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: Fabricant – Drudge To The Thicket

I remember FABRICANT. You might, as well. Founders Troy Roberts and Pendath basically split tasks evenly for a demo in November 2010 that turned more than a few heads. The iron being hot, they struck, the Drudge To The Thicket demo/single appearing with an expanded lineup by year’s end. 2013 comes, and a split with the short-lived APOCRYPHON seemed to also spell the end for FABRICANT. Now, a full decade later, the duo returns augmented by bassist Ryan Daugherty. ‘Prey To Whom’ bursts forth, blooming twisted beats and distorting riffs, almost like an incredibly more polished DEIQUISITOR. While the song […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Slomatics – Strontium Fields

With 2024 being the band’s 20th anniversary, and only one lineup change in that time – that over a decade ago – it’s a fair bet that Belfast’s SLOMATICS has a grasp on its sound, as far as what fits and doesn’t. Wall-Of-Sound amps, a mixture of riff-rockin’ majesty and low-end groove have always been the trio’s “bread and butter”, but they’ve also never shied away from experimentation or journeys into fuzz-fueled psychedelia when the mood (or bong) hits. Speaking of which, though the past has seen the band releasing songs just over 1 and over 10 minutes in length […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Freya – Fight As One

Picture it. Sicily. Or, rather, America in the late ‘90s / early 00’s. Landmark metal/hardcore bands like ONLY LIVING WITNESS had called it quits for whatever reason, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE wasn’t the slave to the hype engine they were soon to become, and bands like SHADOWS FALL were making some quality metalcore (emphasis on the metal). Into the fray leapt FREYA, and ‘03’s As The Last Light Drains was, to my ears, a masterwork of the style. Though more hardcore, largely due to the members’ backgrounds, the solos tastefully, the melodic vocals weren’t off-putting and everything fit exactly where it belonged. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium

HORRENDOUS have now been around long enough that they can’t be considered new kids on the block anymore. But with every new album, the metal press waxes rhapsodic over them as if they are as fresh as a spring daisy blooming in the graveyard. I’ve never really bought into the hype, but with this album, things start to coalesce and come together more than before. Plus, I think the album is coming out at just the right time. Death metal is kind of a big deal again, with newer bands leading the way. Most favor a primitive, knuckle-dragging style, like […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: 20 Watt Tombstone – The Chosen Few

Seems like you can’t throw a limited-edition vinyl of Degüello, Welcome To Sky Valley or Captain Beyond without hitting 18 bands trying to cop that feel, morph it, and – hopefully – twist it into something their own. Complain about the surplus of post-black metal bands these days all you want, and Lord knows I do, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the sheer glut of stoner rock bands. Mind you, not doom. Not at all. Very different animals, muchaco, and rarely even of the same species, when done right. Returning with its all-important third album, Wisconsin’s […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mizmor – Prosaic

MIZMOR’s fourth proceeds, ‘Only An Expanse’ a whirlwind of unadorned and raw auricular fury, which is strange, given the acceptance of the subject matter. Not so much resigned to fate as an “…in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content”, yet aware that moods shift, experiences at times flash through, and in others drag one into the slough. It’s rare that our bright flashes of happiness can be converted to a sustaining joy, also uncommon that a grief, a trauma, a general “bad event” doesn’t want to rest its weary feet in the cabin of our heart and lives […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Marduk – Memento Mori

Time sure hasn’t sanded the edges off of MARDUK. Memento Mori has some of the fastest, most vicious metal these guys have ever played. There’s a hardcore contingent of “fans” that complain the band has lost its edge when they ditched their Sieg Heiling bass player. You sure can’t hear it here. ‘Blood Of The Funeral’, ‘Coffin Carol’ and ‘Red Tree of Blood’ are like barbed wire whips that rip the flesh from your bones. Yet if you listen carefully, there is also strange melody and even a kind of brutal elegance that slips into some of these tunes. The […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Courtney Gains – Safe Haven [EP]

Aside from co-starring in my second favorite horror film of all time (more on that in an upcoming interview), COURTNEY GAINS has realized a dream that a very small percentage of actors and musicians see come to life – that of working in his chosen field for nigh on four decades. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, look, there’s this fancy schmancy “internet” thing. You’ll recognize him. But this here’s about the music so, as the Looney Tunes theme song says, “On with the show, this is it!”. ‘Safe Haven’ begins with a guitar phrasing that blends surf tone […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ringworm – Seeing Through Fire

Ah, Cleveland. Land of the Cleves, of the burning Cuyahoga, Drew Carey, and a pretty thriving music scene that’s always slithered along under mainstream media’s radar. No Athens, no Seattle, no East Coast/West Coast rivalries. Just a buncha bands out there, hitting the bricks every weekend in your local clubs, biker bars and basements. Near chief among them is RINGWORM. By now, anyone who’s heard them knows what they’re about, and those who don’t won’t ever. While they’re not the sort of band that’s going to veer too far from the black-and-blueprint of The Promise (1993) and 2001’s Birth Is […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blight House – Blight The Way

I’ve found a direct correlation between the amount of samples on an album and said album’s quality, which is almost always poor. On Blight The Way, there are a LOT of samples. Case closed, my point is proven. This is two guys and a drum machine from Rhode Island, trying to create cyber-death grind that’s so lowbrow that there’s no brow left at all. Now I like icky primitive death metal like MORTICIAN and FLUIDS, and I can get a laugh now and then from GWAR. Sometimes, though, shit is shit. BLIGHT HOUSE has all the technical prowess of a […]

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