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: Atramentus – Stygian

Though members of CHTHE’ILIST, FUNEBRARUM, and other acts comprise Longueuil, QC’s ATRAMENTUS, the quintet is very much its own beast from the start. Opener ‘Stygian I – From Tumultuous Heavens… (Descended Forth The Ceaseless Darkness)’ reveals a band certainly in no rush to get anywhere with great speed, yet more layered than FUNEBRARUM, less ribaldly feral than CHTHE’ILIST. We move through vast tundra wastes at times, lean against blizzards that howl through the bones others, but always, always alone. Solitary. While certainly beholden to its genre forefathers, who need not be named except as reference points for all that came […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Passing – The Passing [EP]

We have Viking metal bands who call the fjord-hewn shores of Croatia home, so why not a band of Los Angeles miscreants dressing up a blend of Scandinavian extremity for the ’20s? That’s what THE PASSING is on about, and it works. The self-titled blister-fest clocks in at just over 15 minutes, the definition of a short, sharp shock. ‘Condemned’ recalls d-beat OGs SKITSYSTEM in its hysterical forward momentum, while ‘Please Him’ is even more unhinged in that glorious kangpunk, MOB 47 of ways. If you’re looking for second to breathe, it’s not to be found here, that’s for sure, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Falconer – From A Dying Ember

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been into FALCONER since before there was a FALCONER. With the ending of MITHOTYN, I was glad to see founding guitarist Stefan Weinerhall moving on in any capacity, and FALCONER fit the bill, which now comes full circle in the band’s final release. While 2014’s Black Moon Rising was undoubtedly FALCONER at its heaviest, most gritty, I wasn’t expecting the lackluster ‘Kings And Queens’, which opens From A Dying Ember. Musically, the band still knows how to write a tune, but Mathias just sounds tired. Not just a bit weary; dog-ass-dragging knackered and, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Incantation – Sect Of Vile Divinities

INCANTATION have inspired so many death metal bands, they sometimes almost sound like they are following in their own footsteps, as strange as that may sound. It’s not exactly fair to them. They marked out their territory a long time ago and have stayed in those boundaries. They are determined to be the best they can be within those borders and leave experimentation to others. Most of the bands picking up on their sound are easy to spot as mere knockoffs. Sect Of Vile Divinities shows INCANTATION is still totally devoted to the cryptic, cavernous death metal sound they practically […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Green Carnation – Leaves Of Yesteryear

While 2006’s EP, Acoustic Verses, was phenomenal, and would have been a worthy finale to a career of majestic highs and Hell-deep lows, something just didn’t seem quite finished. I, for one, was affected more than I thought I’d be when GREEN CARNATION announced its end only 2 years later. In 2014, the band teased live appearances, delivering on the promise to great acclaim, but alas, no new music was offered. And that, my friends and fiends, is why Leaves Of Yesteryear is such a special album. Comprised of largely the same lineup responsible for 2003’s A Blessing In Disguise […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ensiferum – Thalassic

It’s been a while since I shipped out with ENSIFERUM, the Euro folk metal veterans. A lot has changed in that time. Folk metal has gone from a relative novelty to a well-worn genre with hordes of bands jostling each other for attention. I remembered the band being more “warrior-like” and stern than the fun and happy melodies that pop up on Thalassic – too happy and fun for this grumpy Cornish Viking to digest. I like my folk metal with a bit more grit than this. Everything on Thalassic has been polished to a blinding sheen and many of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Bedsore – Hypnagogic Hallucinations

Lovers of both oddball death metal and weird psychedelia might find something to catch their interest here. BEDSORE is an Italian bunch who sure don’t follow in any of the rigid death metal tropes. They aren’t the usual Swedish DM knockoff or the typical slamming deathfest or any of the “cavernous” INCANTATION-inspired stuff. They aren’t “normal” in any way, shape or form, and that’s a big advantage in these days when most bands are slavishly obedient to preset “rules”. Psychedelic and prog rock play big parts in BEDSORE’s make-up. Italy used to be known for a lot of weird horror-prog […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Onslaught – Generation Antichrist

ONSLAUGHT soldiers on, and you have to admire them for that. They recently lost long-time vocalist Sy Keeler, but barely missed a step, coming up with new man Dave Garnett. They also resolutely continue playing high speed thrash metal in ’80s style. Why, then, does Generation Antichrist come across as so generic? The sound of the album is that of a million and one other modern thrash albums. ONSLAUGHT’s ancient debut Power From Hell was crudely produced and murky, but still remains their most memorable opus, but Generation Antichrist seems to have come off a thrash metal assembly line. I […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ulthar – Providence

ULTHAR proves their 2018 debut Cosmovore was no fluke or one-and-done episode. They return to the fray with Providence (the hometown of H. P. Lovecraft…coincidence?) and they are back to mangle minds and reap souls with a whirlwind of fierce and technical death metal. There’s very little primitive gloom here. This is the fast and nasty side of the beast, touching on such primal sources as MORBID ANGEL, PESTILENCE, IMMOLATION and lesser known entities like ANATA and MERCYLESS. There’s also a touch of blackness to the affair, especially in the ripped throat vocals. Highlights are many, but I would bring […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: High Spirits – Hard To Stop

HIGH SPIRITS have been ahead of the game when it comes to the revival of classic metal and ’70s hard rock. They’ve been following that path since before it became a trend. Once lonesome, they now have plenty of company. The band continues to stick to their usual style here for the most part, but they were smart enough to throw in a few curveballs this time around, which is a good thing. The HIGH SPIRITS style is sometimes uncomfortably staid. ‘Hearts Will Burn’ surprises by being the heaviest song the band has done yet…a real riff-cruncher that doesn’t pretend […]

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