s not too old-school to qualify, I’ll go with Integrity’s Those Who Fear Tomorrow. As for wrestlers, I think Kurt Angle is one of the best to ever do it, both in the ring and on the mic.
That’s just about it for this month. Have a listen to the staff-curated Spotify playlist below, and please share your own playlist in the comments. See you all next month.
- Zach Duvall
Krallice – Scour Order
Static Abyss – The Dying Hunt
Papangu – Celestial
Buried – Imagined Deformation
Dream Theater – Awake
Devin Townsend – Terria - Danhammer Obstkrieg
Sigh – Goh-ka
Evil Island – Terraform the Afterlife
Dinosaur Jr. – There Near
Henry Threadgill – Cut You Where You Was
Ch’ahom – Anthropic Rites of Sublimation
Wadada Leo Smith – Constellations and Hemispheres - Andrew Edmunds
Mastodon – Leviathan
Traffic Death – Backroads And Strange Encounters
Electric Light Orchestra – Face The Music
Nak’ay / Whoresnation – split
Cramps – Songs The Lord Taught Us
Death Angel – The Ultra-Violence - Wolf Rambatz
The Cramps – Gravest Gravy
Kiwi Jr – Blowin’ Up
B.A. Johnston – I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This Right Now But They Are Never Coming Back and You Will Die Alone
The Darling Buds – Pop Said…
Abhorrent Castigation – Throne of Existential Abandonment
Makkmat – Syke Fantasier - Spencer Hotz
Anata – The Conductor’s Departure
Zorn – Return to Castle Death
Veilcaste – Hellward
REZN – Cycles in the Infinite Dream
Growth – Under the Under
Darwin!- Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Captain
Advent Horizon – Falling Together - David Fonseca
Judas Priest – Metal Works ’73 – ’93
Ween – Live in Chicago, 2003
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – Spanish Dance Troupe
Paul Simon – Graceland
Queensryche – Empire
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin - Isaac Hams
Russian Circles – Nine
Dreadnought – Wars of Spirit // Wards of Light
MF Doom – Doomsday
Papangu – Celestial
Drudkh – Autumn Aurora
Funebrarum – Beckoning the Void of Eternal Silence - Lone Watie
Tidal Wave – Volume Tree
Schizoid – Total Mayhem
Whoresnation/Nak’ay – Split LP
Death Angel – The Ultra-Violence
Electric Light Orchestra – Time
Bill Evans Trio – Moon Beams - Jeremy Morse
High Command – Beyond the Wall of Desolation
Invincible Force – Decomposed Sacramentum
Corrosion of Conformity – Wiseblood
Slayer – Seasons in the Abyss
Green Carnation – Light of Day, Day of Darkness
Dan Swanö – Moontower
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Blut Aus Nord – Hallucinogen
Havok – Time Is Up
The Bangles – All Over The Place
The Bangles – Different Light
Sentenced – Down
Stormkeep – The Nocturnes of Iswylm
Depending on where the who/what/when metalcore line is drawn, there’s a few contenders for favorites: Earth Crisis – Destroy The Machines, Merauder – Master Killer, Shadows Fall – Of One Blood.
Mick Foley is the answer. He didn’t have the flamboyance of Hogan or the Macho Man (probably #2). He didn’t have the presence of Stone Cold. The physique of the Rock. The mic skills of either of them, nor the aura of The Undertaker. However, he just had IT. Performed with abandon and truly seemed to love the show.
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Shapes of Midnight
Mew – And the Glass Handed Kites
Fcukers – Ö
Dawnbringer – Nucleus
Phoebe Bridgers – Lost Weekend
Emma Ruth Rundle – These Killing Times
Never have been a metalcore fan of any stripe ever. No offense to those who partake.
Haven’t had a favorite wrestler since 1982 when I started wrestling as a freshman in high school.
Thoughts of Ionesco – For Detroit, From Addiction
Blue Oyster Cult – Tyranny and Mutation
Nomeansno – Worldhood of the World (As Such)
Holy Terror – Mind Wars
Turian – Blood Quantum Blues
Rwake – If You Walk Before You Crawl, You Crawl Before You Die
Favorite metalcore album is a tough one for me, but one of my favorites is Starkweather’s This Sheltering Night.
No shits given about professional wrestling, but I remember Stone Cold Steve Austin put out a Walmart compilation cd of his top old school metal songs back in the early 2000’s (or late ’90’s, who can say for sure), and I recall being very impressed that he included Def Leppard’s classic deep cut On Through the Night, my favorite High n’ Dry track since the 80’s. So, Stone Cold Steve Austin gets my vote for great taste in early Def Leppard, which is, of course, the only Def Leppard!
Skeletonwitch – Forever Abomination
Eximperitus – Meritoriousness of Equanimity
Filth – Time to Rot
Erbeet Azhak – Only the Vile Will Remain
Miasmata – Subterrania
Temple of Void – Lords of Death
Favorite pro wrestler: The Iron Sheik
Favorite metalcore album: An Ocean Between Us (As I Lay Dying)
*I saw Dr. C mentioned Earth Crisis! I havent listened to them in a long time, great stuff.
Man, The Conductor’s Departure is one of the best albums ever. And the band just kind of… faded away? I don’t think they’ve broken up, but they don’t seem to exist either?
Haven’t listened to much metalcore, but Starkweather’s Croaton, or Botch’s We are the Romans.
Wrestling? Well, there’s only one wrestler who’s the cream of the crop
Artificial Brain – s/t
Vein.fm – errorzone
Yautja – Songs of Lament
Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
Russian Circles – Nine
Night Verses – Every Sound Has a Color in the Valley of Night
Favorite metalcore album: Botch – We Are The Romans or Converge – You Fail Me
Never was a fan of wrestling, but my closest cousin was all about the Ultimate Warrior when we were kids in the 80s.
Amorphis – Borderland
Amorphis – Elegy
The Eternal – Obscured Horizons
Mastodon – Marrow Deep
The Ocean – Solaris
Sleep – Hempispheres
As far as metalcore goes: The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine or Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind are the extent to which my tastes overlap with the genre.