Category: Features
Evan Thompson’s Best of 2016 – Finding the Way Forward
I’ll be the first to acknowledge that 2016 was hard on all of us. Here in that huge space of snow-covered land called Canada, more specifically in Alberta, we have been going through a brutal …
Dan Obstkrieg’s Best Of 2016 – Let Them Bells Ring
Has anyone ever asked you why you listen to heavy metal? It happens to me, from time to time, and I always find myself without an answer. It’s not that I’m indignant at the question, …
Manny-O-War’s Best Of 2016 – The Death Of Angels
It seems like last year fans of loud music sat around talking about how the world had gone to shit and the only thing saving us from mental annihilation was quality heavy metal. Imagine if …
Andrew Edmunds’ Best Of 2016 – Let’s Put This Year Behind Us
Christ, what a terrible terrible terrible year. I’m glad this one’s behind us. Between the deaths of so many greats and the interminable American presidential election, 2016 was an insufferably brutal year. (Let’s not speak …
Zach Duvall’s Best Of 2016: Foundations Of Immortality
Another year, another year-end roundup blah blah blah… NO! Not going to treat this like any other year. Not at all. Because for a multitude of reasons, 2016 was far from ordinary, or even within …
Captain’s Best Of 2016: Temba, His Arms Open
I want to live in a lighthouse. Not one of those crappy ones, either. I want to live in the sort of lighthouse that people stand beside and plaintively look out to sea while sipping …
Last Rites’ Best Of 2016 – Combined Staff
Every year we get hundreds of thousands of letters from all over the world asking how we manage to compile our annual Last Rites Combined Staff Top 25 List. It’s no easy task, we’ll have …
Last Rites’ Top EPs Of 2016 – The Best Briefly Bashing Bonanzas
When writing up our favorite EPs of last year, I dubbed 2015 as “The Year of the EP.” It wasn’t a claim supported by deep historical research or context, but just a quick observation about …