Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Review: Kostnateni – Přiliŝnost

The older I get, the more I realize I’m just not weird enough. Just being a fan of metal…even extreme metal…is not enough. I’m on the hunt for the truly outlandish…the fringe dwellers and musical outliers that subvert norms and come up with something new. This year, HAVUKRUUNU and ARKHAAIK have satisfied that craving. But with KOSTNATENI, I’ve reached another level yet. KOSTNATENI is one Mr. DL and I’ve been a follower of his ever since I heard the monumental Oheň hoȓi tam, kde padl EP about four years ago. DL is a man not content to follow well-trodden paths. […]

Ragana + Drowse reveal Ash Souvenir title track from upcoming collaborative release

The forthcoming collaborative album from RAGANA and DROWSE – Ash Souvenir – combines the former’s heavy, emotionally charged metal with the latter’s textural approach to sound. Across four long-form pieces, their voices and instruments move between stark intimacy and overwhelming intensity. During the writing process, Maria (RAGANA) and Kyle (DROWSE) were both in a painful, transitional period, moving back to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to struggling loved ones. This return home and the emotions it stirred echoed in Noel’s (RAGANA) own inherited history. Maria laments on the album’s title track, “‘Ash Souvenir’ is a song dedicated to my […]

Album Review: Arson Charge – A Dying Light

While Denver, Colorado remains one of the most underrated, underreported on and under the radar regional music scenes in the US, that’s in no way a guarantee that everything coming from the Mile High City is worthwhile, or even, for that matter, good. Therefore, when a PR sheet touts ARSON CHARGE as being made up of “former members of…”, this didn’t send me to Bandcamp or the socials plumbing the depths of the interweb so I could seem more “hip” or “in the know”. Because, when you get right down to it, a band stands on its own merit, no […]

Bloody Mountain Records Brings You VALDUR’s Guilded Abyss

Mammoth Lakes (CA) – Seven years since the release of their last full-length album, the Black/Death Metal swarm that is VALDUR have released Guilded Abyss on Bloody Mountain Records. VALDUR is a distortion guild of the riff; musical merchants of the deep. Obscure music for mellifluous minds. The individuals of this abyssal congregation need only the desire to assemble and create the vibrations of aural alchemy for your aural pleasure. Guilded Abyss Track Listing: Hailing Molten Meteors Mangled And Rotting (Spiritus Mortuus) Guilded Abyss Doomed Pt.II Drinking From The Chalice Of Banishment Stars Of Belial Waves Of Boiling Water/Molten Meteors […]

Ripping Remains – Carbonized Effluvium [EP]

Literally born from DRIPPING DECAY, Oregonians RIPPING REMAINS unleash their first acrid spew in the form of Carbonized Effluvium. The synth-laden title track takes its time, transuding and gelatinous, while ‘Necrodestiny’ reeks of pre-’90s CARCASS in that most glorious stench-ridden way. Decimating and twisting, ‘The Horror Writes Itself’ bucks and writhes, riff upon riff piled on the kicking rodeo bull of heaving rhythm, skinned and screaming solo ending in a boastfully Luddite groove. ‘Rub My Infection On You’ recalls moments of JUNGLE ROT in its furor, early OBITUARY in its Allen West-influenced solo. The doom swagger that begins ‘Maternal Rot’ […]

NEST To Join Goblin Legacy On US Fall Tour This November; Tickets On Sale Now

St. Louis metal trio NEST, spearheaded by Scour and Agoraphobic Nosebleed bassist John Jarvis, will join Goblin Legacy for a special two-week run of live dates this November. Goblin Legacy is an Italian progressive rock band renowned for their haunting and atmospheric film scores, particularly in the horror genre. Formed in the early 1970s, they gained international acclaim through collaborations with director Dario Argento, scoring cult classics like Profondo Rosso (1975) and Suspiria (1977). Their eerie, synth-heavy compositions became synonymous with Italian cinema and influenced horror soundtracks for decades. Known for their feral intensity and genre-defying heaviness, NEST is dragging […]

Album Review: Today Is The Day – Never Give In

I’m one of the lucky ones. I witnessed the birth pangs of TODAY IS THE DAY in early ‘90s Nashville. Bands who shared absolutely no sonic camaraderie with TITD made Sunday afternoon shows at Lucy’s Records on Elliston Place. From cross-dressing cowpunk to reggae to grind, nothing was off limits. Over a dozen albums and countless EPs, singles, splits, and compilations later, Steve Austin remains behind the controls, touring members Tom Jack [bass] and Colin Frecknall [drums, percussion] joining with others with others to create the band’s latest, Never Give In. ‘Divide And Conquer’ chugs forth, electronics and industrial rhythm […]

FIMBUL WINTER: Former Amon Amarth Members Announce Debut EP, What Once Was

Swedish melodeath torchbearers FIMBUL WINTER, featuring three former members of Amon Amarth, have announced their debut EP What Once Was, due out November 14 via the band. Carrying the weight of history and the force of unfinished business, What Once Was delivers five tracks of cold, uncompromising death metal steeped in the spirit of Sweden’s early scene. Recorded by Sverker Widgrin (Mörk Gryning, Wormwood) and Shaun Farrugia, and mixed and mastered by Marko Tervonen (The Crown, Sarcator), the band’s debut also features session bass from Tobias Cristiansson (Necrophobic, Dismember, etc.) Built on rediscovered riffs from the early days of Amon […]

Album Review: Warrant – The Speed Of Metal

No, this isn’t the California hair band that topped the charts in the late ’80s…this is the older, harder WARRANT out of Germany, who released some speed/thrash albums in the early ’80s. Like almost any metal band that has ever put out a record, they’ve reformed after decades out of commission and are back in action with The Speed Of Metal. The thing that struck me about this version of WARRANT is that they don’t seem to exclusively be a speed-oriented band. Early tracks like ‘Cut Into Pieces’ and ‘Demons’ really cut loose with a blitzkrieg of thrash metal, but […]

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY Drops Special Jam Session Rendition Of Free’s ‘Fire And Water’; North American Tour Supporting Judas Priest And Alice Cooper Underway

American heavy metal icons CORROSION OF CONFORMITY are back with a special rendition of ‘Fire And Water’ by English rock band, Free! The classic track was originally released in 1970 on the album of the same name. CORROSION OF CONFORMITY’s version came spontaneously in the studio during some downtime while recording their forthcoming new full-length, set for release next year, and serves as the first of the Riffissippi Studio Jam Sessions, a special collection of jammed out interpretations of songs by some of the band’s favorite artists. Comments guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan, “When we were tracking this record, we had a […]