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 – Shield Of Wings – Unfinished

Alright, first off, it’s not the late ‘90s anymore, or had you not noticed? SHIELD OF WINGS apparently hasn’t. The Illinois fivesome features not one but two female vocalists, so credit for that, as ‘Crushing Hail’ does give a bit of difference from the norm, Mordian and Daye (also on keys) blending to create an interesting melody. Musically, the band is exactly what I expected, and that’s unfortunate, especially when I’d actually been taken back to those early NIGHTWISH / LACUNA COIL / EPICA days for a moment…until the absolute bottom drops out right around the 3 ½ minute mark. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ofermod – Mysterium Iniquitatis

OFERMOD are one of the OGs of the Swedish black metal scene, dating all the way back to 1996. Despite that, this new album, their fifth, is the first one I’ve really listened to. Guess I’ll have to look up the back catalog, because Mysterium Iniquitatis is about as pure and classic a Nordic black metal album as I’ve heard this year. These guys hit all the right notes here…everything just sounds pure. It’s not the most extreme sound, but it’s far from commercial – there’s melody, but also brutality – there’s variety, with each song having its own identity. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Untamed Land – Like Creatures Seeking Their Own Forms

A solo project from Akron, OH’s Patrick Hern, UNTAMED LAND was touted as (no word of a lie) “…the worlds very first metal band incorporating the feral sounds of classic, old western cinematics…” when 2018’s Between The Winds came out, and I laughed about it back then. That this outright falsehood is still being used to promote UL has now reached the point of irritation for me. DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA and ARABOT have injected more of an “old western” feeling from time to time into their music, and they’re from Sweden and Norway. That’s to say nothing of ACROSS TUNDRAS […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Nocturnal Wanderer – Gift Of The Night

When you think of old school black metal you think of VENOM, BATHORY, MAYHEM, BURZUM…you know. If you were to say to me that NOCTURNAL WANDERER “captures the spirit of beginning days of black metal” I’d be curious, but doubtful. However, this solo project pulls it off. It’s like going back in time. I’m going to be honest, I’ve never heard of NOCTURNAL WANDERER until now, but I like what I hear, which is headbanging goodness – oldschool goodness. Black metal in its infancy, yet not so. Mellowing out here and there gives it a bonus too in my book. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Apostle Of Solitude – Until The Darkness Goes

Indiana’s APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE, on the outside, ticks all the boxes for what should make a great doom band. Decent cover art (if we forget the abysmal Last Sunrise of 2010 – which I can’t), they’ve been at it for well over ten years, so the lineup should be locked and loaded, and and and the band contains two members of the much-revered THE GATES OF SLUMBER… So, why doesn’t it work? The guitar tone grates from the start, and not in a good way. As a doom worshiper since the mid-late ‘80s, in all its forms, I can take […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Old Man Wizard – Kill Your Servants Quietly

First of all this isn’t 06/06/06, cut the cringy “Look how anti-God we are.” crap already. Seriously, all views and beliefs aside, it’s not even a dead horse anymore. What we have is something so overdone and past the point of bludgeoning to death there aren’t even atoms left. Take a few swings at Islam, take a few swings at Hinduism or Judaism. The lyrics here aren’t even that profound. Okay, now we’ve gotten through that, let’s carry on with the rest of this shit show. I got to the third track, ‘God Is Your Friend’, and I was done. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Funeral Chant – Dawn Of Annihilation

Nary an intro or elongated buildup found on Dawn Of Annihilation, for none are needed! ‘Terrorspawn’ screams from the speakers guitars like so many mistles streaking across the sky, underpinned by the artillery of bass and drum, Voidbringer’s Angelripper/Araya-born commands barked sharp and undeniable across the field of battle. This is the sort of black/death hybrid upon which I thrive, and is needed after a day of work, perfect for a mental purge. Mind, not that all is Neanderthalic here, ‘Oneiric Perversion’ shot through with blatantly intricate passages, managing not to lose a blood drop of brutality in the process. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Worm – Foreverglade

From the Florida swamps comes WORM. I’m kinda partial to all things wormy. These guys have a logo that looks like an explosive diarrhea incident, but their sound is extremely cool and unique. It’s very icky sounding death/doom, but mixed with curious touches like psychedelic guitar freakouts, cavernous organ and synth detours…even some Gregorian chants. A name that comes to mind in comparison is Australia’s DISEMBOWELMENT, but these guys are more purely sick. Six tracks here, ranging from three and a half minutes to an 11 minute plus Magnum Opus. The title track starts with the twangy minor key guitar […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: CONTRITION – Broken Mortal Coil

Sometimes I miss the days of buying albums blind because you had no choice, when often the only way you had of knowing who was in a new band was if there’d been a magazine article you stumbled across or the most reliable way, word of mouth. Looking at the lineup of Chicago’s CONTRITION, the now-familiar “current and former members of” tagline bearing such as NOVEMBERS DOOM, NACHTMYSTIUM, COBALT, YAKUZA and so forth, you almost feel set up for a fall. Can such a strange blend deliver? Haphazard, grotty and sordid in that basest, best of ways, ‘Diluted’ is unconcerned […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Thyrfing – Vanagandr

My first exposure to THYRFING was around 2008 with Farsotstider. I loved it, but since then I had not delved too deeply, a song here and there. Vanagandr is my first full album since, and it was as much of an experience now as it was then. Vanagandr starts off hard hitting, as any Viking metal album should, with those sick riffs, choirs of Valkyries, and then those Viking blackened growls. ‘Dop dem I eld’ is the opener well chosen, the storm before the calm before the even bigger storm. Those headbanging riffs and backing keys will have you headbanging […]

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