1. 1. Get up extra early and destroy the 1000-piece puzzle your significant other has been working on for the last week. Don’t forget to set up the spy cam!
   2. Attempt to convince everyone at the next company Zoom meeting that you’ve taken Jeff Dunham as your spiritual advisor, and then launch into a series of wildly inappropriate and unfunny jokes with a puppet made of soiled underwear.
   3. Wage a totally baseless and intricate war on one of your next door neighbors. Be sure to stuff unseemly propaganda in all the surrounding neighborhood mailboxes, and don’t forget to perfect the art of the drone egg drop.
   4. Learn to play the Theremin by setting it up in the kids’ bedroom and only practicing in the middle of the night.
   5. Jerry-rig the mailbox so it plays Defeated Sanity’s “Verses of Deformity” every time someone opens it.

(And speaking of Defeated Sanity, they released a new song TODAY. Have you checked it out yet?)

That’s pretty much all the help we can offer this week. Well, apart from delivering VOLUME 9 of our 100 Essential Albums of the 2010s right to your doorstep! We’re barreling toward home after finally rounding third, so there’s only one chance left if we still haven’t hit a couple (a few? A TON??) of your favorites. Please forgive us.

And again, here’s the crib sheet of what’s been covered so far:

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8

Uukhai!!

PHARAOH – BURY THE LIGHT

I joined the former manifestation of Last Rites, MetalReview, in November of 2005, and one of my fondest early memories of those initial months was the synchronous thrill that rippled through the crew and forum members when Pharaoh first dropped their colossal sophomore effort The Longest Night in February of 2006. I was still fairly new to enjoying metal in this capacity—through the internet and only with people I’d never met face-to-face—and it was amazing to witness a connection over an album from people coming into metal from so many different vantage points. Pharaoh has always been that sort of band, really: unmistakably shaped by the more aggressive form of U.S. power metal that eventually led to the bouncier Euro style, but with enough of a modern edge that virtually anyone with a basic love of melodic heavy metal might be considered demented for not finding something to love about them. Yes, Pharaoh is a power metal band, but they’re the sort of power metal band that power metal devotees love kicking into the faces of louts who claim to hate all power metal.

The talent level behind each Pharaoh player is significant, so singling out any one individual as the principal breadwinner is a mostly ineffectual endeavor. However, few would argue that this horse would likely be put to pasture if the mountainous voice of Tim Aymar (ex-Control Denied) weren’t attached, and certainly if guitarist Matt Johnsen suddenly decided to hang up that axe. That being said, the beauty of Bury the Light lies in its capacity to push even further into progressive realms, giving drummer Chris Black (Aktor, High Spirits, ex-Dawnbringer) and bassist Chris Kerns (ex-Dawnbringer) a little more room to shuffle and an additional splash of the production spotlight. It works beautifully, as the more winding and far-reaching songs such as “The Year of the Blizzard” (that Rush riff!) and the wonderful “Graveyard of Empires” give the listener a chance to recognize that every one of these fellows is responsible for the greatness of the record. And make no mistake, Bury the Light is absolutely great, almost by virtue of simply being designed by this remarkable band.

Also: please, please, PLEASE give us another record to chew on before it comes time for us to compile our next decade list. [CAPTAIN]

• Released: February 24, 2012
• Label: Cruz del Sur Music
• Last Rites review
• Killing cut: “Graveyard of Empires”

EVOKEN – ATRA MORS

There are many adjectives one can use to describe funeral doom—sorrowful, heavy, slow (duh), hopeless, grief-stricken, bleak—but sometimes it is the utter barrenness, the nakedness of the style that unites many of its best bands. Evoken’s fifth album Atra Mors embraced this nakedness both in its quietest moments (the loneliness of its single picked notes) and in its heaviest. No matter how gargantuan this record becomes in its heft—and make no mistake about it, this record is HEAVY—each element still makes sure that the intended emotion is clear as day. Be it the gothic moroseness of “Descent into Chaotic Dream,” the gauntlet of despair and ultimate redemption in “An Extrinsic Divide,” or the terror of the title track, Evoken wants nothing getting in the way of their meaning.

The nakedness may apply to both the record’s emotion and sound, but that does not mean that both are not also incredibly deep. It’s a testament to every lumbering doom riff, keyboard texture, haggard growl, wailing lead, and isolated clean passage that the whole becomes so much more than the sum of its parts, even if there are several passages when just one or two parts are being played. It shimmers and expands as it contrasts and crushes; it offers beauty and warmth as it closes the path to hope. Atra Mors is barren and naked, to be sure, but like all great funeral doom, it hides its complexities in plain sight, daring the listener to unravel them. [ZACH DUVALL]

• Released: July 31, 2012
• Label: Profound Lore
• Last Rites review
• Killing cut: “An Extrinsic Divide”

FUCK THE FACTS – DIE MISERABLE

Fuck the Facts spends exactly 31 seconds fucking around with a soft buildup, and the rest of Die Miserable’s 35 minutes ripping your face off. Take “Lifeless,” which starts by giving knives to giant radioactive spiders (for to be stabbing your stupid face with) and ending with a just massively, pickscrapingly groovy riff.

Centerpiece “Census Blank” grabs you by the throat and demands that you disrespect your surroundings, hard. It thrashes a circle pit and then stomps drunkenly and furiously before staggering backwards, fist aloft in triumphant celebration. All across metaldom, there are many perfect songs for the pit, and this is one of ‘em. Then, after a soft outro and calmly introduced “Alone,” Die Miserable races right back to the pit with razorblades a-spinnin’. Fuck the Facts embraces the balance that properly deployed dynamics creates, making them twice as lethal when the heavy hits.

Despite all the precision, Die Miserable still sounds like these rabid Canadians are completely unhinged, with a Cheshire Cat smile as they twist and dart about. While the band has always been Topon Das’ baby, the full band’s sound, and especially Mel Mongeon’s vicious vocals and artwork, have helped elevate the band to one of grindcore’s elite. They never shy from violent grind attacks, but they also have that je ne sais quoi in the songwriting that adds a layer of musicality and the aforementioned balance. Thinking person’s grindcore, if you will.

There’s even a touch of the soulful clean guitar in closer “95” that made “False Hope” from 2015’s Desire Will Rot such a banger. Fuck the Facts have roughly a bajillion splits, EPs and comps, but start with the essential full lengths like Die Miserable, and get with the damn program. [FETUSGHOST]

• Released: October 11, 2011
• Label: Relapse Records
• Killing cut: “Census Blank”

SANCTUARY – THE YEAR THE SUN DIED

Sanctuary’s reunion was an unexpected one. Vocalist Warrel Dane had spent the previous two decades guiding Nevermore through seven stellar outings, that band’s blend of power and thrash and progressive metals not too far distant from Sanctuary’s similar sound, or at least, the logical progression onward from it. After a falling out with Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis and drummer Van Williams, Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard re-activated their earlier outfit, and the transition back proved to be as seamless as the one forward, the one from Sanctuary to Nevermore in the early 90s.

Differences remain, of course: Sanctuary guitarists Lenny Rutledge and Brad Hull aren’t Loomis-level shredders, so that seven-string-slinging element of Nevermore’s sound is absent, and the progressive angles are scaled back to fit Sanctuary’s slightly more straightforward USPM attack. Still, overall, the blend of moody power / traditional and cerebral thrash that characterized Into The Mirror Black was as good in 2014 as it was in 1990, all painted in dazzling multicolor with the dramatic tones of Dane’s voice, a little older and less stratospheric now but still godly.

Tragically, this reunion would be short-lived, as Warrel Dane died of a heart attack in December of 2017. Sanctuary soldiers on, now with Witherfall wailer James Michael on vocals, and live, at least, he’s doing a fine job — 2020 should see the band’s first release without Dane, so we’ll know then if the in-studio legacy of greatness continues. At least, back then, in The Year The Sun Died, Sanctuary proved themselves once again as strong as ever. [ANDREW EDMUNDS]

• Released: September 24, 2014
• Label: Avalon
• Last Rites review
• Killing cut: “Exitium”

SOLSTICE – WHITE HORSE HILL

There’s no getting around the fact that being a Solstice fan can be a frustrating experience. Guitarist / leader Rich Walker is a self-avowed perfectionist and, more than likely, a bit of a pain in the ass. This has resulted in Solstice having a revolving door line-up and precious little recorded material to show for an almost thirty-year career. White Horse Hill—the follow-up to 1998’s epic doom classic, New Dark Age—is only the band’s third full-length album, and their first in twenty years. But you know what? It was worth the friggin’ wait. Solstice really does have something special to offer the metal world… When they eventually get around to it. Rich Walker’s gift for melodic guitar lines is almost peerless, and he can make a melody sound solemn, wistful and triumphant all at the same time. While melody has always been a crucial component of Solstice’s music, it is brought even more to the fore on White Horse Hill.

Walker no longer claims the doom tag for the band, preferring instead to call the band epic heavy metal, and that is certainly fitting for White Horse Hill. However, though the band is less riff-focused than in the past, the songs here are still built around a robust frame of heavy guitars. Furthermore, while Solstice has had some good singers, most of them have been a little too soft. With the addition of Paul Kearns, however, Solstice finally had (surprise: he’s since left the band) a singer with the power and versatility to match its music.

Odds are it’ll be another twenty years before we see a new Solstice record, but at least we have this masterful opus to tide us over. [JEREMY MORSE]

• Released: February 21, 2018
• Label: Dark Descent / Iron Bonehead Productions
• Last Rites review
• Killing cut: “To Sol a Thane”

PAGAN ALTAR – THE ROOM OF SHADOWS

As I grow older, I find myself believing more and more in magic. There’s an inherent magical aspect to the human experience and in the bonds we create with others over the sharing of emotion—be it joy, frustration, anger, grief, success, love, hatred, or hope. Sure, emotions can be viewed through the lens of science as chemical responses in the brain, but when seen through a lens of magic they become a powerful force that can bind, repel, create or destroy. When viewing humanity through the looking glass of magic, art becomes a ritual. The channeling of emotion through metaphor and sensory stimuli via a medium of choice becomes a transference of energy—in essence, a spell cast on its recipient. In this analogy, Pagan Altar can be viewed as a coven of spellcasters centered around the bond between principle members Terry and Alan Jones, the father / son heart of the band. The emotive transference performed by Pagan Altar since their early days has always been reinforced by the commitment to their overall vision, be it in the music, atmosphere, or now-legendary stage performances.

While The Room Of Shadows, on its own merit, requires absolutely no context to be placed on this list—the band’s brand of (what we now refer to as) doom metal is simply enchanting. Originally recorded for release under the title Never Quite Dead, the album was initially scrapped, only to be resurrected and repurposed by Alan Jones after the tragic passing of patriarch and lead vocalist Terry Jones in 2015. The final product in itself becomes a reflection from beyond: the immortalizing of Terry’s captivating storytelling. The Room Of Shadows sounds like a wizened old man speaking from beyond the unknown through the music as reflected through Pagan Altar’s spirit of occult, mysterious music and lyrical themes. Through this lens, “The Portrait Of Dorian Gray” becomes a retrospective that examines life choices and how they shape the person you become; “Danse Macabre” transcends into an acceptance of the inevitable closing that we all must eventually come to terms with; the particularly breathtaking title track reflects on the relationship between innocence and fear; and “The Ripper” morphs into a despondent, questioning outlook on those who thrive on the suffering of others, tinged with sorrow or even pity from someone who has come to accept what is truly important in this life.

Everything on The Room Of Shadows works towards a singular ultimate goal: to transfer thought and emotion through music. Every detail and each musical choice further cements the legacy of the senior Jones; it is a sincere tribute to his memory and legacy for those who felt the passion behind his work. Each musician on the album is playing with heart, and the spell—forever captured in the immortal medium of recording—is an undeniable success, thanks to the talent and passion exerted throughout.

It may be the final bookend in the history Pagan Altar, but The Room Of Shadows evokes a sense of comfort and acceptance, and the wisdom of Jones lives within the album. It is a sincere and pure work of magic—truly something worth believing in. [RYAN TYSINGER]

• Released: August 24, 2017
• Label: Temple of Mystery Records
• Last Rites review
• Killing cut: “The Room of Shadows”

SUBROSA – MORE CONSTANT THAN THE GODS

In hindsight, I wonder if the world wasn’t quite ready for Utah’s SubRosa. It seems a silly thing to say, given the increasingly widespread acclaim the band received across its four full-length albums, but in reflecting on much of the breathless (if infinitely well-deserved) praise, it seems like too many writers (myself likely included) were eager to stand SubRosa up as a band without parallel, wholly new, formed from nothing but the fever-strike of inspiration. In its well-intentioned way, that angle minimizes the clear lines of influence that may have formed some of SubRosa’s DNA – from the spacious and warmly fuzzed stoner doom of Sleep and Acid King to the artsier heaviness of The Gault and Grayceon—and in so doing, undercuts the very thing that makes SubRosa truly essential: their craft.

When any knucklehead with a couple effects pedals and a stack of Orange cabs can summon a passable doom rumble, bands like SubRosa deserve all the more admiration for how they took a number of common pieces and stitched them together into a truly otherworldly whole. Although their songs nearly always follow the course of titanically weighty riffs, they also had the ability to paint separate and fully realized worlds through the texture of violins, the spare poetry of lyrics, the ragged punk intensity of the vocal delivery, and an unwavering commitment to finding some dark gleam of hope in the most harrowing of sounds and themes.

Although each of the three albums SubRosa released in the 2010s could easily have made this list, More Constant than the Gods earns the spot because of its deadly focus, its uncanny fluidity, and its ability to sculpt the sharpest contrast between passages of hushed anticipation, keening beauty, and fuck-thunderingly heavy eruptions. “Cosey Mo” is the urgent, driving anthem, nearly as close as SubRosa ever got to a pop song, while “Fat of the Ram” unspools its crushing heaviness with righteous, almost disgusted indignation. Album opener “The Usher” addresses its lyrics directly to Death with remarkably poetic directness, while the crescendo that includes the album’s title in its words crests into one of the most wrenching moments in this brilliant career.

Perhaps “No Safe Harbor” has the surest measure of things, though, because it sees SubRosa sketch their inimitable darkness with just as exacting a pen despite using the tools of quiet restraint: strings, piano, dulcimer, flute, clarinet, intertwining voices. It’s one of those songs that breaks and bolsters your heart at the same time. Iron in open-heartedness, strength in vulnerability: I’m still learning how to be ready for these miraculous songs. [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

• Released: September 17, 2013
• Label: Profound Lore
• Last Rites review
• Killing cut: “The Usher”

BORKNAGAR – TRUE NORTH

Is twelve weeks spent with a record enough time to consider it an essential of the decade? It admittedly feels a bit strange to offer up an album for this list that’s only made the cut by three months, but… You’ve heard the three songs that open True North, yes? As if the roaring opener “Thunderous” isn’t enough to set the table, the thoroughly rollicking “Up North” that follows all but demands to be put it into a situation that forces everyone within earshot to enjoy it just as loudly as you will absolutely crank it every single time. And the way ICS Vortex belts out the chorus to the third track, “The Fire That Burns,” and the way this particular cut suddenly bends into a quieter, proggier midpoint makes it seem very fucking reasonable that the biggest outside influence on this record was Yes. Yes the band, not the reaction. (But also YES the reaction, because we love Yes. If you don’t also love Yes, maybe you’d rather attach a “no” to this album. No the reaction, as I don’t believe there’s a band called No… Yet.)

What the twelve weeks since True North’s release has allowed us, hallelujah, is a chance to allow the songs that follow the opening three-part spectacle a little more room to set roots. And set roots they certainly do—the emotional beauty of “Wild Father’s Heart,” the wonderfully majestic and winding “Mount Rapture” (that hammond and the lead that follows is… *chef’s kiss*), and the perfectly sweeping closer “Voices” all hit nothing but net from behind the three-point line, making True North’s inclusion for this endeavor a very, very easy and extremely smart decision. [CAPTAIN]

• Released: September 27, 2019
• Label: Century Media
• Killing cut: “Up North”

VIRUS – MEMENTO COLLIDER

An album that was widely praised, heavily voted for, and then confusingly chatted about. Is it metal? Could this gem of an album actually exist within this framework? How would one even begin to categorize Virus? Elements of desert rock, noise, post punk, goth rock, avant-garde, jazz, experimental, gaze, drone and yet all of it retaining a very blackened edge. That is to say: this album almost didn’t make this list. Not because it doesn’t deserve to be squarely within the best albums of the decade but perhaps because it doesn’t squarely fall within the confines of metal. 

So let its inclusion stand out as a testament to the zany inventiveness and persistence with which Memento Collider invades your psyche. For it is with supreme discomfort that these sonic ejaculations find their way into your brain hurtling past your inner-ears’ labyrinth throwing your entire emotional, spiritual balance adrift. It’s not so much that Virus will make you insane as that Virus is composed and delivered from a place of insanity. A pure conveyance from a place of darkness normally withheld for those who end up strapped to gurneys with sedatives being slammed into their veins. Full of mystique Memento Collider invites you to embrace the weird. Trust the path of experimentation and let go of that which anchors you squarely in the realm of what is socially normal. [MANNY-O-WAR]

• Released: June 3, 2016
• Label: Karisma Records
• Last Rites Review
• Killing cut: “Steamer”

ORANSSI PAZUZU – VALONIELU

Finland’s Oranssi Pazuzu first made their mark with a unique sound that lends itself to some pretty obvious subgenre tags and modifiers: experimental, cosmic, psychedelic, post-, black metal that very comfortably embraces classic prog rock, krautrock, and drone. But these words, as accurate as they are, only hint at the music that reflects them. Likewise, the host of influential artists burnishing those barest black metal bones, including Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Can, and Faust, mostly give a sense of the errant spirit within the nominally defined musical shapes the band creates. And yet, there is no question that it’s Oranssi Pazuzu you’re hearing when you hear them.

With that instantly recognizable sound, Oranssi Pazuzu established themselves as a brave and innovative creative force, but then they pushed themselves away from what surely would have been a comfortable place to stay, ignoring the boundaries implied by it, reinventing themselves and regenerating their sound with each step. They looked past the simple but clever combination of ideas to a fully amalgamated experience of the band’s multifaceted identity, then away from the audacious but wandering float to the bold and purposeful exploration of ideas yet undreamt. Come 2013, they had blazed a path to Valonielu, in which they discovered a musical experience inherently rewarding beyond the mere curiosity of it. True to form, Pazuzu’s third LP is like a trip on unexpectedly potent acid: at once suffocating and liberating, alternately pulsing and empty, essentially dark and cold yet always alight, even if only by the faintest glow along creosote ridges in the blackness.

In truth, every Oranssi Pazuzu album is arguably worthy of a decade’s essentials list, but the band’s maturation on Valonielu, the realization that they could constantly change and yet retain their identity, is what makes this one the choice for their best album of the 2010s. [LONE WATIE]

• Released: October 11, 2013
• Label: Svart Records
• Last Rites review
• Killing cut: “Vino Verso”

«»

The post 10s Essentials – Volume Nine appeared first on Last Rites.

I am old. I can remember when no one I knew or heard or read used the term “heavy metal” to describe any music at all. I remember the article I read where it was first discussed, using examples such as “Whole Lotta Love” and the live version of Priest’s “Green Manalishi” to guide you to what the term might mean. I remember first hearing “Wrathchild” on the radio one lonely night and thinking “That shit is heavy metal.”

I remember Iron Maiden selling out arenas all over the US and parents falling about themselves worrying that their children were being exposed to “that 666 band!”

I remember hearing the song “Ride the Lightning” and how the bass/drum drop made me spurt.

I remember seeing Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer in one show, as the wind whipped the fog and the lights made it fire.

I remember hearing Streetcleaner and losing my shit completely because this was what I hoped music would sound like, and now it did.

I remember I remember I remember.

Because I am old.

I review new metal records by new and established metal bands for a website. This year I got to hear SubRosa. I got to hear Hammers of Misfortune. I got to hear Anaal Nathrakh do a classic Iron Maiden cover… I remember when that song was so cutting edge you had to wear welders gloves just to put the record on. I got to hear Inter Arma. CB Murdok. Seputus. And I got to hear “old” favorites like Mithras, Meshuggah, Wormed, Vektor and Gorguts. You know, those established acts that I first heard when I was only almost old.

I can’t help but wonder what you, dear reader, think about that. Some old fart reviewing your music when I should be howling away at the filthy songs of my fathers. Do you hate it? Is it odd? Are we all old and just don’t know that our music is dying?

As to the last, no. Our music is somehow thriving. We are, all of us, somehow keeping this ridiculous extreme bastard child of rock and roll alive and teeming. The years of gravy may be in the past, and the modern best may have to take time off their paying jobs to tour and promote their records. The distros may cling to any outlet or technique they can glean to get the shit out there. But if the number of records metal bands release in a given year is any indication, and I can’t think of any better indicator, metal is aliver than it has ever been.

I am old, and I am horribly busy, but I am also dedicated to this music because I have loved it since I could. I have played it, lusted for it, promoted it, criticized it, been disappointed by it and been enslaved by it. And I am old enough to know how precious this stuff is, and how precious you are for being a part of it.

Thank you for reading my reviews this year, and all the reviews on this site. Thank you for loving the music I love enough to keep these sites going. Thank you for being metalheads and making an old man feel like he still gets it. Like maybe, just maybe Alex wouldn’t give me the boot.

And thanks to all the bands, and teams around the bands, that somehow keep the scenes thriving in an age of streaming and youtubing and keeping your day jobs and whatever else. We are a fucking family, fistfights and all, and we always will be. Hails, cheers, up the Irons, metal up your ass and everything in between!

Now, here is what I think about 2016. Please note I have not been able to hear a significant portion of the music released this year, and my list will reflect that. I came in half way through the year, so what ya gonna do? Anyway…

The post Chris Sessions’ Best of 2016: Blerp Blerp appeared first on Last Rites.

As a right-of-center Canadian, which is much more moderate than our American counterparts, and a geoscientist for “Big Oil,” I tend to keep my political thoughts to myself amongst my fellow interlocutors of the musical persuasion. Despite my political leanings, I don’t subscribe to extreme views of how the world works and find myself drawn to liberals and vehemently opposed to right-wing extremists. This should tell us something. We can (and should) decouple our tendency to disagree from our tendency to dehumanize and demean others when we can’t seem to find common ground.

The fact that so many writers, with different minds, beliefs, and backgrounds could find so much to love about the body of metal music released in 2016 — despite numerous disagreements on the absolute highs of this landscape — can attest to this.  We will indeed find a way to move forward, but it can be difficult to obtain the quality information necessary to find where this path resides.

One of the more useful metaphors I’ve heard to describe this is one of flipping over rocks. Sometimes there will be nothing underneath them, but sometimes there will be pieces of information worth knowing, provided that you know where to look. Sometimes you may not know how these disparate pieces fit in with the rest of the quality information that enriches your life and forms the basis for your interpretation of the world. The collection and analysis of this quality information is a painstakingly slow process. It is hard work.

Exchange of ideas by open conversation is the most efficient way to expedite this tedious process of rock flipping. Disagreement on a particular topic amongst individuals who are prepared to discuss it in a productive way, is usually a good indicator that we have not reached the optimal interpretation.

With music, we often have to resist the urge to boil everything down to aesthetic relativism. It is a seductive position to take. After all, if beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, then would I bother writing a 1000-word review of any particular album, metal or otherwise? My opinions constitute noise. I think most of those reading this right now would recognize that is not the case. Clearly, there is something valuable about this process. We are fans, writing for fans, and our meaningful interactions with each other allow us to appreciate art better. These are not fruitless projects.

Below are pieces of art that resonated with me in 2016; hopefully, in a time of uncertainty, you will find them useful, as I have.

The post Evan Thompson’s Best of 2016 – Finding the Way Forward appeared first on Last Rites.

Like many folks, the national and worldwide events of 2016 incited more than a little fear (sense of impending doom) and depression in me. If my personal life had not included some of the most important moments of growth, reconciliation, and clarity, it would have been far worse.

During times like these, we reach to art more than ever; at least we should. Great film, music, visual art, etc. should be sources of comfort, escapism, empathy, and catharsis. It helps to be able to escape from time to time, but art is a crucial element of expressing both individal and society-wide fears, anger, and hopes. Metal can and should be both escapist and very real. And while there’s a part of me that thinks there were Bigger Things than losing artists in 2016, I get it. Great artists are our avatars, and they become permanent parts of our lives. Losing them feels like losing parts of ourselves.

Strictly on the subject of New Music, 2016 was special. Every year provides us with a bounty of great ear candy, but something about 2016 was different. I actually felt a slight bit of guilt at leaving a few albums off of my list, which is silly, considering how arbitrary these things are and how quickly they become out-of-date. But hey, it’s important to me, you know? More than ever, it was a struggle to pick only 20, as so much stuff brought out the warrior within or moved me to the verge of tears or simply got the air guitars moving.

This is a long way of saying this: 2016 was the best year for metal and heavy music since I started this here blogging gig back in the last decade. Full Stop. Here are my favorite albums of 2016, which are very similar to the full staff’s favorite albums of 2016, because I’m painfully ordinary. Enjoy. 

••••

But first things first… EXTRA GIANT HONORABLE MENTION LOGO CLOUD, ENGAGE!

••••

THE BACK TEN

20. Imperium Dekadenz – Dis Manibvs
• Lords of melancholic, atmospheric black metal, Imperium Dekadenz improves on each release. “Volcano” will melt you.

19. Spiritus Mortis – The Year is One
• One of the best epic doom albums in ages. Every element is nailed, particularly the sublime vocal performance of Sami “Albert Witchfinder” Hynninen.

18. In the Woods – Pure
• The 90s masters of avant-garde return with an album that naturally sounds nothing like their old stuff. Call it “In the Woods of Ypres,” if you will.

17. Forteresse – Thèmes pour la Rébellion
• While you get caught up in the dreamy tremolo riffs and sweeping melodies, Forteresse will imprison you in their intensity. Doubly captivating.

16. Khthoniik Cerviiks – SeroLogiikal Scars (Vertex of Dementiia)
• Thiis band iis on a cliingy-clangy trajectory of blackened-blastiing Voiivodiianugliiness that iis iirresistiible. Riiffs on top of riiffs on top of riiffs.

15. Chthe’ilist – Le Dernier Crépuscule
• 2016 saw a heap of Demilich– and Timeghoul-inspired, mostly-throwback-but-very-fresh death metal. Chthe’ilist brought it best for me, because it’s funkay.

14. SubRosa – For This We Fought the Battle of Ages
• Not as immediate as More Constant than the Gods, but possibly deeper. Their heaviest, bleakest work yet, and as strangely soothing as ever.

13. Helcaraxë – The Last Battle
• In inspiring this album, The Wheel of Time finally added some value to the world. Give me all of the Crimson-rooted melodeath, please.

12. Mare Cognitum – Luminiferous Aether
• Immediate in its engrossing galactic black metal aura, but rife with nuance and details. Jacob Buczarski is one of the brightest young minds in black metal.

11. Mithras – On Strange Loops
• Technical, brutal, sci-fi, robotic, organic, melodic, ethereal, maniacal, progressive. If nine years between full lengths results in this, bring on 2025.

••••

10. INSOMNIUM – WINTER’S GATE

Speaking of Crimson-rooted melodeath… well, kinda. Insomnium didn’t so much copy Edge of Sanity’s sound for Winter’s Gate as they did the single-song-as-album scope, and it resulted in the best album of their career. The heaviest moments rule, but the album’s true worth is in its extended passages of proggier, lighter work, extending the mood out and really upping the payoff of the peaks. No one expected this album from Insomnium in 2016.

••••

9. ANAAL NATHRAKH –
THE WHOLE OF THE LAW

Speaking of the unexpected… I fully thought Anaal Nathrakh would continue to put out somewhat diluted, but still pretty good albums. What we got was their best album since at least In the Constellation of the Black Widow. Featuring a freakish collection of actual black metal riffage from Mick Kenney, and a vocal performance from Dave Hunt that is even better than his expected transcendence (more of those falsettos from “Extravaganza!,” please), The Whole of the Law might be the most fanboy pleasing release of the year.

••••

8. MESHUGGAH –
THE VIOLENT SLEEP OF REASON

As I stated in my review, there is something loose, almost jammy about The Violent Sleep of Reason that we’ve never really heard out of Meshuggah. I also stated that this is of course relative for this band, but damn if it doesn’t create a really fun, rocking counterpoint to the intense, progressive darkness of Koloss. Peaking for over 20 years now, Meshuggah simply operates on a higher level of excellence than almost every band on the planet. I will never, ever get enough.

••••

7. DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT –
TRANSCENDENCE

Even I, a Devy fanboy of the highest order, has to admit that he has long been saturating his own market, sometimes with blatantly silly music (please retire Ziltoid). No matter how much music he released, my favorite Townsend albums remained the same: Ocean Machine and Terria. His relatively restrained, expansive, and introspective side was always his best, and Transcendence brought that back in full, if from a slightly different perspective. Sometimes we have to go backwards to move forward, and it certainly sounds as if Devin has found new confidence in his serious self

••••

6. VEKTOR – TERMINAL REDUX

Thrash was the metal that got me into, you know, metal, but it has been mostly dead for ages. Bands just refuse to expand the framework, and they can’t all be as good as say, Nekromantheon in their refusal to evolve. Vektor, however, doesn’t believe such seemingly universal constants, and continues to push the boundaries of thrash while exploring their own little sci-fi playground. Terminal Redux has flaws, sure (that ballad could certainly use a real singer), but the vast majority of the album is so brilliant, so loaded with phenomenal ideas and passages that trying to contain their creative energy at this juncture would be a huge mistake. Just let these guys do their technical wonkadoodlry to their hearts’ content.

••••

5. ORANSSI PAZUZU – VÄRÄHTELIJÄ

After delivering a modern classic in Valonielu, Oranssi Pazuzu did the only logical thing: they threw out the songwriting book and got weird. I mean weirder. WeirdER. Their mix of black metal, industrial, krautrock, and psychedelia was already plenty weird, but Värähtelijä has zero walls. It fully indulges its expanses, not so much meandering as allowing songs to wander. But the secret to the album is that this isn’t just a band experimenting, but one that is intensely focused. Every blip, every ambient passage, every weird bit of blackened noise–it is all part of meticulously crafted songs. Just don’t let that ruin the trippy experience for ya

••••

4. HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE –
DEAD REVOLUTION

John Cobbett may make side quests into several different metallic styles, but Hammers of Misfortune is his centerpiece–his thrashy, artsy, progressive, mesmerizing centerpiece. Dead Revolution is thinking-man’s music steeped in art rock history, but grounded in reality; it is mournful of society’s past mistakes but not content to sit idly as we repeat them; and it is lyrically vital but never preachy. As is tradition with this band, this takes me to a place that can only be achieved through other Hammers albums, and even then, this provides a different lens through which to view this imagery.

••••

3. KATATONIA – THE FALL OF HEARTS

After the “veteran coast mode” quality of Dead End Kings, no one really expected Katatonia to be at their best ever again. Bands run out of ideas, typically far quicker than Katatonia seemingly had. So the overwhelming mastery of The Fall of Hearts was not just pleasing to the ears, it was reassuring. Reassuring that this all-time favorite band still had new things to say. Reassuring that bands with nothing left to prove still become restless and inject new ideas into their formula. And reassuring that, on a personal level, I can continue to count on Renkse, Nyström and co. to enhance my life through sadness and comfort.

••••

2. INTER ARMA – PARADISE GALLOWS

If I made an attempt to be truly and completely objective (impossible), I would probably label Paradise Gallows as The Best Heavy Music Album of 2016. No other band had such a grandiose vision and executed it to such perfection, pulling in a wide array of influences — Yob, Pink Floyd, Leviathan, Morbid Angel, etc. — but always sounding completely unique. Moments of overwhelming beauty, harrowing bleakness, crushing heft, and bombastic groove all combine into a 70 minute masterpiece. I was not at all sold on Inter Arma prior to this album. Now I can’t imagine a metal world without them.

••••

1. MOONSORROW – JUMALTEN AIKA

But if I am going to pick my favorite metal album of 2016 — and that’s why we’re here — it has to be Moonsorrow. Jumalten Aika doesn’t so much add anything new to the Moonsorrow template as it does call back to all of their (very slight) variations and nail every single moment. A touch of bounce, a ton of epic, and some well-placed passages of raging black metal. It is blatant escapism, and always has been, but very few bands in metal write music that is just plain listenable as Moonsorrow, regardless of style or purpose. Jumalten Aika is an exploration of conquering one’s enemies and being conquered, of mourning the long dead and celebrating their legacies. More than anything, it’s an incredible band being completely comfortable in their skin, and making my ears really damn happy.

••••

TOP TEN EPS

10. Astrophobos – Enthroned in Flesh
• Nice little Dissection-worshipping follow-up to their Dissection-worshiping LP.

9. Au Champ Des Morts– Le Jour Se Lève
• A fully formed debut sitting somewhere between Alcest and Wolves in the Throne Room.

8. Pyrrhon – Running Out of Skin
• Great teaser for the next album, and a monster cover of Death’s “Crystal Mountain.”

7. Maligner – Demon
• Throwback death/thrash rippery, awesomely gruff vocals included. Party like it’s 1989.

6. Spectral Apparition – Manifestation
• “Hey, I like this cosmic death thing, but I want some blackened splinters tossed in with that space ooze.”

5. Sky Shadow Obelisk – The Gift of Light
• Going even farther down the rabbit hole finds grunge, doom/death, black metal, and more, all delivered with a deft hand.

4. Valborg – Werwolf
• Last release full length: ultimately ambient. This very brief EP: ultimately heavy.

3. Cross Vault – Miles to Take
• Primordial– and Bathory-influenced doom, and utterly gorgeous throughout.

2. Voivod – Post Society
• Target Earth saw Voivod returning to true greatness. Post Society might be even better.

1. Gorguts – Pleiades’ Dust
• No-brainer here, right? Luc Lemay is a genius, and Pleiades’ Dust is one of his greatest single achievements.

••••

RANDOM CLOSING THOUGHTS

• The collaboration between Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas was both thrilling and frustrating. How do you get one of the most talented, singular vocalists in all of music and only feature her on 3/5 of your album? I didn’t just dock them points for this, I removed them from my ballot. I’m sure they’re devastated. (But those three Julie-centric songs… wow.)
• The new Metallica was also a double-edged sword. Never before have I heard a band sound so absolutely in-the-zone on certain tracks, and completely lost on the others. Still, seven of these 13 songs are keepers to a certain degree, and in 2016, I’m more than happy have seven pretty-good-to-great new Metallica tunes.
• Mare Cognitum didn’t just release one of my favorite albums of the year, but also my favorite split: Resonance: Crimson Void, with Aureole. Both bands nail it, and it has the rare quality of working as an actual album, not just two sides.
• The “modern” brand of doom that fancies itself equal parts Warning and Candlemass is played out, at least in my mind. None of these bands have a vocalist possessing as much talent and nuance as Patrick Walker, or a songwriter as gifted as Leif Edling. Pallbearer was a decent disciple of both styles, but now we’re getting copies of a copy. I would call this whole trend a product of folks not knowing about real, great doom, but that would only make me sound like a bitter old fan. Screw it, this whole trend is a product of folks not knowing about real, great doom.
• Didn’t hit a lot of shows this year, but damn, there were some good’uns. First and foremost was Guns N’ Roses, who killed it (eat it, haters). I don’t care if it was all for cash, Teenage Zach was never that happy as an actual teenager. Also got to see Absu again, and it was a totally stupid idea for the Metal Threat Fest to have Inquisition try to follow them. Sorry, but Dagon’s “move from one mic to the other” stage presence looked silly after all of Proscriptor’s unmatched showmanship. Finally, I went way out west to catch Frost and Fire in Cali. High Spirits, Slough Feg, andMidnight were as massively great as expected, but Visigoth was the real surprise, turning their pretty good album into a monster set. (I also remembered that I don’t like Cirith Ungol all that much.) 
• As usual, I don’t have a comprehensive list of favorite non-metal music, but two albums stand out in my mind: the last from David Bowieand the latest from Nick Cave. Both were not only excellent, but saw each master at his darkest and most harrowing. Black Star was a weird, avant-jazz-rock platter, unbridled in its reflection of Bowie’s illness, while Skeleton Tree found Cave in almost darkwave mode, with little instrumentation to hide the haggard quality of his voice. Perhaps I am reaching for some connection, but I found it regardless, and love these two albums as a back-to-back listen. Choose your own order.
  
• And speaking of Bowie, yes, we lost a lot of good ones this year, including both the greatest pop star ever and the greatest country western singer ever. Plus many more. But instead of grieving and hating on 2016 as if it is some celebrity-murdering entity, celebrate the lives of these artists. Their music makes them immortal, so share it, now and forever.

••••

Thanks for reading, dudes and dudettes. Love and support each other, and party on.

The post Zach Duvall’s Best Of 2016: Foundations Of Immortality appeared first on Last Rites.

In truth, we mostly get our drank on and argue about it on the internet until we get something concrete to nail to the village doors. But it’s a private area of the internet where no one else can see us argue, so we’re being very parental about our squabbling. So, no Dungeons & Dragons, unfortunately. There is a lot of magic involved, though. At least I think it’s magic. Could also be severe dehydration. Or those weird cookies the intern from Oranssipazuzustan brought in.

It’s worth noting that planet Earth’s devious scheme to compel its inhabitants to question the authority of voting in 2016 seems to have worked its pesky tendrils into Last Rites HQ harder than usual. There was an even louder collective “Who the what?” howled to the cosmos when this year’s final list came across our desks. Despite being a lousy year (any year where you lose Lemmy, Bowie and Prince is automatically lousy, no matter what other good managed to eke through), there was enough great music from each of metal’s sub-genres to ensure a more vigorous singularity across individual lists. Because of this, smaller correlations between crew members had a greater impact, which also means you’ll see a nice bit of variety once we start posting our personal picks next week.

Also worth noting, Devin Townsend deserves a special tip of the cap for driving the most divisive wedge between friends I’ve ever seen from a metal artist. There is very little middle ground when it comes to this guy, so you either get the addicts who vault him to the clouds and talk about him in the same shmoopy way you might address a puppy (“Awww, look! Devy’s got a Santa hat on!”), or you get the soreheads who make statements like “they sound like the house band for the Mormon church.” Anyway, good art and smart artists polarize the public, so his place amidst anyone’s favorites is warranted during any year he elects to release an album.

Enough of the prattling. Last year, Tau Cross ran home with the prize, which wasn’t so much a prize as it was, well, absolutely nothing. Bragging rights associated with being very highly regarded by a group of individuals who spend a large amount of their free time lamenting over the fact that Tony Martin-fronted Black Sabbath remains terribly under-rated. Who will take the illustrious #1 spot this year? We’re about to find out.

[MICHAEL WUENSCH]

25. HELCARAXË – THE LAST BATTLE

“Red Dragon was a monster, appropriately enough, but the addition of further emphasis upon Helcaraxe’s already mighty mastery of the epic pushes The Last Battle in a slightly different direction, even more fantastic than that which came before and every bit as metallic. At $5 for the digital files on the ol’ Bandcamp, The Last Battle is a must-buy.” [ANDREW EDMUNDS]

Released: Independent, August 30th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

24. ASPHYX – INCOMING DEATH

“The goal perseveres to crush, and it does so with the continued cooperation of the modern, well-groomed mix/mastering work of Dan Swäno and Unisound Studios. Some might argue for a dirtier, less “crunchy” approach, but a production such as this embiggens the punch of the heftier numbers, of which there are plenty. If the heft of a song like “Forerunners of the Apocalypse” doesn’t flatten your honker, you probably shouldn’t have taken that left turn at Albuquerque and landed in the damn neighborhood in the first place.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Century Media, September 30th
Last Rites review
Samples

23. INVERLOCH – DISTANCE | COLLAPSED

“Distance | Collapsed is a seamless mixture of death and doom metal with a sound that moves away a bit from classic early diSEMBOWELMENT and toward that of, maybe, latter day Evoken. Riffs, and more riffs trodden down with a glacial pace are the name of the game, but Inverloch picks it up here and there with a gallop. Take Evoken, toss in some Incantation, and you’re in the ballpark. Add some atmospherics as a garnish, and serve.” [DAVE SCHALEK]

Released: Relapse Records, March 4th
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Bandcamp

22. OPETH – SORCERESS

“Sorceress finds Opeth comfortably following the path that they forged on Pale Communion. It’s a fantastically arranged and produced record. It successfully pays homage to many high watermarks of the Opeth catalog, but also firmly supplants any hopes of the band returning to the death metal stylings of their earlier material that made them such a dominant force in heavy music.” [EVAN THOMPSON]

Released: Moderbolaget Records, September 30th
Last Rites review
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21. NUCLEUS – SENTIENT

“Certainly, as is the case with most death metal today, Nucleus has been influenced by many of the giants of death metal, particularly those that fly the Finnish flag. But, again, they are far from a lame carbon copy. Nucleus throws a sci-fi take on the early bands, but they modify the sound with a sturdy helping of American death metal influences.” [MANNY-O-WAR]

Released: Unspeakable Axe, April 15th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

20. KHTHONIIK CERVIIKS – SEROLOGIIKAL SCARS

“…beneath all of the clangs and blasts and wiry dissonances and malevolent vocal bellows are catchy moments. Damn catchy moments, in fact. For example, “Biinary Epitome (Spyder’s Web)” utilizes trills to offset some particularly brutal moments, while the aforementioned “SeroLogiikal Scars (Sequence 2.0: Veiled Viiral Vektor)” is more subtle in its hook, simply freeing a tremolo line from its harmony for a brief moment, using its nakedness to glue the phrase together.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Iron Bonehead Productions, February 8th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

19. TREES OF ETERNITY – HOUR OF THE NIGHTINGALE

“Like so many children, the birth of the production cost the world its mother. But, even without the backstory and the emotional drain before even pressing play, Hour of the Nightingale is a harrowing work of utter beauty. Using a goth-inspired take on doom, Trees of Eternity weave compositions that are not wholly separate from their Katatonia roots. Melody, emotion and super long song arcs predominate, but it’s Aleah’s stunning vocal performance, dripping with butterscotch sweetness and syrupy emotion, that steals the show.” [MANNY-O-WAR]

Released: Svart Records, November 11th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

18. FATES WARNING – THEORIES OF FLIGHT

“Theories of Flight’s cover art hints that flight, like Life, is made up of basic movements hardly noticed in real time but that together carry us to wondrous places. Its songs reflect the journey, being deeply personal, discreet yet relatable, maximizing the shared space between storyteller and listener. Ray Alder wrote a lot of the lyrics for Theories and it’s obvious that these words matter to him, his performance here perhaps his strongest ever. Classic Matheos riffs and solos are brighter around the edges, vital and uplifting, dynamic scaffolding for all that evoked power. From the core, Jarzombek’s drums inject a flow of metal to gird the fresh embrace of harmonic and melodic texturing that fans that power out across the color spectrum. The effect for the listener is connection not just with the words, ‘Yeah, been there before,’ but with the essential emotion, ‘Oh, I know how that feels!'” [LONE WATIE]

Released: InsideOut Music, July 1st
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17. CHTHE’ILIST – LE DERNIER CRÉPUSCULE

“Chthe’ilist vocalist, guitarist, bassist and synthist Pat Tougas has forged a fresh world (Eil’udom) inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, and just how far he plans on weaving these realms and its principle inhabitants – the Typhodians – remains to be seen. I can tell you that the shifting moods throughout Le Dernier Crépuscule paint a fertile, horrific and compelling landscape, and Pat’s crackpot vocals serve to push the narrative off the charts.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Profound Lore, January 29th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

16. SPIRITUS MORTIS – THE YEAR IS ONE

“The Year Is One is loaded from top to bottom with simple, but very catchy, riffs and a slow to mid-paced tempo that anchors the sound. But it’s the soaring melodic, yet richly delivered, vocals from Sami Hynninen (Reverend Bizarre‘s Albert Witchfinder), who joined in 2009, that elevate the band’s sound to a higher level.” [DAVE SCHALEK]

Released: Svart Records, November 11th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

15. MESHUGGAH – THE VIOLENT SLEEP OF REASON

“The result is an album that might as well be called “Meshuggah: Jam Room,” as if the mentality was to write a shitload of riffs and rock their socks off. Again, this is all very relative, and because being “normal” isn’t in their vocabulary, and because they’re simply better at this metal thing than 99.99 percent of all other bands in existence, The Violent Sleep of Reason still ended up being a crazily technical, rhythmically mind-boggling, and oppressively heavy album.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Nuclear Blast, October 7th
Last Rites review
Samples

14. WORMED – KRIGHSU

“What makes this album any different from the countless oceans of over-produced BruTech drech, you ask? Vision, motherfucker, that’s what. Wormed does this awesome thing where certain riffs in certain spots recall past or present riffs, which makes their songs relate to all of their other songs in some fashion. If a band like Tool or Radiohead does that, They get the cover of Rolling Stone. Why not Wormed, I ask? I already imagine Madrid shuts down at least once a day to have a parade for these guys, complete with a kid throwing a bottle of Coke at vocalist Phlegeton and him coming down off of his float to give him his Wormed jersey.” [CHRIS REDAR]

Released: Season of Mist, March 18th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

13. INSOMNIUM – WINTER’S GATE

“The one thing the album-length song almost always suffers from is moments when you feel like you have heard enough. When listening to music, perception really is reality, so anything in the experience that moves you away from enjoying yourself can kill a song, or an album for future listens. But Winter’s Gate does not, to my mind, have any of these moments. By record’s final third the listener is invested and able to simply enjoy the finale.” [CHRIS SESSIONS]

Released: Century Media, September 23rd
Last Rites review
Sample

12. ORANSSI PAZUZU – VÄRÄHTELIJÄ

“Oranssi Pazuzu are, I suppose, a jam band for the eternal void. Each song on Värähtelijä feels like an hours’-long, chemically assisted freak-out and exorcism whittled down to its purest essence, like Hawkwind or Amon Duul at their untidiest directed into some kind of order. Värähtelijä is less outwardly aggressive than Valonielu, but by jacking up the psychedelic elements of OP’s sound, it maintains a level of sustained intensity that would be overbearing if the band weren’t so expert at ratcheting the tension again and again, higher and higher, and finally relenting just shy of the listener’s breaking point.” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

Released: Svart Records, February 26th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

11. ANAAL NATHRAKH – THE WHOLE OF THE LAW

“Of course, Anaal Nathrakh’s modus vivendi has always been manifestly unhinged music. Nevertheless, the ruthless discipline with which they execute that manifesto throughout The Whole of the Law marks the album distinctly apart from their recent output. “Hold Your Children Close and Pray for Oblivion” demonstrates the band’s extremes brilliantly, with some of the album’s harshest, blown-out electronic beats and Hunt’s severely unwell vocals butting up against some legitimately uplifting melodic guitar work from Kenney in the midsection.” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

Released: Metal Blade, October 28th
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Bandcamp

10. DARKTHRONE – ARCTIC THUNDER

“All said and done, people will likely tromp out the old “If you love/hate modern Darkthrone…” line to either praise or condemn Arctic Thunder, and that’s an understandable stance, to a point. But what ultimately sets this record apart is the fact that it sounds more like Darkthrone being Darkthrone, as opposed to Darkthrone paying tribute to our ancestors. The good times continue to roll, and one can still have fun trying to bridge these riffs to dusty bands of times long past (and likely be wrong), but the return to harsh coldness without sacrificing a high-quality production or the band’s unique brand of revelry allows Arctic Thunder to stack very close to the top of the heap when it comes to their modern harvest.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Peaceville, October 14th
Last Rites review
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9. INTER ARMA – PARADISE GALLOWS

“It would be easy to get lost in the minutiae of Inter Arma’s compositions and the breadth of the material on offer here. As stated previously, this a big record with a lot to digest, but there is also a lot to love. Plenty of interesting melodies, savagely complex grooves, and nuanced instrumentals await those who take the time to immerse themselves in Inter Arma’s masterpiece of modern metal. A fundamentally great heavy record with a sense of scale unlike any I have heard in recent years.” [EVAN THOMPSON]

Released: Relapse Records, July 8th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

8. HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE – DEAD REVOLUTION

“Although it has been a long five years since 17th Street, that interim period has seen Hammers of Misfortune‘s ringleader and guitarist John Cobbett release two albums of gloriously crusty psych-thrash with Vhol (albums which, on occasion, bear traces of the pre-Hammers group Unholy Cadaver). Even so, any new Hammers release should be greeted as the gift that it is, because very few bands channel everything true and righteous about traditional heavy metal into music that sounds anything but traditional.” [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

Released: Metal Blade, July 22nd
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

7. MOONSORROW – JUMALTEN AIKA

“Moonsorrow are clearly inspired by not only their musical heroes and mythical tales of yore, but by the metal music that they themselves have created. Otherwise they would have long since become bored and attempted something far more drastic. Let us all be thankful that this has never happened, because to many a fan, they offer some of the most constantly captivating and joyful experiences in music, and Jumalten Aika continues the tradition. That’s a kind of magic that you just can’t teach.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Century Media, April 1st
Last Rites review
Sample

6. SUBROSA – FOR THIS WE FOUGHT THE BATTLE OF AGES

“It is a funeral bouquet, steel and blood; potted in granite. It is a confident drawing composed of sumptuous curves boldly and satisfyingly depicting the decay of a soul. It is the last sigh of a death welcome and deserved. It is funeral dirges, lovely voices, disturbing strings, dissonant harmonies, anger and pain and, above all, heavier than all the guilt in hell.” [CHRIS SESSIONS]

Released: Profound Lore, August 26th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

5. DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT – TRANSCENDENCE

The difference between Transcendence and the last several DTP albums is as real as it is difficult to pin down. All of them are joyous, overflowing albums, but the dominant mode on many seemed to be extroversion; they worked their magic because they led by example: “If we can be this happy, so can you.” Transcendence, by contrast, is somewhat more introverted, or at least introspective. It’s no less positive or joyous because of that, but it has the feeling of a deep satisfaction that comes with learning something about oneself after long struggle and denial. Transcendence doesn’t sound like Ocean Machine, really. Or Terria. Or anything else, specifically. But it sounds like it is looking with compassion on the people who made those albums, remembering the way they felt when that was what was in their heart. It also sounds like looking with compassion on the people who made City. It also sounds, for the record, like a maximalist auteur at the absolute top of his goddamned game. Get higher. [DAN OBSTKRIEG]

Released: HevyDevy Records, September 9th
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4. KATATONIA – THE FALL OF HEARTS

“Like most Katatonia albums, The Fall of Hearts has a sneaky depth. Even the most direct and catchy of the band’s works have treats and details hiding in plain sight, and this is no different. If anything it is even more brimming with detail and nuance than other albums. It is also as beautiful, haunting, professionally crafted, and oh-so-sweet to the ears as we have come to expect from the band, with what feels like one of the best sets of songs of their career.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Peaceville, May 20th
Last Rites review
Sample

3. BLOOD INCANTATION – STARSPAWN

“What’s notably satisfying about Blood Incantation‘s brand of death metal is that they’re a part of the faction that doesn’t pay heed to the masks, hoods, costumes, or any of the other ancillary bullshit that so many bands seem to think adds to their appeal. Furthermore, they manage to play a form of galactic death metal that’s brutal, technical, atmospheric and funereal without those tags becoming deadly-strict identifiers –– just like those young and raw death metal bands of the early 90s.” [MICHAEL WUENSCH]

Released: Dark Descent, August 18th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

2. VEKTOR – TERMINAL REDUX

“Terminal Redux is not only Vektor’s best album to date, it reveals a band that is just beginning to discover its potential. They are entering a truly progressive zone where attempting to temper any part of their crazy expression might hurt the whole. So I’ll definitely take those minor missteps, because flawed masterpiece or not, this is still a masterpiece.” [ZACH DUVALL]

Released: Earache, May 6th
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

1. MITHRAS – ON STRANGE LOOPS

“And that is what this record is about. We all love our riffs, and we all love our grooves and speed and dynamics and textures, but Mithras writes motherfucking SONGS. Like few who can blast this brutally, Mithras never ever does so at the expense of making an emotional connection to the listener via honest-to-Mithra beautiful metal songwriting. They give us all the other components, mind you, but these are truly deep and moving compositions into which all the right ingredients are poured.” [CHRIS SESSIONS]

Released: Willowtip, October 21st
Last Rites review
Bandcamp

A sincere thanks is once again owed to all of you who remain at our side. Perhaps it goes without saying, but we appreciate any attention we can get in a world where a near limitless amount of metal-related content is at your fingertips. We’re thankful for your presence here, and that’s straight from all of our hearts. Here’s to hoping 2016 somehow managed to bring goodness into your lives, and we hope to see you all as we limp, crawl and claw our way into 2017.

As always, we’d love to see your lists as well; it’s a two-way street and we like reading ‘em as much as we enjoy compiling ‘em, so have at it in the comments below.

The post Last Rites’ Best Of 2016 – Combined Staff appeared first on Last Rites.

This is not a normal situation for a metal fan in Utah. Not that there aren’t good-to-great metal bands wandering around here, but rarely if ever has a Utah metal band been so revered in the metal press as SubRosa. Let alone a metal band that is, to my ears, so fantastic.

So it is absolutely unacceptable that I, a metalhead, a metal reviewer, a metal thinker, should not even have heard this band until I hit “play” on their new record, For This We Fought the Battle of Ages. If I said I just never got around to it, that I have been busy, it would be true, and would paint me as a complete idiot. I have had a busy decade, but for the love of all that is dark and gorgeous and gravitational, Chris: get out the damned house and headbang now and then, hey kid?

But enough about the asshole writing this; what of the music?

It is a funeral bouquet, steel and blood; potted in granite. It is a confident drawing composed of sumptuous curves boldly and satisfyingly depicting the decay of a soul. It is the last sigh of a death welcome and deserved. It is funeral dirges, lovely voices, disturbing strings, dissonant harmonies, anger and pain and, above all, heavier than all the guilt in hell.

So, let’s say you are sad and fat and useless like me, and are therefore grossly unware of this band’s sound. What should you know?

I was never much of a goth fan, but there were always moments I appreciated. SubRosa has essentially taken these moments and melded them with sludgy funeral doom to create a sound that is at once both and neither. Composed of guitarist/vocalist Rebecca Vernon, dual violinists/vocalists Sarah Pendleton and Kim Pack, bassist Levi Hanna and drummer Andy Patterson, the band is non-traditionally staffed, and creates non-traditional – but potent –music.

The generally cleanly sung lead vocals of Vernon are exactly dis-ostentatious – and all the more moving for it. She often reminds me of PJ Harvey in that she manages to sound accusatory, desperate and dangerous without going over the top. And she avoids vibrato and showboating, choosing instead to let her sinister tone do the threatening. Though I am not terribly into cleanliness, hers is a voice that demands respect.

The oddness of the dual violins wielded by Pendleton and Pack are not, as you might assume, a gimmick. They are a necessary architectural piece that lifts the melodies in a crushingly human way. They generally flit above the vocal lines, accentuating melody or adding a countermelody, but will also deliver off-key dissonance to prevent things from becoming merely lush.

Below all this are the simple, well-conceived heavy metal sludgings of Hanna and Patterson. Combined with Vernon’s guitar, their power is in their patience. They have an intuitive feel for the moods the band are creating and never crash into the pieces unwittingly. Time and again the band becomes an epic, almost Melvinian singularity of purpose and direction.

These players’ efforts give rise to compositions that exist almost as evolutionary responses to a poisonous environment; natural, dangerous and alive. The album opens with “Despair is a Siren” and its quiet buildup reminiscent of a Trent Reznor track, the programming replaced by plucked violins. When the heavy hits, it obliterates, the singing never wavering but becoming more and more insistent. It is a slow, volcanic mountain of a song, erupting and simmering and erupting for ten minutes, then changing into a joyfully painful, almost Jesu-esque climax.

“Wounds of the Warden” starts with the rhythm section grooving away, sliding its heft around like a living stone sculpture of an anaconda. When the guitars and violins hit the beast grows wings and proceeds to light the world on fire. The occasional harmonized vocals are shiver-inducing in counterpoint to the sludge. One of my favorite effects the violins create is the equivalent of Soundgarden’s dueling-guitars break in the apex of their song “Ugly Truth.” The dainty strings make some violent music and create truly compelling atmospherics. It really does make my heart soar. No mean feat.

The album juggers its naught in this fashion, halting only briefly for a folkish break with “Il Cappio.” The capper is “Troubled Cells,” another triumphantly dismal piece that recalls the sweet/painful nature of Jesu – a fittingly dark and lovely end to a dark and lovely record.

I could write more words than you would have any interest in reading praising this record, but if I haven’t convinced you that For This We Fought the Battle of Ages is worth your time and money by now they would be wasted twice over. The bottom line is that this album and this band belong in your devices, on your shelves, in your ears and future memories.

And I, for all that I am a busy, broken old man, belong at their local shows. I am such a lump.

The post SubRosa – For This We Fought The Battle Of Ages appeared first on Last Rites.

Well, not really. There’s still a full two weeks left in the year, and you’re still bracket-busting your way towards crowning a Metal Madness 2013 tournament champion. But as far as the LR staff is concerned, 2013 is officially in the the books. Record labels are gearing up for 2014 promotional blitzes, bands are hitting the road, and we’re in the midst of our favorite pastime: Celebrating our excellent (and/or terrible) taste in heavy metal.

The Last Rites Top 25 was assembled from the year-end lists of seventeen staffers. Over 140 albums were nominated for consideration. Only the following selections received universal recognition as the true kings of 2013.

“There is sorrow and melancholy, but there is strength as well. This music calls out to bloodlines sunk deep into history and old salt sunk deep into wood. We call this music ‘folk’ because it calls to the people…Thrawsunblat has created something that can speak to all of us, whether we are from New England or Canada or Norway or even Arizona or Africa.”  [K. Scott Ross]

“What gives this mutant its superpowers, however, are the intangibles. With the exception of the vocals, this is a live recording, and that feeling of vitality and urgency is at the forefront for the entire duration. And the way the bass rattles behind the guitars like it’s being strummed by the double pedal is just…excuse me. I need a moment alone.” [Chris Redar]

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23. CULT OF LUNA – VERTIKAL

2013 was a good year for the old guard, and Cult of Luna was no exception. It may seem strange to attach an “elder” moniker to the evolving Swedish octet-turned-septet, but they totally deserve the props, as they celebrated their crystal anniversary this year. And these genre-definers did so with a decidedly different shift — the decade-old current lineup first lost their founding vocalist, then interpreted Fritz Lang’s Metropolis in a thematic companion concept piece to the film, also their most successful effort yet. Efficiently engaging amidst effortless expansion.  [Matt Longo]

“Blood Vaults is split into three parts, all of which sound like they could only come from the mind of Alexander von Meilenwald himself…Stylistically, the various elements featured on each track are not necessarily congruent with the album’s three ‘sections.’ Thematically, however, the sections are meant to mirror the attitudes on each chapter of the Malleus Maleficarum, as if the music itself is actually coming from Heinrich Kramer and the listener is trapped inside his warped, fucked-up state of mind.”  [Konrad Kantor]

21. SUMMONING – OLD MORNINGS DAWN

“Old mornings do indeed dawn with this album; all of them, resplendent in amber and haze. Summoning’s music is both generative and locomotive: it both creates a world and then transports the listener to it. The past is not a shadow to be dimly regarded, but another world always on the verge of being accessed.”  [Dan Obstkrieg]

“There’s a brilliant bend at play here: Martial death metal riffage breaks itself into oddball Blut Aus Nord weirdism with a mere screw’s turn. It’s highbrow primitivism at its finest, foot-clubbed by Hellhammer yet spiraling skyward, propelling itself with charred-black madness entwined in deathtrenched groove.”  [Jordan Campbell]

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19. SATAN – LIFE SENTENCE

“By today’s standards, Life Sentence stands far enough away from what most of our readers would consider extreme, it ain’t even funny. But experimenting with extremes holds a lot less significance during an age when you’ve got nuttiness such as a 107.3 The Wave soft rock band fronted by a Satanic pontiff competing for ears. Life Sentence doesn’t need to challenge new grounds in order to garner attention because it’s a superlative example of how fun, melodic, classic heavy metal is intended to sound; there’s simply no need for exaggerated experimentation.”  [Michael Wuensch]

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“What makes Magister Templi special, and by default also Lucifer Leviathan Logos, is how natural and right the music feels, a facet which is undoubtedly a result of the individuals. This band, and particularly their vocalist, succeeds because they are being themselves, and who they are is a group of charismatic, denim-n-leather, doom-obsessed acolytes of the original metal choich.”  [Zach Duvall] 

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“Last year’s free Leper’s Caress EP gave us evidence that the band still had some great moments left in them, and Unwelcome slams it out of the park. James Malone hasn’t sounded this earnest since A Celebration of Guilt, and the bandmates he has chosen to surround himself with sound like a unified whole instead of just a group of technically proficient players doing their own thing.”  [K. Scott Ross]

• • • • •

“Band founder and guitarist / vocalist Matt Harvey is an old pro, knows what works within his chosen field, and delivers the goods. You want some thrashy gore metal with a certain degree of technicality and melody to go along with the brutality and dense production? Look no further than Necrocracy.”  [Dave Schalek]

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“Clutch has never before achieved their live sound in the way they do here. They play loosely but heavily, full of the nuance and whiskey-freeness they possess in their natural setting while achieving that wonderfully Zappa-warped Zeppelin-by-way-of-Bad Brains sound. And [Neil] Fallon, more than ever before on record, sounds as half-a-bottle-deep and utterly maniacal as he does live—a reverend of rock possessed by the spirit that moves him, delivering zany-as-always lyrics that he obviously believes in to his very core.”  [Zach Duvall]

• • • • •

“Infectious choruses, heavy galloping, and sweeping leads (the midpoint of “Sol Invictus” and the 3-minute mark of “Twelve Stars and an Azure Gown”: pant-soilingly epic) – The White Goddess is a masterful look at how to advance antediluvian metal principles into a modern work of epic grandeur. If we must begrudgingly take a front-row seat to the decaying “progression” of civilization, why not watch the curtain fall while listening to something that makes you feel as if you’re soaring above the collapse?”  [Michael Wuensch]

“Is The Formulas of Death too long? At seventy-five minutes, yeah, of course it is. But, as I’ve said before, it’s a hell of a lot easier to have sympathy for a band whose album is way too long because it seems like they just had too many cool ideas and couldn’t bear cutting them out than for a band that simply rides the same damn idea into the ground and doesn’t know when to quit.”  [Dan Obstkrieg]

• • • • •

“As far as the members of VHOL are concerned, there’s still hell & half-an-acre’s worth of fire left in the tank, but at this point they’ve all been in the game long enough that they probably couldn’t give a teensier shit about producing a conventional, bankable modern extreme metal album that appeals to a giant market. Yes, that’s obviously possible with younger bands, but one cannot exaggerate enough the benefit that an abundance of life’s harsh realities, combined with years of colliding with every genre imaginable can bring to the table for a collection of musicians such as this.”  [Michael Wuensch]

• • • • •

“Gone is the four-song structure, gone are the quarter-hour plus track lengths. Gone even is the green-and-brown earth-tone palate that defined the band both visually and aurally. Instead we receive the stark black-and-white aesthetic of the modern dancer, the sterile landscape of the concrete jungle, and the thrum of electronic machinery. And yet, the signature sound of Altar of Plagues is still present.”  [K. Scott Ross]

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• • • • •

“This isn’t easy Satanism for soft people. Aosoth embody the essence of their religion in a way that few bands can even dream of. This isn’t easy black metal for soft people. But if you are willing to be destroyed, you may find the joy of darkness.”  [K. Scott Ross]

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“If a single band in black metal is more likely to inspire the loitering Guitar Center youths, I haven’t heard them. Dagon flutters, pulls, pinches, trills, bends, and generally shows an Olympic gymnast’s ability to contort all over his chosen apparatus, all without ever feeling wanky or failing to serve the song. The music is at its best when things get downright smartass with the listener, as if daring them to try to come up with something cooler. (You are hereby dared to beat the ‘answer’ riff in ‘Infinite Interstellar Genocide.’ You will not.)”  [Zach Duvall]

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“And that brings us to the most notable thing about Valonielu: despite the high quality of their first two albums, this is easily the best album that Oranssi Pazuzu has written to this point, and it truly cements them as one of the most exciting and purely rad bands in metal today.”  [Zach Duvall]

• • • • •

“Naturally, it will be very tempting to label Surgical Steel as Heartwork II. To some extent, it is (come on, it’s an album in the same style), but Surgical Steel is a major shot of adrenaline in the arm of a tired genre.”  [Dave Schalek]

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“All I can say is that this is the type of music that must be heard at least once, and even if you come away not enjoying it, the notes within will have bent your perception of the possibilities of music, if only a little.

And that, more than anything else, makes this a Gorguts album.”  [Zach Duvall]

There you have it: 25 of the greatest albums of 2013. Take a minute to tell us what we’ve missed, or fire away with your own list below.

Thanks for reading in 2013; this was a huge year for Last Rites, and you were the ones that made it possible. There are some exciting changes in store for 2014; let’s make some noise together.

The post Last Rites’ Best Of 2013 – Combined Staff List appeared first on Last Rites.

Judging from the tones of More Constant Than the Gods, they may prefer things this way. The album, their third, seems to be embracing the heaviness, the darkness, and the ghostly values even more than the masterful No Help for the Mighty Ones. Their brand of deconstructed-Americana-crossed-with-doom-with-a-touch-of-punk-attitude has always been uniquely chilling, but here the heft is increased, and the Vitusian riffage – which is often riffier than in the past – pushed to more crushing levels via a thicker production.

In these ways, More Constant is much easier to call a metal album than No Help, but any inherent metalness is not at all what defines it. Rather, it is the sprawling melodies provided both via the voices of Sarah Pendleton and Rebecca Vernon and the intertwining violins, the production that twists these strings into a wail (the climax of opener “The Usher”), and the feeling that a simpler time has been resurrected and forced to look upon the desperation of today. SubRosa is the sound of overwhelming sorrow attempting but failing to hide a suppressed rage, and More Constant expresses that duality better than ever before.

This message permeates every ounce of the music, and perhaps no tune captures it all better than “Cosey Mo.” A tale and homage to a fugitive on the run – or maybe just a societal outcast in general – the song feels like SubRosa taking their sound into roots-blues territory, but only as a jumping-off point. Once that soaring, otherworldly chorus is delivered, it becomes clear that this isn’t just a band absorbing their influences, but projecting them in some way. Only unflinching dedication creates music in which every element not only feels completely crucial, but creates this feeling of new-but-not-newness, like some never-told story out of history. This dedication reaches even to the flute, piano, and hammered dulcimer that fill up the soft finale “No Safe Harbor.” The instrumentation is a fitting partner for what eventually reveal themselves to be the darkest, most despair-ridden lyrics on the album, showing again that heaviness isn’t always about the power in the amplifier, but the depth of the emotion.

And speaking of lyrics, no aspect of More Constant better displays the sorrow-meets-rage aspect than the words. Few bands can pen an individual line with the effectiveness that SubRosa can manage, and these lines are but single stokes in the entire canvas. The song that best exemplifies this wordsmithery – and how important it is within the total vibe – is “Fat of the Ram.” In the interest of not spoiling too much of a song crammed with great lines, I will provide merely one simple, gorgeous nugget:

“They are all gentlemen / they only kill by common consent.”

This line, coupled with the vocal delivery, seems like a linchpin of the entire album, even to a listener who is typically apathetic about the words (that would be me). The fact that this is a woman snidely delivering the word “gentlemen” is no small point either, and further hammers home the album’s underbelly of everything-is-hopeless punk. More Constant is filled with such moments of poignant cynicism, and it is a testament to the band’s power as a unit that such lines can seem as important at any point in the music—quiet or heavy-as-leviathan; layered or barren and simple.

With all of the enthralling mystique, SubRosa is not a band without its faults. Whether or not those faults are a problem is up to the individual, as certain defining aspects of their sound may be seen as cracks to some, and as virtues to others. For example, despite the band’s insane range of dynamic levels, they sometimes burst into new sections without much buildup (“Affliction” is slightly guilty of this). Granted, they did this on No Help as well, so it may be the kind of effect that takes months, not days, to appreciate, particularly when lined up with the lyrical shifts. Also, for as absolutely signature as the punk-tinged vocals can be, they occasionally go flat at key moments (during a momentum shifting transition in “Ghosts of a Dead Empire,” for example). However, all of this may be a matter of balancing what SubRosa does best. Their music is undeniably human, after all, and refining one aspect may cause others to feel less natural, diluting the whole in the process. These kinds of idiosyncrasies can be difficult to gauge, but it’s hard to imagine this band being more appealing without their imperfections. It does indeed make them seem human, and in turn more relatable.

So, imperfect or unrefined as they are, they remain far more appealing and mysterious than thousands of bands that try in vain to succeed only to end up ordinary. This is because, before even writing a note of a new album, SubRosa is a more interesting and unique entity, and because of this their music is infinitely inspiring. They also remain one of the great go-to examples when showing an outsider exactly what heavy metal can be. No one else is making these tones; no one else is exploring these landscapes; and no one else is forming such an emotional, complicated cross section of American music.

For that alone, they should be appreciated. For the quality of albums like More Constant Than the Gods, they should be lauded.

The post SubRosa – More Constant Than The Gods Review appeared first on Last Rites.