Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Album Reviews

ALBUM REVIEW RATING SCALE:
**Please note that this rating scale serves as a reference for albums reviewed prior to 2023.
Numbered ratings will not be added going forward, in hopes that the writer’s impression of the work will suffice.
It will have to.** 

6 – Rarely bestowed. An honor reserved for undeniable classics (or those that should be). The Apex Predator.
5 – Impressive.
4 – Worthy of special recognition.
3 – A solid effort.
2 – The participation trophy.
1 – These are the albums that the 2s beat up on the way home from school.
0 – A waste of both our time and yours.

Album Reviews

Album Review: Thus Spoke Zarathustra – I’m Done With Self Care, It’s Time For Others’ Harm

The early-mid ‘00s were a weird-ass time for metal. OG metalcore bands (look ‘em up, this ain’t Wikipedia or The Metal Archives) suddenly found themselves being name-dropped by a new pack of hyenas in guyliner that would make Gerard Way wince in discomfort and jeans tighter than Luke Bryan’s. Of course, now, the reason for the tightness of their jeans is that they belonged to their girlfriend. A word on the girlfriends of that era; lonely. Lonely, because these dandy fops were too busy making fag jokes and bro-ing down to pay any attention to them, in search of the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Chamber Mage – By Light Of Emerald Gods

Ah, the galloping riff! Steve Harris’ pride and joy, it’s become one of the staples of traditional heavy metal, particularly bands dealing with fantasy and medieval themes. That leads us directly to Colorado’s CHAMBER MAGE, who love swords, sorcery and those galloping riffs. This record oozes both classic metal and high fantasy. Not 100% sure, but I think By Light Of Emerald Gods is a concept album telling one mighty tale. If you love OMEN, MANILLA ROAD and the horribly overlooked MEDIEVAL STEEL, you’re going to be over the moon with CHAMBER MAGE. Once ‘In Battle’ locks into its patented […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Pyromancer – Absolute Dominion By Fire

So, Kentucky’s PYROMANCER knocked out a demo almost exactly 10 years ago, then apparently went dormant, members Conqueror Horus and Master Of Graveyard Torment becoming more involved in their other musical exploits, only to return last year via a split with Detroit wastebearers PERVERSION. Now beneath the flag of Adirondack Black Mass, the twosome arrive with Absolute Dominion By Fire. Mind, you, of the dozen tracks found here, four are revisitations from the past two releases. Will we be dominated? Absolutely, even? And if so, by fire? ‘Igniting The Sacrificial Pyre’ drags somewhat monotonously at first, synths and a voice […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Messa – The Spin

Italian doomweavers MESSA have always been reliable, but with the move to Svart Records and release of Close in 2022, they became memorable. A Live At Roadburn followed, and now arrives The Spin, marked by yet another label switch, this time under the Metal Blade imprint. I’ll confess to a bit of trepidation when I see three releases from a band in a row, all on different labels, but MESSA has been around for just over a decade, and this is its fourth LP, so the members have clearly put in the work, and may be simply seeking to be […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Gates To Hell – Death Comes To All

Of all the new bands trying to cash in on the brutal death/hardcore mash-up trend, this is the worst I’ve heard so far. I’m appalled a record of this low quality is on Nuclear Blast. I know they sign some bad bands to jump on bandwagons, but this is bad right down to the production quality and playing ability. It makes SANGUISUGABOGG and BONGINATOR look like ATHEIST. I like death metal and hardcore when they are primitive and to the point. This is DUMB, not primitive…an onslaught of uninteresting riffs, lobotomized breakdowns that have been done over and over for […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Rokets – Bad Choices

There’s just something about dirty Scandinavian rock ‘n’ roll. From forefathers HANOI ROCKS to BACKYARD BABIES to countless others, that Sunset Boulevard sound has been mangled and mutated by sheer force of will into something other – something independent of its heritage, created without the media hype engine so treasured and fickle here in the good ol’ US of A. Entering the ring now is ROKETS, with their third attempt at a knockout, Bad Choices. ‘Bad Choices’ gets down to bidness quick and (im)proper, and there’s something of CRANK COUNTY DAREDEVILS and LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS in the guitar tone and […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Traveller Supplement 1: The Ephemeral Glades [EP]

THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG is one of the few bands carrying high the flame of traditional heavy metal. There, I said it. Add in an equally gonzo dose of love for THIN LIZZY in the guitar tone, and everything from Greek and Celtic mythology to primate overthrow to classic sci-fi to a wee band of shoulda-made-it-bigger-but-never-dids called HORSLIPS, and we got ourselves a keeper! After releasing three wallopers leading up to and ushering in the new millennium, Cap’n Scalzi hunkered down for a bit, only to return with what some would say is their benchmark album, Traveller. Now, 22 […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Iggor Cavalera / Shane Embury – ‘Neon Gods’ / ‘Own Your Darkness’

Do you even remember 1990? Cold Spring Records does and, almost from birth, it became a place to go for industrial, ambient, and outsider electronica when the dancey-dance of MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT and its ilk just wasn’t gonna cut it for the pervading sense of grime and decay that swam in the undercurrent of Generation X. EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN and SKINNY PUPPY were there, and others, sure. But that the label has stayed true to its original path for over three decades makes it one of “those” labels, evermore a rarity; the kind where – even if […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Caustic Phlegm – Purulent Apocalypse

It’s no secret that I’m a lover of all that is icky, repulsive and sickening when it comes to metal. I regard most instances of “sick” death metal as a challenge. One thing I insist on, though: a song can be grisly but it still has to be a SONG. As long as I can detect an interesting structure, there’s no limit to how heavy I can go. And I know I’m not the only one to feel this way. CAUSTIC PHLEGM is a one-man wrecking crew helmed by a UK guy named Evan Vasilakos and he wants to create […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Negative 13 – Recover What You Can

‘The Desolate’ does the rare thing that intros actually do, which is set the listener up for what’s in store. In this case, a plodding rumble/riff join forces to tumble us headlong into the SIXTY WATT SHAMAN-ic swinging groove of ‘Casket Trail’ {Scott] Fisher retains the hardcore-tinged snarl that’s suited him well as far back as the NEGATIVE THEORY days, and the band has more than a bit of My War-era BLACK FLAG in its sense of the disjointed when it comes to putting a song together, then nearly wrecking the whole thing so as to make it seem it’s […]

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