Kontact – First Contact Review
[Cover artwork by Héloïse Merlin] Where were you when the world’s hottest new doomsday cult slipped into their fresh Keds and velour tracksuits, shimmied down an obscured underground passageway into the basement of the Great …
Best Of 2021 – Captain: I Am My Vow Incarnate
Dark forces would likely prefer me to use this platform to complain about how life & times in 2021 decided to increase the pressure of its boot compared to 2020, but I ain’t that guy, …
We Have The Power – The Top 30 Power Metal (And Power-Related) Albums Of 2021
Hails and good fortune, heroes! Welcome to the launch of List Season here at Last Rites. As has become tradition, we kick things off with brand-spankin’-new edition of We Have the Power, our annual roundup …
Memory Garden – 1349 Review
[Cover artwork by Gyula Havancsák] “It’s all fun and games until someone gets the Black Death.” ~ Albert of Saxony circa 1346, probably I’m not sure if any of you were there, but the early …
Tower – Shock To The System Review
[Cover artwork by Morgan Jesse Lappin] “The guitar. It was the key, the sword in the stone, the staff of righteousness. As my father christened it, ‘that fucking guitar’,” remarked Bruce Springsteen during his six-month …
First Fragment – Gloire Éternelle Review
[Artwork by Adam Burke / Nightjar Illustration] It’s probably not the best idea to kick things off by making an outlandish claim concerning First Fragment guitarist Phil Tougas being a shadowy villain bent on provoking …
Outre-Tombe – Abysse Mortifère Review
[Album artwork by Matt “Putrid” Carr] There’s something magical concerning the way a number of us grew to accept brutality as a positive force in life. If you’re lucky enough to have the spectre of …
Where Angels Dare To Tread: A Solitude Aeturnus Primer
A case can and should be made for Arlington, Texas doom vets Solitude Aeturnus being in the running for the most underrated classic metal band to ever come out of these United States. True, an …