Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: Taake – En skog av nidstang

On the very first song, we noticed the pulse in our hand trying to keep up with even half the beat. ‘Einstoeingen go eg’ makes it easy to and encourages head-banging and fist shaking. It’s like a wall of distortion that undulates as a thick curtain in the frozen winter wind. Later in the song, a segment serves a startle but quickly snaps back to rescue as the grim riffs enclose. Next we jump to ‘Et dyr tok min hud’, which is a great title leaping directly into infernal black metal with a much more active riff than the previous […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Nine Pound Hammer – Too Outlaw For Outlaw Country [MLP]

NINE POUND HAMMER swung its first swing four decades ago as BLACK SHEEP, and – aside from a brief stint when guitarist Blaine Cartwright and vocalist Scott Luallen were abducted by Van Aliens from the galaxy of Hillbillicus TNT in order that they might bring their snotnosed, beer drankin’, Hellraisin’ country/punk hybrid to the sextraterrestrial masses – have been at it ever since. Too Outlaw For Outlaw Country continues the spread the gospel of giddyup, the title track already kicking on its way out of the chute, so best we just try to hang on for the ride and not […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Guilt Trip – Armour Of Angels

I dislike raking a band over the coals, but GUILT TRIP from Manchester, UK make it impossible for me to do otherwise. In light of that, their name is especially ironic. Because this is absolutely one of the most generic, non-creative and unoriginal records I have ever heard. Only the fact that FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH exists keeps me from saying it is #1. There isn’t a riff, solo, vocal line or any other aspects of the music on Armour Of Angels that hasn’t been done to death many, many times before. They call their music hardcore, but it’s only […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: FORSMÁN – Brenndar rústir & fuƌrandi fjörur

Ice is beautiful; from icebergs the size of small islands drifting on the world’s seas, to the peaks of the highest mountains, to the frozen lakes of the North. Ice is deadly; from the countless shipwrecks caused by icebergs, to the frozen carcasses on Everest, to the skater or fisherman falling through the not-so-frozen surface of a lake thought to be solid. The same can be said of FORSMÁN’s debut full length, Brenndar rústir & fuƌrandi fjörur (rough translation: Burnt ruins & flowing shores), released via Vesperian. The album begins, ‘Drottinn fyrirgefur allt’ rumbling and roiling, lava boiling and rising […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Wailin Storms – The Arsonist

Durham, North Carolina’s WAILIN STORMS has been at it for just over a decade, peddling its brand of Americana, Southern gothic and would-be post-punk over the course of four albums and countless road miles, now culminating in The Arsonist, released on Season Of Mist. Let’s see if the flame flickers or scorches, then, shall we? I’m sure the introduction to ‘Dead End’ was supposed to be ominous, heralding some sort of tragedy, but what the tragedy is, is that the quarter-baked idea never even becomes a half-baked song. I see where they’re going, attempting to blend the Old West-influenced Gothicism […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ruyned – Profanum Sacrificium

With previous releases titled Eternal Torment and Sex’n Speed, Timișoara, RUYNED made it clear that its goal was to unleash short but effective battle raids into the lands of modern metal, armed with weapons and vengeance from a time long past. On its second, Profanum Sacrificium, the band switches gears, guided by its vengeful wrath for the travesty of Europe’s roughly two centuries of witch hunting, trials and torment of innocents by the truly guilty. A contemplative guitar and keyboard pattern lulls us into false security, soon to be shredded by the rakish ‘n’ ragged roar of ‘Speedchain’. More precise […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Venom – Into Oblivion

Now that VENOM INC. has self-destructed, the Cronos-led VENOM emerges from the rubble as the sole inheritor of the name. It’s been a while since we’ve heard from them, but Into Oblivion breaks the silence with a deafening roar. To be honest, this band will never equal their paradigm-shattering early days. Yet this version of VENOM has now endured far longer than the original triad…and on Into Oblivion, it really shows. This is one of the best post-Mantas albums, maybe even the best. Everything flows smoothly (with one major exception that I’ll get to), the guys are all locked into […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mork – Monolitt

For over two decades, Norway’s MORK has become and remained a bastion of quality and reliability, releasing an album at least every few years. Granted, some have rang truer than others, but each has stood on its own merit for the time, and at the least warranted repeated listens. Thomas Eriksen is MORK, plain and simple, so victory or defeat rests squarely on his shoulders when it comes to Monolitt. ‘Under Vekten Av Verden’ unfurls a massive dark flag across an unforgiving storm-swept sky, cleaved by riff lightning, heaving with the thunderous rumble of Asgeir Mickelson’s (more on that later) […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Speedslut – Cimbrian Rites

From the earliest occultic bursts of MERCYFUL FATE to the speed-fueled attacks of ARTILLERY, INVOCATOR, and the underrated FURIOUS TRAUMA, the country of Denmark – with a population less than New York City alone – has clearly made its presence known in the realm of heavy music. Thus, it’s safe to say any Danish speed/thrash band has a high bar already set. Enter SPEEDSLUT, last year’s Ferocity Of Steel EP waving the denim ‘n’ leather flag proudly, its 12 minutes less a thoughtfully planned military operation than a wild shot into enemy territory to make clear its malicious intent. Sharp-tongued […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Du Cane – Veil Of The Abyss

Progressive rock (and now metal) has a somewhat distinct problem, much like fusion, in that so much of it claims to be and so little of it is truly progressive. This has been an issue since the early days of the style, in which any band with a keyboardist fancied itself the new YES, the new ELP, the new NEKTAR, despite doing little or nothing to actually move the music forward; to progress. The same plagued jazz, experiencing its own renaissance almost in parallel to progressive rock, resulting in what would be called “fusion”. DU CANE is a new band […]

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