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 …
Originally written by Ian Chainey I first read the name Will Killingsworth researching Ampere‘s brain-blower All Our Tomorrows End Today. “Ex-Orchid, you know,” my buddy told me. Ooo, Orchid! I thought. The Amherst, MA outfit …
Originally written by Chris Redar Some albums make an attempt to distract you from the fact that they are as limp and lifeless as the corpses depicted on the cover with all manner of studio …
Originally written by Chris Redar In the process of writing this review, I had an incredibly difficult time coming up with the proper analogy for comparative purposes. The list of things I started typing and …
I watched a drug deal unfold two feet away from me at a bus stop next to the del Norte Bay Area Rapid Transit station at 10:30am on a Friday morning. The act was recklessly …
I’m not quite sure what to make of Dez Fafara these days, but he certainly does appear to be comfortable in his own skin. Comfortable enough that, after nearly a decade of recording and seemingly …
Despite forming in 2005 and having a demo out as early as 2008, Paramnesia is the first proper full-length from Australian death metallers Altars. Over this time, the band has honed its sound to an …
(The Lord Weird) Slough Feg has been a perennial favorite around Last Rites for eons and eons, so as briefly wrenching as it was to relinquish one of “our” bands to the wider world, even …
Originally written by Chris Redar The term “stoner rock” bothers the shit out of me. It brings to mind two very limiting and very disconcerting scenarios that almost immediately throw off the listening experience. The …
