Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Artwork by Caroline Harrison] “Nonsense” opens with a slow fade-in of distorted guitars and seismic drums — the chaos before the swarm. It’s a trick of the trade, the extreme metal equivalent of a camera operator calling out “speed” before …
[Cover artwork by Luca “Zeero” Zironi] There was always something uniquely charming about Konquest’s brand of traditional heavy metal—an almost whimsical breeziness that still felt like a near perfect balance of playful and substantive. A long-lost Italian cousin to Sweden’s …
[Cover art by Beyond Art] There are bad musical moods, and then there’s Mylingar. Over the course of the last decade this group of anonymous Swedes has concocted the type of ill-meaning black/death that makes Diocletian seem like a Care …
[Cover artwork by Subhuman at Desert Dungeon] Let’s talk about our love for quirky metal. Okay, sure, any definable level of ‘quirk’ is obviously subjective, but I’m guessing you know we’re not talking about the guy who loves The Black …
Originally written by Erik Thomas Since they’re both signed to Prosthetic Records, I always sort of considered Withered and Book of Black Earth closely related, sister acts. Both initially played a sort of blackened death …
Burn in Hell, middle ground — the truly memorable works of our time are those efforts that populate the more intense realms of love and hate. And really, album number five from The Gates of …
I’ll be the first to admit: the first time I listened to Dark Castle’s enigmatic second album Surrender To All Life Beyond Form, it left me almost completely cold. In fact, it seemed like such …
My sanity – and musical taste – has been subject to question for quite some time now. I’m more apt to disagree with the opinions of my fellow Last Rites staffers than not, and tend …
originally written by Chris McDonald Despite the fact that this band put out some of my favorite death metal of all time on their first two records, news of a new Autopsy full-length actually went …
The article was originally written by Rae Amitay. Týr is a band from the Faroe Islands, whose unique brand of heavy metal is rooted deeply in themes of Norse mythology and traditional Faroese music. MetalReview’s …
Riding quite the wave of success since being joined on vocals a few albums ago by Mortuus of Funeral Mist fame, Marduk thought now was good a time as any to push out some new …
On the whole, Falconer halves me. The idea behind their folk-laden power metal is quite literally a grand one, and yet, in practice, it’s been one I’ve found more clinically interesting than emotionally resonant. Somewhere …
