Last Rites’ Best Of 2013 – Combined Staff List
This is the end of the line. Well, not really. There’s still a full two weeks left in the year, and you’re still bracket-busting your way towards crowning a Metal Madness 2013 tournament champion. But as …
A Devil’s Dozen – Emperor
Metal fans often seem to have problems deciding what constitutes “true black metal.” Is it lo-fi production and satanic lyrics? Perhaps it’s tremolo guitar riffs and non-stop blast beats. Whatever the essential elements may be, …
Is It Worth It? – YOB’s Catharsis: Masters of the Remaster Debate the Reissue
On November 12th, Profound Lore reissued YOB’s sophomore full-length Catharsis nearly ten years to date of its original release. With a spiffy sound courtesy of Tad Doyle and a much-needed art design update thanks to people with functioning eyeballs, Catharsis 2.0 looks …
Keep it Short, Stupid- EP Round-Up: November 2013 Part 1
Trying to keep up with all of 2013’s releases is like committing to a filthy second job. Well, your old pals here at Last Rites are ever-so willing to walk directly into the line of …
Keep It Short, Stupid – EP Round-Up: November Part 2
Heavy metal’s highway is stacked ten miles deep with bumper-to-bumper short-player traffic in 2013, and we’re doing our best to pick through the releases most likely to land on our readers’ collective radar. Here’s round …
Things That Go Blargh In The Night – Songs That Scare Our Scribes
Our friends, coworkers, and subway-squinters-at-our-patches all say the same thing: “Metal? You like scary music.” Like every cut pumping through our cans is nothing but a game of Candyman. To them, we’re frittering away our …
A Devil’s Dozen – Type O Negative
All bands (well, most) strive to carve a unique identity for themselves, hoping to notch an eternal scar in their little thread of history. Few succeed. Fewer still can boast that they carved their name …
A Devil’s Dozen – Morbid Angel
Let’s get this out of the way: Morbid Angel shat the bed thoroughly with its last album, the title of which we shall not bother to mention. However, rather than reflect on how the mighty …