Category: Reviews
Temple Of Void – The Crawl Review
[Cover art by Travis Smith] Personally, I enjoy it when a band opens an album by kicking in your door and lighting your home on fire. Detroit doesn’t have a Devil’s Night reputation for nothing …
Miserere Luminis – Sidera Review
[Cover art by Adam Burke] Sweeping, tactile strokes. Threads of light and iridescent color pervading an inky blackness. A sense of continual but ever-shifting movement, like water. You might think these descriptive passages were written …
Exhumed – Red Asphalt Review
Ross Sewage closed a recent interview with a perfectly Exhumed response to a simple question: Asked to complete the sentence beginning with “Death metal is at its best…,” his answer was straight to the point: …
Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne! – Diabolus, Mecum Semperterne! Review
Friend, I wonder if you would agree with me when I say that authenticity in black metal is a dead letter. I don’t mean that black metal is always played inauthentically, but rather that the …
Leatherhead – Violent Horror Stories Review
[Album artwork by Mario López] You would never know the very USPM-sounding Leatherhead are Greek. Yet here we are, reviewing Leatherhead’s sophomore effort, the bluntly titled Violent Horror Stories, which is … you guessed it, …
Dwellnought – Monolith Of Ephemerality Review
Monolith Of Ephemerality is the ambitious debut of Italian quartet Dwellnought, which formed in 2023 and released one prior demo last year. The band proclaims it blends black metal and doom, but you’ll find moments …
Cryptic Shift – Overspace & Supertime Review
[Cover art by Jesse Jacobi] A recent conversation among friends – all current or former Last Rites writers – discussed Opeth’s (in)famous song “Black Rose Immortal,” and its merits and pitfalls. Some friends love the …
Turbo’s Tribunal – Mills Of Tribunal Review
After a particularly strong 2025, the bar is high for traditional metal in 2026. And the debut from Turbo’s Tribunal, Mills of Tribunal, just clears it. The band Turbo’s Tribunal is but one Danish man, …