Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: Arepo – Arepo

In the ridiculously varied phases and moods of music I’ve gone through in my near half-century on the planet, this one seems to be new. Amid the standards – ‘70s guitar rock, doomed-out sludge, pagan black, Southern hymnody and Neofolk – this ambient thing has thrown me. Maybe I’m appreciating what background music can be? Damned if I could tell you, but here’s AREPO, a duo with a past in everything from BLEACH EVERYTHING (who I have heard and enjoy) to HARMONIC CROSS (who I haven’t, but will after this). Okay, the one-sheet referring to the album as “the most […]

Music News

Texas Death Metal Squad CATHEXIS Signs to Willowtip, Debut Album Out June 25

Austin (TX) – Rising Death Metal force CATHEXIS has signed with Willowtip Records! The band will release debut album Untethered Abyss June 25 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. The album’s first single, ‘Mortuus In Perpetuum’, has been released and is streaming now on YouTube and Bandcamp. Untethered Abyss is the culmination of six years of painstaking songwriting and a carefully selected cast of international talent amassed to bring forward a finely tuned and unrelenting piece of modern death metal. Untethered Abyss is eight tracks of tightly focused death metal with a production that captures the humanity and unfiltered energy […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Spectral Lore – Ετερόφωτος

It’s hard to believe just one man is responsible for everything you hear on this release. The Greek title is a pain in the ass to reproduce, but that doesn’t change the fact that SPECTRAL LORE aka Ayloss is one of the very best black metal bands in the world. This is a massive effort that actually takes up two vinyl albums and more than 75 minutes of time. Almost all of that time is deeply fascinating, and packed with both raw energy and great musicianship. You can call SPECTRAL LORE philosophical black metal that leans towards the grandiose. Only […]

Music News

VAN CANTO Reveals Official Teaser for Upcoming Album, To The Power Of Eight – Pre-Order Starts NOW

The world’s most exciting acapella metal masters VAN CANTO return with their energetic and unique Rakkatakka-power and are set to release their highly anticipated, eighth inimitable offering, To The Power Of Eight, on June 4, 2021 via Napalm Records. Prepare for an outstanding vocal offering smashing in with full force! The record marks another milestone in the band’s impressive career and presents VAN CANTO as a coherent entity stronger than ever! With an impressive new teaser, VAN CANTO draw their devotees into a flawless universe and sonic adventure to deliver a glimpse of what can be expected in this multifaceted […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Bizarrekult – Vi Overlevde

Sixteen years after its initial formation, it’s BIZARREKULT that I’m trusting to give me a break, however short, from this ambient / instrumental mode I’ve been in of late. Having never heard a note of its music, I’m putting a lot of faith in a band who’s only now releasing its debut full-length. And thus… Of course an intro, of course of the ambient sort I’d just mentioned trying to get a respite from, but still different enough from what I’ve been hearing that I’m not perturbed. Mercifully, ‘For 1000 Ar Siden’ arrives, the first thing leaping out of the […]

Music News

NORDGEIST unleash second single ‘Зима (Winter)’, taken from the forthcoming album, Frostwinter

Black metal underground stalwarts NORDGEIST have released ‘Зима (Winter)’ as the second single taken from their debut full-length, Frostwinter, which is slated for release on April 23, 2021. Please find album information below. LISTEN to ‘Зима (Winter)’ PRE-ORDER Frostwinter NORDGEIST mastermind T comments: English:“‘Зима (Winter)’ is the first song that I have composed for Frostwinter. Lyrics and music describe the essence and the character of the winter season from my point of view. Winter is depicted in a warlike image as a conquerer, who takes over the world and turns it into a huge ice desert.” Deutsch:“‘Зима (Winter)’ ist als […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Screamachine – Screamachine

I don’t doubt that this Italian band’s heart is in the right place, but it takes more than good intentions to create worthy metal. It takes good songwriting. The band claims to be doing classic pure metal in the vein of JUDAS PRIEST, ACCEPT, HELLOWEEN, etc. but they are just not on that level. The songs here simply do not stay with you the way that tunes from those legendary bands do, and that makes their debut record a rather forgettable experience. In the first half of the album, a certain PRIEST-ish tone is detectable. The plodding crunch of ACCEPT […]

Music News

YAUTJA To Release New Album, The Lurch, May 21st Through Relapse Records; ‘Tethered’ Video Now Playing + Pre-orders Available

Nashville trio YAUTJA will make their Relapse Records debut with their highly anticipated new album, The Lurch, set for release May 21st. YAUTJA’s The Lurch amalgamates metal, punk, and noise rock into a ferocious hybrid that has propelled them from the obscurity of the American South onto the international stage. The Lurch was recorded by Scott Evans at Steve Albini’s legendary Electrical Audio studio in Chicago and marks another step forward for the innovative band. YAUTJA comments, “We’ve spent a lot of time working on these songs and after sitting on this recording for a clusterfuck pandemic of a year, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Culted – Nous

Cults are always problematic for me, largely because what – on the surface – seems a calling to “abandon false religions” and “leave society behind” almost invariably becomes religious in practice and elitist, societal, “hive mind” in psyche by the time the Kool-Aid starts getting passed around. Especially within the realms of our beloved “extreme” music, the term “cult” gets thrown around with the same abandon my generation used to declare things “radical”, “bitchin’”, or “hella”. But I’ll leave this for another day. CULTED has been at it a little over a decade now, and is one of the ever […]

Music News

Frayle to Release EP, Live At The House Of Wills, April 2

Cleveland Doomgaze Group Blazes Sweltering Cover of Johnny Cash Classic, ‘Ring Of Fire’, During Live Set Recorded at Haunted, Historical Funeral Home Cleveland dark rock band FRAYLE creates gripping, doomy music — at once bleak and beautiful — that is impossible to resist. Undoubtedly one of underground music’s breakthrough bands of 2020, FRAYLE makes “music for the night sky”. The group’s precise merging of doom metal and dream pop strikes the perfect balance between heaving, heavy riffs and haunting vocal melodies. On April 2, FRAYLE will release the new EP, Live At The House Of Wills, featuring two tracks from […]

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