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 …
Few would argue that death metal has enjoyed an impressively strong run recently; best-of lists from recent years have been dominated by it, and death metal has already left a conspicuous mark on 2018, with …
At the intersection of Blind Guardian and Manilla Road lies Greece’s Battleroar—epic paeans to battle and heroes, historical tales of Ye Olden Days, infectious guitar leads, soaring melodies, bombastic choirs… Codex Epicus is the band’s …
If you want to get all scientific about it, music is just physics. “Just physics,” of course, is a silly statement, as physics is the vast study of about everything, and the tiny vibrations that …
I’m an old fart now—I remember the late 1980s. I remember running across Lizzy Borden when they were featured in Penelope Spheeris’ classic The Decline Of Western Civilization, Part 2: The Metal Years, prancing about …
“Back in 2004, I had the privilege of interviewing Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul during a local stop with Damageplan on the Headbanger’s Ball Tour. Two of the nicest guys you could ever hope to …
“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 …
Matt Harvey is a guy who needs no introduction. His projects are known far and wide, all the way back to the early days of Exhumed when he helped to define a sub-genre. In his …
Axl Rose famously took a decade to complete Guns N’ Roses’ comeback album, Chinese Democracy. By contrast, in the first six full months of 2018, Rogga Johansson will have released five full-length albums… and an …
