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 …
If you know me – and you should, if you don’t, because I’m fantastic – you’ll know that, generally speaking, the wide swath of black metal bores me. But there’s always an exception, of course, …
Killed by death! No, this is not the ghost of me creating these words. Wait… Am I… Am I dead? Can you guys see me? What am I saying, of course you can’t see me. …
2017 was a big year behind the scenes for Last Rites—the biggest since we switched names back in December of 2012. Ownership changed hands, which on the surface had zero effect on readers, but it …
Caviar. Peter Dinklage. Ant-Man. American League MVP Jose Altuve. Great things come in tiny packages, and the time-honored tradition of the “extended play” is no different. As is the case with all years, 2017 offered …
Hello, friends. Welcome to the official kickoff of Last Rites List Season 2017. Sure, we had a bit of a soft opening last week with Captain’s mostly comprehensive look at the year in power metal, …
Man, that cover is golden… The red pill there… with the hook… for all the fools who fall for that… But that’s outside the scope of my review, and possibly outside the meaning of the …
Some are born sad, some achieve sadness, and some have sadness thrust upon them. In the case of West Yorkshire’s incurable sad sacks My Dying Bride, it could be that all three are true. Formed …
The clearest way to sum up power metal in 2017 is to relate it to the abundance of superhero movies and shows from 2017: it’s out there in numbers and desperately craves broad appeal; it’s …
