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: Slow Burn Drifters – Golden

Any PR one-sheet that compares its subject to TINDERSTICKS immediately has my interest, so let’s just get that out of the way. Formed as the wave of what passed for “alternative rock” was reaching its crest in 1991, the Brits were an anomaly in the same way (though not in the same style) as THE AFGHAN WHIGS, more akin at times to explorations of soul music or late ‘60s R&B than the “loud-for-loud’s-sake” bands of the time. But this isn’t a TINDERSTICKS review, so let’s throw that line of thought on the fire…for now. Though 12 albums deep into his […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Sanhedrin – Heat Lightning

After three absolute bangers in the hard rock / trad-metal field (you want some elitism? Any diehard MANILLA ROAD fan will give the most panda-painted supporter of [Insert Black Metal Band Name Here] a run for their money when it comes to what is or is not Metal, SANHEDRIN returns with Heat Lightning. Salivating with anticipation, ‘Blind Wolf’ begins, soon thrusting into a choppy, syncopated machine, Erica’s [Stoltz, vocals/bass] as clear yet fierce as ever. Her tone may not be as road-raggedly “queen of the mountaintop” as Doro Pesch, nor as operatically weak-livered as the corseted “symphonic” dame of the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Karla Kvlt – Thunderhunter

This German power trio keeps it in the family on their debut record. Markus E. Lipka of the cult band EISENVATER is the Dad of group, holding down guitar duties, while his son Johann Wientjes pounds away on the skins and daughter-in-law Teresa Curtens handles bass and lead vocals. That must certainly make for some unique dynamics in the studio. KARLA KVLT’s sound is also unique and takes some time to appreciate. I really know little of EISENVATER so I can’t say how much KK sounds like that band. If I had to describe KARLA KVLT briefly, I’d say it’s […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Scour – Gold

In the wake of the FANTERA tribute arrival, Phil cranks up his sputtering engine once more. While VIKING CROWN, PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS, and pretty much the whole raft of rats on the ever-sinking ship that seems to be the U.S.S. Anselmo’s vocal range have blown chunks to varying degrees, the output from SCOUR so far has been solid enough and is one of the only projects involving P.A. – aside from DOWN and SUPERJOINT RITUAL – where it felt/feels more like a band than Ol’ Camoshorts himself preening before a mirror with a cast of blurred and […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Fumes – Skeletal Wings Threshold

When a band releases an EP, video and live album before its debut, you already know the entities therein are not about to be bound by expectations, genre “constraints” of false authorities or even what the listener expects. Thus was born FUMES, spewing forth Skeletal Wings Threshold from the squalor and beauty of the streets of Mexico City. Grating tremelo scathe and scree bleeds us from the opening moments of ‘Stellar Ascension Infernal’, the worship of the riff key, and a tight, vibrant mix giving each instrument its rightful place, and when the last 0:11 combusts, there’s no amount of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hirax – Faster Than Death

Mr. Katon W. De Pena is one of the true warriors of thrash metal. He’s been whipping up circle pits for about 40 years now, so his dedication can’t be questioned. Plus, he’s a hell of a good guy…I can personally attest to this. Despite that, HIRAX albums have been few and far between. Faster Than Death is only the sixth full length in all that time. Well, this one may very well be their rawest and most in your face outing since their classic debut, Raging Violence. They’ve been trying to live up to that brutal dose of mayhem […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Act Of Impalement – Profane Altar

In this, its unholy 13th year, doth Nashville’s ACT OF IMPALEMENT lie us upon its third and aptly titled Profane Altar. Let the sacrifice begin… When founding guitarist/vocalist Ethan Rock revealed a new lineup before the release of 2023’s Infernal Ordinance, some wondered if this new incarnation would retain the spirit of the band some of us had followed since its early days. In a word, no. And it wasn’t intended to. Hence, when ‘Apparition’ appears, it’s with a somehow even older, more ancient tone than we’ve heard previously. Imagine BOLT THROWER as interpreted by a Cro-Magnon rhythm section and […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Aeon Gods – King Of Gods

Cosplay metal has really gotten out of hand…there’s so many bands that look like they’ve escaped from San Diego Comicon that bands wearing plain street gear now seem to be the outcasts. AEON GODS originate from Germany, but one look at their promo pic shows they would rather be from ancient Babylon. Oy vey! I put my head in my hands after seeing that, but when I got around to putting King Of Gods on the stereo, I must admit…this is not that bad at all. Yes, it is pompous symphonic power metal…what else would you expect from Scarlet Records? […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Harakiri For The Sky – Scorched Earth

While 2018’s Arson was, to my ears, a true fork in the road for HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY – an album where the band could’ve taken any number of divergent paths, all worthwhile – Mære felt very much as if the duo had decided to make camp in the lands of Arson, either unwilling, or undecided as to how to move forward. Factor in the re-recordings of 2010 debut and sophomore Aokigahara released in 2022, and it leaves one to wonder how the time since Mære was spent. Scorched Earth arrives, and now we know, for better or worse. Plaintive, […]

Album Reviews

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 […]

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