Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover artwork by Old Hag] When I initially realized that Arckanum’s first album after a long hiatus—and, technically, its breakup—would be released on All Hallows’ Eve, I devised this rather cutesy and far-fetched idea to compare the entire album to …
[Album artwork / art direction by Joseph Niet / The Creative Corporation] Offering up a textbook definition of “holy crap, time flies,” Black Sabbath’s swan song, 13, was released 13 years ago, on June 7th, 2013. In a curious move, …
If you’re just now catching up, well, we’re just now catching up. Seth Buttnam and I (plus one uninvited guest) are rounding up some of our favoritest grindcore (or grind-adjacent) releases of the past however many months, since we (read: …
[Album artwork by Truls Espedal] It’s 17 albums for Enslaved now, comprising a discography I find exceptionally challenging to wrap my arms around. What’s going on here? Does anyone else forget that the relatively rote and by-the-numbers Frost is actually …
Make America Great Again, you say? Well, how about making this country of ours KILL again with some fucking high quality death metal!? Sure, you might be immediately put off by the title The One …
While no details have been given as to the recording process of The Art Of Human Sacrifice, one can only imagine it as the three band members of the grave-robbing Finnish black metal outfit Tatanhammer …
FAST RITES: because sometimes brevity is fundamental. As they did after their first LP, Italy’s industrial/black metal/sci-fi wizards Progenie Terrestre Pura have followed up the monstrous oltreLuna with an EP. But in contrast to the …
You know what I miss? Rating systems. When I first started writing here there was a rating system, and most other review sites had rating systems. For us it was 666. I can’t remember what …
I am harder to contact than I think I am. I mean I am nearly always in contact with myself, so it rarely occurs to me that anyone else might have a hard time getting …
“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 …
It was the summer of 2012, and it should have been an unmitigated disaster. A small metal festival in the heart of Ohio made even smaller by record-setting temperatures and a tornado that ripped half …
Talent is a fickle beast. Those who possess it are often led down the pompous, overwrought path of say Dave Weckl or Steve Vai. One might spend more time endorsing drumsticks than supporting the mostly …
