A Devil’s Dozen – Hypocrisy
Throughout the 1990s, few European metal bands were as consistently great, deceptively complex, and downright catchy as Sweden’s Hypocrisy. From their earliest, more purely death metal days of Penetralia and Osculum Obscenum through to their …
Fast Rites – Volume 9
You may or may not have heard, but Heavy Metal at About.com is no more. I was a fixture at the site for nearly a decade, and the short form album review format made up the bulk …
A Devil’s Dozen – Kreator
The winter of 2007 was a cold yet memorable one, as I found myself alone and trying to learn my way around the city of Essen, and the German language. Grasping at any common interest …
A Devil’s Dozen – Suffocation
The late 80s and early 90s brought a great awakening in death metal, stretching the style from its embryonic origins into a wide array of new and experimental styles. However, much of the innovation of …
Fast Rites Volume 8 It’s Spring Again!
We’ve had a number of albums that are worthy of your attention burning on the back burner for quite awhile. (Well, these short blasts have been languishing in my inbox for quite awhile; my apologies.) …
A Devil’s Dozen – Metal Church
The first week of April, 2016 was a great stretch. Not only did it deliver another opportunity to break away from the daily grind to meet up with some fellow Last Rites folks and drink …
A Devil’s Dozen – Root
Along with Master’s Hammer, Root helped to define Czech black metal in the late 80s and early 90s. Through a series of demos and early albums, the band crafted a raw, ragged, and riff-centric approach …
Battle Royal: 80s Metallica Vs. 80s Slayer – Two Bands Enter, One Band Leaves
If you’ve been a regular reader of Last Rites over the years, you know we’re pretty kind to the 80s. That has a lot to do with the fact that a number of us who …