Last Rights is the seventh studio album by Canadian electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy. It was released in March 1992 as the group's final record distributed through Nettwerk. Last Rights saw the band experimenting with two opposite extremes: cacophonous heavy music and gloomy melodies, resulting in moments of industrial weight as well as moments of uncharacteristic softness. Along with containing some of the band's most impenetrable walls of sound and an eleven-minute track composed almost entirely of manipulated and distorted samples, Last Rights also features Skinny Puppy's first ballad. The album's production was troubled both internally and externally, involving tension within the band and threatened litigation from without. After its release, it was followed by Skinny Puppy's last tour for twelve years. Despite Last Rights difficulties, it was well-received and named by Alternative Press as one of the best albums of the 1990s. It spawned two singles, "Inquisition" in 1993 and "Left Handshake" (distributed under the title "Track 10") in 2000, and was the band's first release to chart on the Billboard 200. Background and production After Skinny Puppy released Too Dark Park in 1990, internal stress began to take its toll on the band. cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel believed that vocalist Nivek Ogre was more interested in pursuing his solo career than maintaining Skinny Puppy, and his abuse of drugs (specifically injected cocaine and heroin) exacerbated the schism. Manager Mark Jowett recalled the time, saying, "They internally combusted to some degree". Though the band was still functional and able to record music, much of the friendliness was gone when it came time to work on Last Rights. Dave Ogilvie, longtime producer and temporary member of Skinny Puppy during the 1988 VIVIsectVI sessions, acted as a middleman between the two halves of the band. First, he would record with Goettel and Key, and afterwards he would bring Ogre in and work with him in isolation. This disconnect between Last Rights instrumental composition and vocal recording would prove vital to its discordant sound. [[File:1169_Nelson_Street.jpg|thumb|upright|right|alt=|1169 Nelson Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, one of the sites of Last Rights recording]] Ogre conceived of and recorded all of his lyrics in the studio with minimal planning. He considered the vocals a "train of consciousness" that powerfully reflected him in the moment. Key and Goettel also recorded their part of the music in-studio; about the process, Key said, "I think with [Last Rights], it was