Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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KATATONIA Announces 2022 North American Headline Tour Featuring Support from The Ocean Collective & Cellar Darling

Melancholic metal masters KATATONIA are thrilled to return to North American shores this fall after a five year absence – announcing a massive 2022 headline tour featuring support from progressive metal frontrunners The Ocean Collective and prog-folk force Cellar Darling. The tour is set to begin on November 9 in Washington, DC, and will visit several major cities into December, coming to an end on December 10 in Tampa, FL. Tickets for this can’t-miss tour are available now.Visit www.katatonia.com for tickets and more information. KATATONIA frontman Jonas Renske states:”North America! We are very pleased to announce that we are coming […]

Album Review: Balls Gone Wild – Stay Wild

Something tells me we’re not going to get a deep discussion of gnostic hermeticism from a band called BALLS GONE WILD. Now some wags might call them BALLS GONE MILD, but honestly, these guys are shooting for simple hard rock, not skull-crushing metal. With that being said, this is a pretty forgettable release. The press sheet describes them as “AC/DC meets MOTORHEAD” but BGW doesn’t have anywhere near the grittiness of those two bands. It’s not even on the same planet, although the basic riffs do bring AC/DC to mind on occasion. But to me, it sounds like AC/DC filtered […]

JASON BLAKE: Warr Guitarist To Release The Compromise Rationale, Part Two In Album Trilogy, Via Wayfarer Records In September; ‘Euphoria With Repercussions’ Streaming + Preorders Posted

Chicago, Illinois-based progressive Warr guitarist JASON BLAKE presents The Compromise Rationale, the middle release in the Ternary Instinct themed trilogy of albums, the record now confirmed for September release through Wayfarer Records. The Warr Guitar is a twelve-string instrument incorporating the range of a guitar and bass, which is performed by tapping the strings; a technique known as touchstyle guitar. JASON BLAKE plays with the progressive metal instrumental trio, Aziola Cry, who recently released their album, The Ironic Divide, on Sensory Records in early 2021. With this band, he writes music featuring the rhythmic and melodic capabilities of the Warr […]

Album Review: Blut Aus Nord – Disharmonium – Undreamable Abysses

Gurgling as expected, yet briefly before the maelstrom ensues, ‘Chants Of The Deep Ones’ instantly evokes themes Lovecraftian, shrieking keys and tempestuously cataclysmic rhythms, at once regal and rabid, unspeech slithering amid the cacophonic whirlwind of dementia. ‘Tales Of The Old Dreamer’ moves, swirls, hanging chords and patterns in the atmosphere, weaving robes of starlight and supernova, of black holes and blubbering, ranting acolytes. Already, we are in a world not of our making, or formed by human hands or minds. Roiling, reckless, ravenous, ‘Neptune’s Eye’ opens, drawing us deeper into the chaos brought into corporeal form in 1890 Rhode […]

Sleep unveil Dopesmoker deluxe LP w/ real cannabis leaves in vinyl; album returning to DSPs Today

Sleep unveil Dopesmoker deluxe LP w/real cannabis leaves in vinyl; album returning to DSPs Today SLEEP and Third Man Records are proud to announce that SLEEP’s landmark album Dopesmoker will be available on DSPs this Friday, August 26. Additionally, Third Man has announced two new vinyl variants of the album. Alongside a black vinyl LP, which will be available for pre-order on Friday, pure, unadulterated, authentic cannabis leaves are encapsulated in PVC for the first time ever to create a deluxe “Weedian High-Fi” pressing of the album, exclusively available at Third Man’s Detroit storefront. Pre-Order Dopesmoker HERE Hear ‘Hot Lava […]

Album Review: Panzerfaust – The Suns Of Perdition – Chapter III: The Astral Drain

‘Death-Drive Projections’ begins the third installment of the Suns Of Perdition tetralogy, and wastes no time, overpowering before the first syllable is uttered, towering, scaling heights also ascended to by only few, CULTED and IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT coming to mind in the sheer breadth of sonics involved. For those who’ve been following this project since ‘19s TSOP – Chapter I: War, Horrid War, this is a near-seamless transition, almost as if all albums thus far were in succession, 3 weeks instead of three years passing. After the first of 4 interludes, ‘B22: The Hive And The Hole’ rolls in, methodical, purposeful […]

Lustre returns with A Thirst For Summer Rain

A Thirst For Summer Rain is the eighth full-length album of LUSTRE – the Swedish apotheosis of ambient black metal. As the initial waves of soothing keyboards come rolling in, it is immediately clear that Lustre still adheres to its musical tradition of dreamlike minimalism. However, when the remaining instruments enter the picture, the soundscape in which they are framed is likely to come as quite the surprise for long-time followers of the band. A Thirst For Summer Rain is the first of Nachtzeit’s releases to have been recorded, mixed, and mastered in a professional studio – a move which […]

Album Review: Mantar – Pain Is Forever And This Is The End

Every few years these guys pop up and the more hipster division of the metal press loses their shit over them. Then they soon disappear without a ripple again. Well, it’s time for MANTAR to surface again, this time on Metal Blade with an album title that sets itself up for parody right away. Or maybe it’s getting too close for comfort… Anyhoo, let me dive into it. How to describe MANTAR? Well, they certainly are not what I would call death, black or thrash metal, but they are quite heavy and morose. Their deceptively simple and basic style seems […]

MACHINIST! To Release 10 Years Of Torture LP Compiling Their First Two Albums, Confirmed For August Release Through Nefarious Industries; New Promo Video And Preorders Posted

After some time off, Southeastern mean muggers MACHINIST! burst out of hibernation with the announcement of 10 Years Of Torture, an LP compilation containing the band’s first two full-length albums on wax for the first time ever. The release includes 2015’s Pronegative and its 2018 follow-up Closer To Death on sides A and B respectively. For this endeavor the band is continuing their relationship with Philadelphia-based Nefarious Industries who is co-releasing the record with Gainesville, Florida-based Salvaged Records run by MACHINIST!’s own Jeremy McGuire. Vocalist Jeff Hill had this to say: “We’ve been doing this for a decade now. Some […]

Album Review: Spiritus Mortis – The Great Seal

Calling forth from the reservoir of vast knowledge (the internet in this case), ‘Puputan’ translates from Indonesian into “bellows” or “blowing”, but also relates to the Japanese act of mass ritual suicide. Either way, either meaning, SPIRITUS MORTIS certainly kicks things in the arse from the start here, new vocalist Kimmo Perämäki shredding both eardrums and his throat, a more rough ‘n’ ragged Robert Lowe, his allowance to let things “slip” from perfection from time to time infusing this TROUBLE-influenced circa ’90 jam (think Trouble) with a sense of urgency. Conjuring latter-day NEVERMORE in the riffing of ‘Death’s Charioteer’, Maijala […]