Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Album artwork by James Koehnline] As much as I love and appreciate the fact that my metal foundation was fortified by growing up alongside the genre in the ‘80s as a youth, I owe a great deal of my undying …
[Cover art by Fenomeno Design] Did you know that Chile is pretty darn good at death metal? If not, you must be new around these parts, in which case, I say, welcome friend! We’re glad to have you here and …
It’s a magical corner of the musical world where a band can combine an infectious nature with extreme oddness, and it’s in that corner that Idaho’s Seven Chains makes their home. Make no mistake about it, third album Swollen, In …
[Cover art by Claudio Elias Scialabba] Italy’s Into Darkness has been a band for approximately 15 years but is just now releasing its first full length album, Route to the Other Side, but all that time has been greatly beneficial …
Side…Prolog… 1. Experiment [6:10] 2. Tribal Convictions [4:52] 3. Chaosmöngers [4:39] 4. Technocratic Manipulators [4:35] Side…Epilog… 5. Macrosolutions to Megaproblems [5:33] 6. Brain Scan [5:08] 7. Psychic Vacuum [3:49] 8. Cosmic Drama [4:54] We all …
In the world of Heavy Metal Album Artwork, Voivod stands alone. Now, they don’t so much stand alone because their art is better than everyone else’s – it’s so idiosyncratic that it likely isn’t to …
Welcome, all, to a space free of judgment, where lovers of all sorts can gather and simply love. We do not kink shame at Last Rites, no sir, because kinks are just another form of …
I’m tempted to open this particular scribbling with some proclamation like, “Saxon probably shouldn’t be making albums this strong this late in their career.” But then again, who am I to say what a metal …
Black metal can often feel and sound triumphant. That triumph, however, is still very often connected to grimness, darkness, hell, war or any other sentiment rooted in capital E evil. Karmanjaka’s third album Gates of Muspel is …
Way back, oh… like a month ago, when we here at the Last Rites Emporium Of Fine Musical Tastes were compiling our Most Anticipated Releases Of 2022 features, I was narrowing down my short list …
It takes a lot to summon a whole root system of possibilities in 14 minutes, but that’s precisely what the Dutch outfit Deathless Void accomplishes on this ferocious debut EP. The opening track writhes and …
Remember the good old days, when thrash metal was just crossing the bridge into death metal? Pepperidge Farm remembers. And so does Belgium’s Schizophrenia. Taking their name and some musical cues from early Sepultura, Schizophrenia’s …
