Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover art by Mister Curse] Stack Overflow In Corpse Pile Interface. Stack Overflow in…Corpse Pile Interface? “What’s in a name? That which we call a corpse pile, by any other word would smell as putrid” – billy shakes Forgive my …
[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 …
Another year, another year-end roundup blah blah blah… NO! Not going to treat this like any other year. Not at all. Because for a multitude of reasons, 2016 was far from ordinary, or even within …
I want to live in a lighthouse. Not one of those crappy ones, either. I want to live in the sort of lighthouse that people stand beside and plaintively look out to sea while sipping …
Every year we get hundreds of thousands of letters from all over the world asking how we manage to compile our annual Last Rites Combined Staff Top 25 List. It’s no easy task, we’ll have …
I did not get the opportunity to review the latest Vektor, but I loved it. I love the whole idea of Death-meets-Voivod-meets-black-metal-graveling. In fact I think black metal graveling is almost built for tech-thrash. It just …
When writing up our favorite EPs of last year, I dubbed 2015 as “The Year of the EP.” It wasn’t a claim supported by deep historical research or context, but just a quick observation about …
The language of metal is filled with a finite amount of dark, excessively graphic and usually made up words. Thus, we have to clarify that we are discussing the Sacrificio from Spain. They are not …
Kicking things off with the theme to “Welcome Back Kotter” might seem strange, but there’s a warmth and familiarity in the tune that’s fitting as an opener to this most hallowed season. No, not the …
Two years ago, Martyrdöd’s Eldopp very rightly found its way into many a year-end list, including Last Rites’ staff-wide Top 25 and a top ten spot on my personal list, placings that were each rightfully …
