Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Short Sharp Shocks

Atom Driver – Occupants [EP]

By my count Occupants is ATOM DRIVER’s sixth EP, despite the band being around since 2016 with nary a full-length to show for it. Doesn’t matter, though, as the title track immediately jettisons me back to the days of snagging 7” from record stores by bands that fired off a couple-few songs at a time, little sonic pioneers, out into the frontier of independent shops, squats and bookstores. Shades of SNAPCASE’s more accessible work, JAWBREAKER’s Bivouac shove us headlong into ‘Say Anything You Want’, the snarling guitar recalling the abrasion of CAVE IN, but again, filtered through the lens of […]

Music News

CASTLE: Bay Area Occult Doom Trio Cast A ‘Black Spell’ With New Song; Sixth Album Evil Remains Pre-Orders Now Available

Bay Area occult doom trio CASTLE is proud to present the second single, ‘Black Spell’ taken from their upcoming album Evil Remains, due out September 6 via Hammerheart Records. Fall under the ‘Black Spell’ “We’re really excited to share another song from the new album. ‘Black Spell’ is a straight-up, classic metal-inspired barn burner, a throwback to the music I started off playing in the ’80s,” says guitarist/vocalist Mat Davis. “The lyrics deal with the immortal tale of history repeating itself…this time against the backdrop of Egyptology; 5,000 years of doom as told through the eyes of the Great Sphinx. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hammerfall – Avenge The Fallen

Never let it be said that I’m not nostalgic. HAMMERFALL had the good (or bad) fortune to come along at a time when metal of all sorts was deep in the throes of an identity crisis, from which it took years to emerge. Still, MANOWAR was on a major label, and BLIND GUARDIAN, STRATOVARIUS and ICED EARTH were holding the banner high, our great and shining hopes for the future. By 1999, however, HAMMERFALL – at least to my ears – sang their creative swan song with the original material on the I Want Out EP. Renegade would follow with […]

Music News

arottenbit: Italian experimental digital/metal act announce new album, You Don’t Know What Chiptune Is

Italian experimental digital/metal act arottenbit is now pleased to reveal that their new album, You Don’t Know What Chiptune Is, is set for release on October 4th 2024 via Time To Kill Records. In celebration, the project is now sharing the new single ‘SPECIMEN_SETTE__(PROBE#1012010)’ arottenbit commented: “Nuns, blastbeat, wrestling, dissonant melodies, satanism, exploding heads, speedcore, blasphemy, hardcore, sludge. Game Boy. In a word: Post-Chiptune. This is my new single. A changing mix of all the influences that a city has to offer in its most violent days. The incredible Sister Margherita plays herself arm in arm with the Italian wrestling […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Yosemite In Black – In Pursuit Of

Based on the scant amount of actual info on Georgia’s YOSEMITE IN BLACK available without either logging into Facebook or following them on Bandcamp, neither of which I’m prepared to do not having heard a note until this moment. It seems like the band probably got its start around the turn of the decade and – again, from what I’ve found – In Pursuit Of is its first album. So, let’s go… The first thing that jumps out in opener ‘Cerberus’ is the mix and production – and when I say “jumps out”, I mean leaps the fuck forward as […]

Music News

DRAGSHOLM sign to Horror Pain Gore Death Productions – Sorrow Hexen set for release September 6th, pre-orders + single live now

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions are set to release the new EP from New Jersey’s Blackened Death Metal desecrators DRAGSHOLM. Sorrow Hexen is up now for pre-order and will be released September 6th on CD and Digital formats along with merch. Horror Pain Gore Death Productions has added DRAGSHOLM to the roster with their 3rd EP, Sorrow Hexen. Hailing from the crypts of Northern New Jersey, DRAGSHOLM was founded in 2017, and in 2022, a full lineup was formed. Sorrow Hexen weaves a tapestry of melodic riffs, thunderous drums, and punishing vocals. The EP’s atmosphere is a blend of the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Orange Goblin – Science, Not Fiction

On its tenth album, ORANGE GOBLIN remains the same as they’ve always been; fun and entertaining to listen to in the short run, but lacking the extra ingredient necessary to get them over the hump into the next level. Bands and albums like this are always the hardest to review, as they are not bad by any stretch, but just not really memorable. The GOBLIN sound remains true to itself here, a greasy kind of riff rock like MOTÖRHEAD meets MONSTER MAGNET. I will say this – they really make the attempt to give every song its own personality here. […]

Music News

LIZZARD: Prog-Rock Power Trio Releases Introspective New Single, ‘Elevate’; Mesh Full-Length To See Release September 27th On Pelagic Records

France-based, prog-rock power trio LIZZARD has released ‘Elevate’ the latest single from their forthcoming fifth studio album, Mesh, set for release on September 27th via Berlin’s Pelagic Records. Capturing the energetic, lightning-in-a-bottle optimism of the late ‘90s post-punk/art-rock scene and reigniting it with simmering potential, Mesh sees LIZZARD out to reclaim the creative, collaborative energy that has fueled them for over a decade. Having first met in 2006, drummer Katy Elwell, guitarist/vocalist Mat Ricou, and bassist Will Knox quickly realized they shared not only similar creative influences but also a distinct musical vision. The trio set out to craft an […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Stabbing Jabs – The Stabbing Jabs

Ah, Cincinnati…Porkopolis herself, home of Skyline Chili, the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers. And now home to, for better or worse, THE STABBING JABS. ‘Broken Brain’ hits with the fury of BLACK FLAG’s ‘My War’ but done up in a grime-fueled rock and roll incarnation, and I’m not sure how many seconds the guitarist spent getting that tone, but it’s just drenched in motor oil, and continues through the even more punch-drunk ‘Bad Slime’. Memories of my time in Detroit at Corktown Taven come to mind, five local kickass bands for $10 in a 2nd floor shoebox just […]

Music News

LORD OF PLAGUE: Ukrainian Death Metal Duo Releases Passage To None EP On Carbonized Records

Ukrainian death metal duo LORD OF PLAGUE has released their debut EP, Passage To None, on Carbonized Records. LORD OF PLAGUE was initially forged in 2016 by guitarist/vocalist Vlad A and drummer Andrii Zagovora, two longtime comrades in metal united under their passion for OSDM. Named in honor of Morbid Angel’s classic ‘Lord Of All Fevers & Plague’ and influenced by the likes of Monstrosity, early Deicide, Cenotaph, and The Chasm, the two composed several tracks of sonic savagery before putting things on hold for a time. Fueled by an enduring appetite for heaviness and a penchant for the macabre, […]

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