Generally Impressed With Riffs
[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 …
[Cover art by David Preissel] The sounds of Neurosis’ “Locust Star” emanate from a desktop speaker wired to an iPod Nano via ⅛-inch cable “Hey maaaan … is that Ponderous Post Metal?” “Yeah maaan …” “Well turn it up MAAAN!!” …
[Artwork by Vicky “Liddo” Morales] In a soak-your-underwear sweaty, tetanus-to-the-touch warehouse in the middle of Skid Row, Raw Addict played its first show. Weeks earlier, drummer Isaac made the irresistible sales pitch, stating that the multinational band connecting grind lifers …
Picture this, brah brah: You’re out enjoying a nice meal with the in-laws. It’s a pleasant setting—a beach vacation, let’s say. The sun gently peeks above the horizon, illuminating the tides as they roll in and wash away the footprints …
We live in an age of flight. Airplanes are so ubiquitous and mundane we really can’t imagine a time when the idea of travelling in the air at speed was kind of absurd. If you …
Loudness is a crutch. “Maximum volume yields maximum results” is a fine bit of sloganeering, but as a guiding principle for music, its pithiness belies its hollowness. Of course, the act of listening necessarily requires …
It’s May, friends—well into spring and nudging on summer. And yet, the weather still sucks. The rain is seemingly incessant, the sun barely glimpsed, my summer clothes still packed away, and my motorcycle still un-ridden. …
“Album Of The Day” is a Last Rites Facebook feature we started whose purpose is quite straight-forward: highlight one album per day and say a few words about it. Understanding that not everyone chooses to …
Of all the anomalies to have occurred within metal over these many years—and yep, there have been some absolute whoppers—the phenomenon of Saint Vitus lingers as one of the more unique and underplayed. The band …
“Dear Friends…” Or so begin the always welcome mailing list updates from Sentient Ruin Laboratories with news on upcoming releases, sales, and the usual kind of information one would expect from an independent record label. …
It’s not a secret that the role of a record label has changed drastically in the age of the internet. Nowhere is this more true than in the underground, where endeavors are driven by genuine …
Even the cryptic album title Kings Under the Sand can’t throw the listener off the scent of this one. These German jerks are talking about dead pharaohs. I mean, those are the kings buried under …
