Category: Features
The MDF 2014 Power Rankings – Top 10 Song Performances
Let it be known: I attended Maryland Deathfest 2014 as a fan, not a music “journalist,” so this isn’t some comprehensive recap, but more of a snapshot of one guy’s experiences. After all, when so …
Outre Monde – Blood Of The Black Owl And Ampacity
Welcome to the third edition of Outré Monde. In this ongoing series of discussions, Erik Highter and Craig Hayes will be hurling Bandcamp recommendations at each other, with the aim of recommending some new tunes …
Secret Rites Revealed – 20 Years of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Originally written by K. Scott Ross. It’s been twenty years since Mayhem released De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. Twenty years since “Norwegian black metal” came and went as the favored bogey of Christian parents and conservative newscasters everywhere. The …
5Q5A – Dirge
Let’s be real. The word “dirge” isn’t all that appealing. Setting aside it’s aethestic ickiness, it’s also a bit, well, literal, at least when applied to our little corner of the universe. While brothers …
5Q5A – Brutally Deceased: Catching Czech Sunlight
Originally written by Ian Chainey Some bands love their influences. Then, there are the bands that live their influences, that are wholly shaped by their influences. Brutally Deceased, a collective of Czech grinders and growlers …
RIP H.R. Giger – Swiss Artist Dies At 74
H.R. Giger, famed creator of the Xenomorph, has passed away, reportedly from injuries sustained in a fall. Unlike most of the deaths we reflect on here at Last Rites, Giger was neither young nor a …
5Q5A – Helcaraxë
Over the course of their decade-plus existence, New Jersey’s Helcaraxë has tooled around with their death metal formula here and there, but the one thing that has stayed constant is the bombast. Plain and simple, …
80s Essentials – Optional Retro-spections, Volume 5 Haiku
Well, friends, this is it: The final stop on the Last Rites 80s’ metal train. Just thinking about the curtain dropping gets me a little misty-eyed. But as the great Napoleon Bonaparte once said, all …