Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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CHOIR Announce New Album, Songs For A Tarnished World

CHOIR, the one-human entity cross-nationally from Singapore and Brazil, is preparing to release the new album Songs For A Tarnished World on March 24th, 2023. Composing extreme metal that crosses genres, CHOIR constructs dark ambient realms. “Songs For A Tarnished World narrates large-scale landscapes of a decaying world. It draws inspiration from an array of musical genres as vast as the environments it develops. A world tarnished by its own destructive power rebirths cleansed in the shape of angular extreme Metal and soul-churning melancholy.” Manifesting epic soundscapes, eerie moods and a dystopian atmosphere, the new album fusing doom and black […]

Album Review: Strigoi – Viscera

Arising from the ashes of VALLENFYRE, STRIGOI are trying to establish more of their own sound on Viscera, their second album. The best word for that sound would be “gloomy”. The album still retains brutality, but things are more claustrophobic here, with a bigger emphasis on doom and Gothic atmosphere. That does give STRIGOI more of its own sound for sure, but they are not as immediate as the ferocious VALLENFYRE. The album’s tracks break down into longer, more atmospheric songs and shorter bursts of brute force where the scent of early British grindcore predominates. First cut ‘United In Viscera’ […]

HAKEN announce North America Fauna Expedition tour dates for 2023

HAKEN have announced their seventh studio album Fauna, their most genre-busting and conceptually fascinating album to date, due out on March 3rd, 2023. Now, the band are thrilled to announce tour dates for their North American Fauna Expedition for 2023. The tour will begin on May 3rd in Nashville, TN and conclude on June 3rd in Chicago, IL. Arch Echo will be joining the run as support. The band have this message for fans: “We had such a great time in North America earlier this year, and can’t wait to return for a headline tour with our new album – […]

Album Review: Bloodclot – Souls

NYHC (New York Hard Core for those new to the game) has always built its reputation on the short sharp shock. Get in, get down, get out. Lyrically it’s the same. Not a lot of pontificating or fancy $25 words when a simple “Fuck you!” would do, and this is BLOODCLOT’s home turf on Souls, no doubt about it. Bolstered by a lineup featuring current and former members of CRO-MAGS, QUICKSAND, AGNOSTIC FRONT and MADBALL, these four horsemen couldn’t be more NY if they tried, ancestrally deep in the sewers, squats and boroughs as they are. Throat man John Joseph […]

SIGH Release New Video For ‘Shoujahitsumetsu’ From Shiki – Their Latest Studio Album

Following the release of Shiki, their new studio album, on Peaceville, the cult Japanese black metal legends SIGH have released a new video for the track ‘Shoujahitsumetsu’. SIGH mainman Mirai Kawashima explains the meaning behind the track “‘Shoujahitsumetsu’ is a word in Buddhism and stands for “Anything that is alive has to die in the end”. I tried to express my fear of death through the album, and this song should be the case in point. This is the most furious track on the album filled with my feat that will never fade away.”WATCH THE VIDEO FOR ‘SHOUJAHITSUMETSU’ SIGH’s recently […]

Album Review: Gaerea – Mirage

GAEREA’s sophomore release, Limbo of ’20, was one of the surprises of that year, both showing a band successfully expanding upon the debut, yet remaining true to themselves – not so much a reinvention as a reworking – and ended up on the Best Of 2020 lists of myself and many others. All-important third album Mirage sees the Portuguese troupe keeping the 8 songs to around average length for the band, yet still under an hour for total playing time. While the extended tracks that bookended Limbo were grand, ‘Memoir’ captivates from the start, shimmering, hazy as a mirage itself, […]

Cult of Luna Announces European Co-Headline Tour with Russian Circles for 2023

No rest of the wicked, CULT OF LUNA have just released a 25-minute-video of their 2022 touring adventures. Check it out HERE The band will return to European venues in March, this time around co-headlining with the infamous Russian Circles. “Not knowing what to expect when we got out from our unexpected and involuntary hiatus, we were blown away by the numbers of people that came to see us. The love we received was truly moving and it felt like the tour just started when it was over. But time moves quickly and soon it’s time to get out again. […]

Album Review: He Is Legend – Endless Hallway

‘The Prowler’ leads the charge – or attempts to, the verses licking the dirt-rock, speedster boots of ZEKE and HOOKERS, while the choruses are straight out of the early CLUTCH playbook. The dragging tempo of the final minute or so, instead of being climactic, arrives and pulverizes any built-up interest into dust by the time ‘Lifeless Lemonade’ arrives, and if you’ve ever wondered why some of MAYLENE & THE SONS OF DISASTER works and HE IS LEGEND never seems to, this is your template; rhythms built for skipping, disjointed cut/paste rock interspliced with a weird ‘80s pop vocal nod at […]

MEMORIAM To Release Rise To Power Full-Length February 3rd Via Reaper Entertainment; New Artwork Revealed

MEMORIAM needs no introduction. Founded by former Bolt Thrower singer Karl Willetts and Benediction bassist Frank Healy — living legends of old-school death metal — MEMORIAM are arguably the most creative band of the genre right now. The band has built its own loyal fan base over the past seven years developing a distinct musical identity and has finally announced the release of their new studio album, Rise To Power, set to drop on February 3rd, 2023 via Reaper Entertainment. With Rise To Power, the band builds upon their signature sound with additional dynamics. From brutal grooves to moments of […]

Album Review: Black Anvil – Regenesis

This New York black metal crew pop up every few years with a new album, which gets talked about for a month or two and then promptly forgotten until the next cycle begins. With the title of Regenesis, perhaps they see themselves as reinventing the band and their sound. The album is well produced and competently played, but leaves me pretty cold. I know that past BLACK ANVIL works were more aggressive and darker than this. They do try to mix things up here and they succeed in giving each track its own identity, but the songs are generally softer, […]