Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover art by Jef Whitehead] Cognizance’s In Light, No Shape serves as a useful reminder that when it comes to our musical preferences, our whats are subservient to our whys. If, for example, you are a fan of the early …
[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 …
These Italian grinders are celebrating their 30th anniversary with this one, their seventh full-length album, but don’t think for a second that they’ve mellowed in their older age. Their last full-length, 2014’s Nero in metastasi, …
In terms of what’s currently in vogue, no branch of metal has wandered further from its roots than doom. As an illustration to that point, if one were to poll a random group of metal …
Greetings, friends. It’s time to check out what your pals at Last Rites have been listening to lately, with a little feature we call Staff Infections. Being November, this is but one of many lists …
“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 …
New Jersey’s Evoken has been one of metal’s great purveyors of misery for over 20 years now, and within the already extremely specific niche of funeral doom has maintained a bit of a micro-niche by …
Album titles are usually a crapshoot, an afterthought, a nothing. Do you think Necro Zombie Pus Slurper spent more than ten seconds debating whether to call their latest album Dawn of the Dead Necro-Morts or …
Halloween is over for another year, but the horror continues, at least for a little while… Perhaps not surprisingly, based on on their name, Them began life as a King Diamond tribute, and their first …
Sages have taught us that the secret to a good scald is knowing when not to scald. The brilliance of a scalder is that, through their experience, they know when to dial it back and …
