All posts by Zach Duvall

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

My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding Review

A certain someone began his review of My Dying Bride’s last album, The Ghost of Orion, by stating that the band has never released a bad album. While that may be very true, there’s no

Ischemic – Condemned To The Breaking Wheel Review

Toronto’s Ischemic take a rather interesting approach to assembling their doom/death metal that helps give it a refreshing, but thankfully never forced, level of diversity. Condemned to the Breaking Wheel is their third full length,

Defect Designer – Chitin Review

[Cover art by Ian Miller] Here’s a one-image review of Chitin, the latest full length from Defect Designer: Oh, do you require more information? Okie dokie. Here we go… Defect Designer’s lineup has shifted considerably

Owl – Ghosts Of Summer Review

Bonn, Germany’s Owl has spent more than a decade exploring the spectrum between extremely heavy doom/death and spaced out ambience, with most releases blending the two to a certain extent. Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Christian Kolf

Ihsahn – Ihsahn Review

[Note: Ihsahn is releasing two versions of his upcoming self-titled record, one metal and one purely orchestral. This review only discusses the metal album.] At this point in his legendary career, listeners can have a

Sovereign – Altered Realities Review

[AWESOME cover art by Skaðvaldur] Sovereign is a thrashy band from Norway. They intermingle with other thrashy bands from Norway (one member has even played live with scene kings Nekormantheon). But Sovereign does not necessarily

Best Of 2023 – Zach Duvall: A Wholly Nonsensical Display Of Glory

Welcome back, one and all, to another wrap-up of another exceptional year in heavy music. No long editorial to start this time. Instead let’s hand out some “awards” for all (some) things good, bad, and

Elitist – A Mirage Of Grandeur Review

[Cover art by Tobias Holmbeck] On debut A Mirage of Grandeur, Copenhagen’s Elitist are a whole lot of things and also not a lot of things. For example, they play Danish death metal that is