Funebrarum – Beckoning The Void Of Eternal Silence Review
[Cover artwork by Daryl Kahan] If you, like many of us here at Last Rites, are an ancient, or at least ancient-adjacent, then perhaps you’ve been listening to death metal for quite some time. For …
Última Batalla – Última Batalla Review
[Cover artwork by Subhuman at Desert Dungeon] Let’s talk about our love for quirky metal. Okay, sure, any definable level of ‘quirk’ is obviously subjective, but I’m guessing you know we’re not talking about the …
Savage Master – The Power // Mystic Storm – Wandering Time: Split LP Review
[Cover artwork by Timbul Cahyono] In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I’ve always found the concept of the split to be flawed. It works best when there’s a shared theme or …
Lynx – Trinity Of Suns Review
[Album artwork by Lena Richter] “Nostalgia is probably overrated, at least the most common notion of it, the poignant sense that ‘what was’ is somehow inherently better than ‘what is’. It’s a lie of which …
Diamonds & Rust: 50 Years Of Rush’s 2112 — Please Shush About Ayn Rand
[Cover artwork by Hugh Syme] There’s quite a lot to unpack when attempting to tackle the 50th anniversary of an album as iconic and transformative as 2112. Straight off the bat, Rush was in a …
Diamonds & Rust: 20 Years Of Pharaoh’s The Longest Night
[Album artwork by Jean-Pascal Fournier] In order to fully appreciate the impact of a record like The Longest Night, we really need to hop into our handy Bill & Ted’s phone booth and dip back …
Cobweb – Cobweb EP Review
[Cobweb Logo by Tanya Finder] As an individual who’s spent the better part of the last four decades venerating and meditating over the works of Mercyful Fate (and King Diamond), I have made my stance …
Hällas – Panorama Review
[Album artwork: @maldoillustration (drawing) and @branca_studio (concept)] It’s been four long years since we last heard from Sweden’s self-proclaimed ‘adventure rock’ outfit Hällas, and that time away has given the band ample opportunity to explore …