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 …
Brutally Deceased takes its name from a Grave song, and that is not the only thing the band takes from Grave and its Stockholm death metal compatriots. Never mind that Brutally Deceased hails from the …
Because heavy metal bands change direction and because heavy metal fans stake whole pieces of themselves on the results, the Last Rites staffers have been sharing their thoughts on some of the transition albums that …
Remember Witchcraft? That band was all the rage in the middle of the last decade, and I thought Witchcraft’s retro-doom/rock was some pretty hot shit, myself. Sadly, nary a peep has been heard from Witchcraft …
Originally written by Erik Thomas Sjukdom (“disease”) is my first encounter with Sweden’s Lifelover, despite their four-album history, and a strange beast they are. While falling under the vast black metal umbrella, Lifelover is a …
Most of the time spent daydreaming, drifting and listening to heavy metal in my room as a youth found me in the illusionary role of a dynamic frontman, like Ronnie James Dio, Bruce Dickinson and …
Originally written by Jon Eardley Destruction is a band that most old timers will tell you hit their creative peak with 1988’s Release From Agony, and they’d in all likelihood say that almost everything released …
A band in transition can be a daunting prospect for fans — the results can just as easily be disastrous as transcendent. In Part One of this three-part Metalmorphoses feature, the Last Rites staff began …
Like you, the devout and steadfast metal fan, we at Last Rites take very seriously and personally our relationships with the bands we love. Invested heavily with emotion in the musical manifestations of our very identities, …
