All posts by Zach Duvall

Last Rites Co-Owner; Senior Editor; Obnoxious overuser of baseball metaphors.

Auriferous Flame – The Great Mist Within Review

Fast Rites: because sometimes brevity is fundamental. Greece’s Spectral Lore may adopt several styles between albums, but that doesn’t stop lone member Ayloss from exploring little nooks and crannies using other names. Enter Auriferous Flame

Boris – Heavy Rocks 2022 Review

In their 30 year history, Boris has only ever expanded outward, and generally excelled at whatever sound they choose to take up. Even the simply-titled Heavy Rocks series refuses to stick to its original formula

Diamonds & Rust: 25 Years Of Devin Townsend’s Ocean Machine

I’ll wait for the ocean to rise up And meet me, as it rose up before If you’re at least 25 years of age ‒ and by virtue of reading an article about a 90s

Ashenspire – Hostile Architecture Review

Here’s a truth about art that is all too often forgotten: art needs to be political. Art begs to be political. Here’s another truth about art that is all too often forgotten: art needs to

Bekor Qilish ‒ Throes Of Death From The Dreamed Nihilism Review

In music (and all art), there’s generally a distinction between things that are blatantly, intentionally strange or just end up that way because the people making it are weirdos. Even just within the “avant-garde” tag,

Mournful Congregation ‒ The Exuviae Of Gods – Part I Review

In his intro of our Devil’s Dozen of My Dying Bride, Dan Obstkrieg describes the UK greats’ overwhelming commitment to sadness, and I would go even farther and anoint MDB the all-time lords of heavy

Luminous Vault ‒ Animate The Emptiness Review

[Cover art by fivetimesno] Animate the Emptiness, the first full length from New York’s Luminous Vault, is by definition a heavy metal album, and yet, it is also not a heavy metal album. To frame

I Am the Night ‒ While the Gods Are Sleeping Review

[Cover art by Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin] The Grand World of Heavy Metal Music is no stranger to works of tribute, typically to an era or sound or Days of Yore, but sometimes bands zero in