Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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GUILTLESS: Post-Metal/Sludge Outfit To Release Debut LP, Teeth To Sky, Via Neurot Recordings March 7th; Title Track And Preorders Posted + Prepare The Ground Performance Announced

Stream GUILTLESS’ ‘Teeth To Sky’ Neurot Recordings presents the label’s first release of 2025 with the debut from West Coast US-based quartet GUILTLESS – formed by members of A Storm Of Light, Intronaut, Generation Of Vipers, Battle Of Mice, and more – titled Teeth To Sky. Born from a love of experimental rock, noise rock, early industrial, sludge metal, and doom, GUILTLESS unites drummer Billy Graves, guitarist Dan Hawkins, bassist Sacha Dunable, and guitarist/vocalist Josh Graham, who collectively herald the coming of a heavy music which looks both inwards and out to convey the encompassing mixture of hope, despair and […]

EX DEO – Year Of The Four Emperors [EP]

EX DEO has always been a band with no reason to exist to my ears, largely as it’s literally KATAKLYSM with one extra member. I will say this for opener ‘Galba’, though; it’s more enjoyable than most of what’s come from either band in over a decade. ‘Otho’ is lackluster, basic and by-the-numbers, while ‘Vitellius’ begins with a fucking stellar low-end groove, and does return variations on this from time to time. Too little too late at this point, though. Obviously a vanity project from its start, EX DEO continues its own revelry in glut with Year Of The Bored […]

VACUOUS Announces Relapse Records Debut Album, In His Blood, Out February 28th; New Video/Single Now Playing + Preorders Available

Hailing from the withering depths of the UK, VACUOUS makes their Relapse Records debut with their new album, In His Blood, set for release on February 28th. An overdose of death metal, In His Blood is a compelling mix of blazing speeds, chilling atmospherics, and angular riffing that brings the band into their own unique space. “We’ve talked about having different influences, and it felt like a bit of a dare to push things further,” guitarist Michael Brodsky says. “Back in death metal’s formative days, with bands like Autopsy, Obituary, and Incantation, none of those bands sounded like each other: […]

Album Review: ALKYMIST – UnnDerr

I remember hearing the debut from these Danish noise-mongers what seems like a millions years ago. And to be brutally honest, that’s all I remember. I can’t recall a note from the actual record. Lots of things have happened since then, including a pandemic, a war and mass environmental chaos. Would 2024’s version of ALKYMIST be a bit more memorable? I think so. UnnDerr is a dark, heaving mass of foreboding heaviness that comes across as very direct and “simple” but which has some hidden depths to it. It certainly isn’t standard doom or death metal, yet I think it […]

-(16)- To Release Guides For The Misguided Full-Length February 7th Via Relapse Records; ‘Proudly Damned’ Video/Single Now Playing + Preorders Available

Nearly thirty-five years on, -(16)- remains one of the most enduring, hardest sounding rock and metal entities from North America. The San Diego band redefines heavy on their new album, Guides For The Misguided, set for release on February 7th via Relapse Records. Bobby Ferry returns at the helm as the band’s visceral vocalist and guitarist, and in true -(16)- fashion, belts out stories of pain and unhinged anguish. Standout tracks like ‘Proudly Damned’ see the band playing at the crowd while Ferry shares tales of personal strife and depression: “To defile and offend/These are the demons found within/The sullen […]

Album Review: ÚLFARR – Fornetes Folm / His Crown Grows From His Skull

ÚLFARR’s debut full-length, Orlegsceaft, arriving as it did in late December of 2023 gave it both the notable honor of being the last album released in the year that I’d review and allowed it to qualify for my much-respected Top 20 albums list for 2023. Which it did. And now, they’ve done it again. The Cumbrian horde returneth with Fornetes Folm / His Crown Grows From His Skull. ‘Alarūna’ ushers we in, conjuring the droning incant of Atilla Csihar initially, but soon enough shifting to early CRAFT in attack, merciless, but more ancient, and the more foreboding for it. Slicing […]

CYHRA (Featuring Former Amaranthe and In Flames Members) Sign To RPM + Release New Standalone Single, ‘Superman’

CYHRA, the champions of melodic metal, have unleashed their latest single ‘Superman’, heralding a new era since the release of their third album, The Vertigo Trigger. The track explodes with headbang-inducing riffs, as vocalist Jake E teases its epic, melody-rich chorus against a backdrop of sharp instrumentals. The almost spoken verses escalate to a larger-than-life chorus, culminating in irresistible, sing-along choirs that emphatically signal CYHRA’s trajectory is set to soar above and beyond at breakneck speed! “Sometimes, life tests our limits, but when we choose to rise, dream, and believe, we find the strength to be unstoppable. Because deep down, […]

Album Review – MÖRK GRYNING – Fasornas Tid

MÖRK GRYNING might’ve missed the first shrieks of second wave black metal in its native Scandinavia but, since 1995’s Tusen ảr gått…, founding members Goth Gorgon and Draakh Kimera and cohorts spread their shadows of melodic blackness over a handful of impressively solid albums until Mörk gryning of 2005. This would spell what most of us though was the end – and credit and hails to the founder(s) for halting the band when they felt their passion waning – yet metal in any form be a hard beast to tame, and thus was Hinsides Vrede born as the world writhed […]

OCTOPLOID – ‘Coast Of The Drowned Sailors’ [feat. Tomi Koivusaari] lyric video & first headline tour

OCTOPLOID, fronted by bassist Olli-Pekka “Oppu” Laine (known for his work with AMORPHIS, BARREN EARTH, and MANNHAI), are wrapping up an eventful 2024 with the release of a brand-new lyric video for ‘Coast Of The Drowned Sailors.’ This year marked the release of their highly praised debut album, Beyond The Aeons, as well as their first live performance. Taken from the album featuring an impressive roster of prestigious guest musicians, ‘Coast Of The Drowned Sailors’ highlights vocals by none other than Laine’s AMORPHIS bandmate, Tomi Koivusaari. Known for his iconic growls, Koivusaari lends his signature style to the track, creating […]

Album Review: CMPT – Na Utrini

From even CMPT’s initial offering, 2021’s Mrtvaja EP, it was clear there was something otherworldly about the work of sole entity Vidak Lešina. To clarify, a sense of “otherness”, rather, of being both outside of time and deeply interwoven with it. Krv I Pepeo continued the feeling, deepening the connection with the CMPT’s Balkan homeland by delving further into the obscurity of the area’s folklore. Returning three years to the month after Krv I Pepeo, Na utrini acts as a prequel to the events of that album and, while I’m generally not a fan of releasing an album out of […]