Generally Impressed With Riffs
It’s a magical corner of the musical world where a band can combine an infectious nature with extreme oddness, and it’s in that corner that Idaho’s Seven Chains makes their home. Make no mistake about it, third album Swollen, In …
[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 …
Graves at Sea is the kind of band that’s tailor-made for heavy metal hype: The Curse That Is represents their first full-length after being together for fourteen years; what the band’s managed to produce – …
Originally written by Chris Redar 2013’s Exodromos became somewhat of an obsession of mine some months after its release. Sure, It made my top ten that year, but that particular calendar stretch also saw career …
If you’ve been fortunate enough to visit the Natural History Museum in New York City, you may have seen their wall chart showing the history of evolution. From dinosaurs all the way up, it is …
To say that Amon Amarth has coasted into a career as a veteran live act is a bit of an understatement. It would be more accurate to say that their studio material has taken a …
Originally written by Chris Redar Crimson Renegade is: 1. An album entirely about cowboys, cowboy lore, and cowboy stuff. 2. Recorded by Redwest, who hail from the land of cowboys, Italy. 3. Vocally and lyrically …
If you’ve been a regular reader of Last Rites over the years, you know we’re pretty kind to the 80s. That has a lot to do with the fact that a number of us who …
Moonsorrow has never been a band to shock their fans, or anyone for that matter. Over the course of six albums and one really long “EP,” the greatest carriers of Quorthon’s legacy have generally stayed …
Sludge, especially southern sludge, is in a strange place right now. Since 2010, the current standard bearers of the region (Baroness, Kylesa, Mastodon) have eschewed traditional sludge sounds and lyrical themes in favor of exploring more progressive …
