Category: Features

Metal Isn’t Dead, You’re Just Lazy

In the beginning of 2013, I joined Twitter, and in the years and months since, I have gained a wider appreciation and scope of the metal underground as it relates to blogs, journalism, and the

Battle Royal: 80s Metallica Vs. 80s Slayer – Two Bands Enter, One Band Leaves

If you’ve been a regular reader of Last Rites over the years, you know we’re pretty kind to the 80s. That has a lot to do with the fact that a number of us who

5Q5A – Tau Cross

  Last year, Tau Cross‘ eponymous debut took the top spot on Last Rites’ Best Of list, and with good reason. The logical continuation of Amebix‘s final gasps, Tau Cross is a record that feels

A Devil’s Dozen – Candlemass

There was doom before Candlemass. There was Black Sabbath, of course, but one could argue that Sabbath transcends all sub-genres. The NWOBHM brought the likes of Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar, and a few years

Pass The Carrots, Please – A Provocative Lugubrum Primer

One of the most considerable windfalls afforded by the second wave of black metal in the early 90s was the fact that it provided a harsh and crucial reconnection with metal’s Primordial Soup. That’s not

Jimmy Bain (1947 – 2016)

I’m a bassist, so I’ve heard roughly seventeen trillion jokes about our kind being the forgotten ones. I’ve seen the meme about the correlation between your instrument and the amount of girls each musician can