Tag: Traditional
Helvetets Port – From Life To Death Review
Let’s establish something right out of the box here: Helvetets Port is a bit of a strange band. Not strange in a GG Allin “I don’t know where that microphone’s been” kind of way, but …
Mirror – Pyramid Of Terror Review
[Album cover artwork by Filip Leu] One thing the Last Rites collective seems particularly adept at in 2019 is allowing good things to fall through the cracks. Okay, that rings pretty true every year, but …
Diamonds & Rust: Ozzy Osbourne – Tribute
I don’t recall exactly when I first purchased Ozzy Osbourne’s Tribute, but I bought in on cassette, so that would mean early 90s. I wasn’t into metal when the album was first released in 1987, …
Beastmaker – Eye Of The Storm Review
There is only so much that one person can take. Apply enough pressure, be it physically or emotionally, and that a person is bound to crack along some biologically predetermined fault line. Inevitably a person’s …
Missing Pieces 2019: The Best Of What We’ve Missed So Far, Part 3
Here at Last Rites, we listen to a metric shit-ton of heavy metal—it’s just what we do. But every year there’s so much great metal that we simply don’t have time to cover it all… …
Metalian – Vortex Review
“Just how many bands do we need that sound like Judas Priest colliding with some other, more obscure NWOBHM group,” asked the old guardian who can’t figure out how to like anything new and the …
Véritable Acier De France: A French Heavy Metal Primer (1980-1985)
Heavy metal is a worldwide phenomenon. While its godfathers in Black Sabbath and fathers in Judas Priest were playing the style years before the dawn of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, this era …
Freternia – The Gathering Review
More often than not, two things generally come up when conversations turn to Sweden’s greatest influence on heavy metal: Yngwie J. Malmsteen and Swedeath. It’s an understandable consequence—the prior taught us the importance of giant …