Last Rites Cover Art Tournament: The Brutal Round of 64
Heavy metal is many things, but being the world’s most brutal music is one of its chief roles. This is not to say that music of other styles can’t be brutal; anyone that has heard …
The Last Rites Cover Art Tournament: Metal March Madness
In heavy metal history, the visual imagery that goes on album covers has long been almost as iconic as The Riff itself. The work of a particular artist becomes permanently associated with a band to …
Fast Rites – Get Your Fix
We have lots for you to chew on once again in this installment of Fast Rites. For example, we have a holdover or two from late last year, plus a few reissues that are well worth …
A Devil’s Dozen – Overkill
One of the incredible things about being a fan of music — if not the actual most incredible thing about it — comes in the nearly magical connection between the listener and the song. A …
Battle Royal: Suffocation vs. Immolation – Two Bands Enter, One Band Leaves
NEW YORK: Lady Liberty, Times Square, Fifth Avenue, Coney Island, Wall Street, the Guggenheim, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Five Families, the five boroughs, the New York Times, Woody Allen movies, Tony Bennett, the …
Fast Rites – Volume 13
We’re clearing the decks with looks at releases that languished in our inboxes over the “holiday” season. Record labels don’t completely shut down in December, but it’s very easy to overlook new albums when you’re …
Last Rites’ Best Of 2016 – Combined Staff
Every year we get hundreds of thousands of letters from all over the world asking how we manage to compile our annual Last Rites Combined Staff Top 25 List. It’s no easy task, we’ll have …
Last Rites’ Top EPs Of 2016 – The Best Briefly Bashing Bonanzas
When writing up our favorite EPs of last year, I dubbed 2015 as “The Year of the EP.” It wasn’t a claim supported by deep historical research or context, but just a quick observation about …