Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover artwork by Michael Cloutier] Prog, of course, is known for technical musicianship and songwriting complexity above all else, a reputation well-earned by the early giants of the genre and happily maintained by their progeny ever since. It’s also true …
[Cover artwork by Timbul Cahyono] In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I’ve always found the concept of the split to be flawed. It works best when there’s a shared theme or the band’s involved cover each …
[Cover art by Mars Triumph] Petrichor, the sixth full length album from Greece’s epic metal stalwarts Battleroar, commences with the sound of rain and an invitation to reflect. That word, “petrichor,” is a relatively new one (coined by scientists in …
To start, let’s acknowledge that you and I don’t really know each other. This means, among other things, that I can’t say what “war metal” means to you. To some extent, maybe you just throw your hands in the air …
Hello, dear readers. I don’t think I have to go into much detail when I say there’s a lot of shit going on in the world lately, and not much of it is good. In …
Surely by now you’ve gotten the hint that the Last Rites collective is a fan of “Best of Lists.” Not just year-end lists, but BIG lists that yank full decades through our extremely sophisticated and …
Here’s something that sounds like a shitty non sequitur of a lead-in to a review of an excellent black metal album: The quest for perfection often inhibits the quest for betterment. We want the best …
When I reviewed Fughu’s debut album in 2009, I said of it, “On nearly every count, it can be said that Absence channels Dream Theater’s most famous (and, arguably, best) work, Images & Words.” Looking …
[Cover artwork: Antti Klemi] The decision to leave Kuunpalvelus and switch labels certainly came as something of a shock. Yet, it’s important to realize that Circle of Ouroborus cares about nothing aside from composing and …
Don’t let the picturesque painted pasture on the album art fool you: Silverthorne is not peddling some farmhouse hoedown cow-paddies-an’-banjos folkiness. Nope, this is rock ‘n’ f’n roll, baby… Drummer Brian Tichy should be a …
Like all of us here at Last Rites — and like most all of you, I would guess — I’ve spent a large part of my life exploring this beast called Heavy Metal. Since my …
[Cover artwork: Eliran Kantor] Spoiler alert: My Dying Bride has never put out a bad album, and My Dying Bride continues to never put out a bad album. What constitutes a classic, great, or merely …
