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: Bright Sunshine – Executive Power Supreme

After shaking up the power structure of the Southwestern service area for the past few fiscal years, regional representatives of the corporate headhunting group BRIGHT SUNSHINE have entered into a partnership with Reptilian Records in hopes to boost brand recognition and expand upon an already lean and mean business acumen with Executive Power Supreme. Alright, time to gather ‘round…everyone, take your seats. Linda? Linda? No, Linda won’t be hosting this meeting due to the Sign-Up Sheet Fiasco of ’22. Focus on the positive here, as we open with ‘Growth Opportunities’, a calamitous ride down a gravel road, slamming into guardrail […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Incinerated – The Epitome Of Transgression

Indonesia’s INCINERATED turned more than a few third eyes inward 2020’s Stellar Abomination. The sheer sonic intrusion held me rapt, elements of Germanic thrash ‘n’ speed – especially in the ragged rage of it all (think KREATOR, Invincible Force DESTRUCTION), but I simply couldn’t get past the way the drums were mixed; not the playing, mind, but the sound itself. Repeated listens brought change and, these days, I fail to remember exactly what I found so irritating about the drums at first. ‘Preludium: The Saint’s Humanity’ does exactly what an intro track (if there must be one) should do, building […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blind Equation – A Funeral In Purgatory

This was one of the most painful listening experiences I’ve had in a while. I really debated whether I should review this at all, as musically this is my version of Kryptonite. I don’t really enjoy doing super negative reviews. But BLIND EQUATION described themselves as “cybergrind”. With that bit of blatant mislabeling, all bets are off. There’s about as much grind in this as a TAYLOR SWIFT album. Which is to say, none. You want grind? Put in the latest from CAUSTIC WOUND…a tenth of a second of that would annihilate this. I can’t believe this is a Chicago […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Affliction Vector – Contra Hominem

Using the time-honored (or dishonored, should your tastes lean – or not lean – in that direction) two-piece drummer and vocalist/axe-wielder template popularized by DARKTHRONE, Italy’s blackdeath force, AFFLICTION VECTOR, return five years after their Death Comes Supreme EP with debut full-length, Contra Hominem. ‘Antiuomo’ begins, almost KING DIAMOND-esque, what might be a harpsichord providing disjointed, broken dance music for twisted marionets before being blasted by martial drum cadence and vocals more howled than screeched. Throat scraper Ans must’ve really taken his psychiatrist’s words about Primal Scream therapy to heart, as that’s what’s going on here, and to disquieting effect. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mugshot – All The Devils Are Here

Much like any genre, the glut experienced in what called itself metalcore during the NWOAHM in the mid-‘00s was fit to burst straight through the stomach lining of heavy music, and it seemed like every new band wanted to be JOB FOR AN AUTOPSY IN THE WHITECHAPEL. Arriving as they did a decade after, MUGSHOT had the chance to make something fresh and took it on 2016’s Dull Boy. And now, nearly ten years later, the Texans return with All The Devils Are Here. ‘Die In Fear’ suffices, pinch harmonics and bulldog barking vocals, but seems to never put much […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: King Parrot – A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot

The PARROT squawks again! I thought this bird had almost ceased to exist (there’s a comedy sketch in here somewhere!) but it’s just too mean to die! Not only that, but A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot shows that they are angrier, louder and more vitriolic than ever. If there was ever such a thing as a bird that could get rabies, KING PARROT would be that bird! The band has always been manic and violent, but this new one pushes them further than ever. I would still call them grindcore, but there’s no band that sounds quite like […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: King Witch – III

‘Cross the misted moors and moonlit eventides cometh Scotland’s KING WITCH, now trimmed to a trio and releasing its third album – aptly titled III – like hound’s breath at thine heels. Eventually I’ll get around to sharing in detail my Third Album Hypothesis, which has served me well since the late ‘80s, and will hopefully prove true here. 2025 also marks the ten-year anniversary of the band, making III doubly (triply?) important. With a natural, anticipatory build to the song itself, ‘Suffer In Life’ moves from a regal entrance to a self-assured, mid-paced stride, vocalist Laura Donnelly shrugging off […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Walking Bombs – Blessings Bestrewn Part 1

While being extremely new to shapeshifter(s) WALKING BOMBS, courtesy of the January 2025 mixtape Bong Hits For The Death Of Imperialism, I quickly realized there was something possibly fantastic to be discovered. I mined the Brave Hours record of 2017, surprised to find more of a “true” band setup (whatever that is anymore), and found the indie-folk of ‘Loveislove’ childlike that best way, simple and strong enough to be. ‘Flower Punx 4ever’ became a memory trip through my own days of coming up in that glorious era of skaters/BMXers who jammed RUN DMC, CIRCLE JERKS and HUSKER DU on the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Medea Project – Kharon

THE MEDEA PROJECT lists its beginning as 2003, however, the UK duo’s first long-player didn’t arrive until 2020’s Sisyphus. Enjoyable, succinct, thinking neither too highly of itself, nor too headily about the sound it was crafting, the band – while not going leagues beyond in a search for a singular sound – used economy to its advantage on the debut. EPs Southern Echoes (2021) and Reflections (2023) acted as sonic travelogues, showing that THE MEDEA PROJECT was beginning to search its own heart to discover what blood flowed through. Anguished vocals submerged in a wet fog moan/cry from behind the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Employed To Serve – Fallen Star

Energy…it’s the one thing that keeps EMPLOYED TO SERVE afloat and not sinking into a sea of modern metal mediocrity. I noted the same thing in my review of their last record, Conquering. You could tell they put a lot of genuine fire into their playing and so you could forgive moments of banal cliché. The same thing goes for Fallen Star, except this record sounds somewhat bigger and more ambitious. But in terms of style, ETS is still trying to be a bit of everything to everybody. Within the grooves of this record, you’ll find balls-out modern thrash, touches […]

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