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: Fossilization – He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten [EP]

With a lineup composed of two members of Brazilian sludge/doom/death behemoth JUPITERIAN, namely vocalist/instrumentalist V., and P. on the drums. Now, I’ve recently gone on record with my opinion (aka The Whole Of The Law, Handed Down From The Mountain, Writ On Stone By Lightning) on members of one band forming a “side project” that basically mirrors the other (aka Thou Shalt Not), so I won’t bore you again – at least for now. Blessedly, FOSSILIZATION is noticeably different on its face than its members other effort, being more death than doom in overall scope, while still retaining a bit […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Harakiri For The Sky – Maere

Austrian duo HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY’s been at it for a decade as of 2021, and it shows. Over this time, Messrs. M.S. (Instruments) and J.J. (Vocals) crafted a space for themselves with their first three albums, moving – I feel – truly into something of their own with 2018’s Arson, a true benchmark, which could’ve seen the band take any one of a few divergent paths, and do so credibly, turning HFTS into something “other” than it was at its birthing. From the opening tones of ‘I, Pallbearer’, one can feel something of the cinematic, the first minute or […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Noisepoetnobody – Insanity Mirror

Unease. Trepidation. And yet, an anticipation that anything not only could but should happen in the catacombs created beneath the cassette manipulation of Insanity Mirror’s opening ‘Can’t See It Now’. NOISEPOETNOBODY has been at it for the far side of a decade and a half, creating what amounts to field recordings, manipulating sonic collages, and surrounding, well, ambience of all contrivances to craft what he does, as evidenced in ‘Bright Light Box’, where your ears – on the right system, and in the right headspace – can positively hear the shimmering form before you rotating in the air, waxing and […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Sahara – The Curse [EP]

Including Gabriel and Ivan (bass, drums respectively) of Argentinian stoner doom hybrid MEPHISTOFELES, SAHARA is, again, a trio, and…yet again…plays stoner doom. Seriously, things are so incestuous that a 2017 split paired the two. The sliver of hope here, is that the latter is the brainchild of founding guitarist/vocalist Martin Ludi, who must’ve heard something he liked, and drafted the rhythm section to signal his return after SAHARA’s 2019 “involuntary” disbandment. I’m going to go ahead and just say that, while Regain Records may be trying to “keep things cult” with this Limited Edition run of 150 cassettes, the cover […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Shadow People – Batom Rouge / Washing In Soap Opera

There are few terms that spark intrigue in my life, but you throw a mixture such as “sludge punk” my way, and my ears at least have to hear what the fuss is about. The “fuss”, in this case, is Louisiana’s SHADOW PEOPLE. Collecting its two EPS released last year, Batom Rouge / Washing In Soap Opera, ‘Six Weeks’ kicks off the proceedings, all fuzz, and drunken stumbling, the first minute coming off like what happens live when the band isn’t sure what song they were going to play next, and I love that feeling of spontaneity. Once it gets […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Stormtide – A Throne Of Hollow Fire

As much as I dread intros as a whole, ‘A Valley Of Ashes’ captivates, and – for the uninitiated – draws in, which is exactly a band wants to happen when inviting new ears. Right out the gate more symphonic in execution than I was expecting, ‘A Throne Of Hollow Fire’ blends keys, blessedly lower-register vocals and sections that grasp mightily for the epic. It does seem the mix is a bit “all over the place”, and the keys have a tendency to bury the guitars when the latter isn’t in solo mode, but when Richens and Bodnarr do get […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Plague Weaver – Ascendant Blasphemy

PLAGUE WEAVER is an ambitious outfit that tries to unite lots of disparate styles of extreme metal, but is not quite able to pull off what they’re looking for. It’s a two man outfit that has an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to death and black metal. They have the playing ability for sure, but the songwriting is kind of erratic and results in songs that are good in some parts but rather tedious in others. The first song ‘Nothing Is Sacred’ has a kind of Greek black metal vibe in the style of ROTTING CHRIST and VARATHRON going […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Reaper – The Atonality Of Flesh

As much I love some good ol’ (or new) caustic D-beat, for maximum enjoyment, the album needs to be short of length – we’re talking half-hour, tops – and long on attitude. Anything over that magical 30 minutes, and my attention quickly wanes, largely because the band’s begun to recycle its own ideas, and – due to the limitations of the style, maybe – it’s all just monotonous. Not so with Sweden’s REAPER, the duo returning with 2021’s The Atonality Of Flesh, if anything more fierce and, yes, varied than the Unholy Nordic Noise debut of 2019. MIDNIGHT is a […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Holy Mother – Face This Burn

HOLY MOTHER and their charismatic singer, Mike Tirelli, have been cranking out the metal since the early ’90s. This is another one of those bands like VICIOUS RUMORS or LEATHERWOLF that has all the tools but just can’t crack the glass ceiling. I can’t give a “one size fits all” description of the kind of metal HOLY MOTHER plays because they can almost play it all. Face This Burn has got elements of PRIEST/DIO/MAIDEN classic metal, QUEENSRYCHE progression, the heavier side of hair metal and even touches of grunge and nu-metal if you dig hard enough. The common denominator of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Necropanther – In Depths We Sleep [EP]

As a songwriter (term used loosely…very, very loosely), that Colorado’s NECROPANTHER has managed to craft three albums that each stay within the framework of metal, but to embrace the melody inherent in the genre, and add shades to the colors of an established palette is impressive. It’s harder than you think, I assure you. Between albums, the quartet has this quirky habit of releasing EPs/Singles written entirely by a single member, with the remainder of the band contributing to the recording. Worry not, this is no KISS solo album papier-mâché pastiche of creativity, and this time around the honor/work fell […]

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