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 …
After 24 mostly active years, eight albums, endless loads of riffs, all of the winter playlists, and oodles of crab walks, Immortal has decided to go out on their own terms and call it quits… …
On Pyramids‘s self-titled debut album from 2008, the Texas-based band sounded like a photo-negative version of Blut Aus Nord‘s mind-bending MoRT album, all blown-out brightness and brittle dream-pop shards colored ominously by black metal echoes. …
For many, the Greek metal scene should need no introduction, particularly when thinking of black metal. (Six Degrees of Rotting Christ is a fun game to play over at Metal Archives.) But the country offers …
The first thing that hopefully jumps out with regard to Insomnia is the name attached to the project. If you’ve been involved with the CA/Bay Area metal scene for the better part of the last …
Some flowers take a very long time to blossom. Such is the case with Heimweh, the full length debut from London’s Crom Dubh, which comes over a decade into the band’s existence. This is not …
Because you and I both know this thing has a good chance of shooting straight the hell off the rails, I’ll frontload the critical bit: Enki is Melechesh‘s most self-assured and accomplished album to date, …
It is with the fullest heart that I greet you dearest readers of Last Rites. It has been a while since I showed my figurative face around these parts, and I can truly say that …
Formed to fill the void tragically vacated by Nasum after Mieszko Talarczyk’s death in 2004, Unrest took their time getting their debut out to the world. Grindcore was recorded in 2011, but then shelved – …
