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: Noroth – Sacrificial Solace

Seattle’s NOROTH returns for it’s third attempt at sonic obliteration after the solid “enough” It Dwells Among Us of 2021 and the following year’s even more weighty Harbinger. After a brief intro, ‘Black Serpent’ begins with all the subtlety of a cage match with a six-legged goat on bath salts who also happens to think you fucked his girlfriend. It’s that level, yes; a bit of HELLHAMMER groove to the riff in spaces, but always head down, always onward. ‘Symphony Of Decay’ is more straight-ahead death metal in execution but loses none of its energy or enjoyability for its simplicity. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Belushi Speed Ball – Stellkira

It was my sometimes drinking buddy Johnny Vomit who first made me aware of these guys. Goofy ass crossover thrashers from Louisville, KY armed with a wild stage show, numbskull lyrics and…best of all…sizzling thrash riffs to turn your spine to jelly! Having never seen them live, I can’t speak to that part of their repertoire, but when I saw song titles like ‘Garth, Let My Family Go’, ‘My Favorite Color Is Pizza’ and ‘Tater Tot Eyes’, I got some uneasy flashbacks to the metalcore of the early 2000s, which wrote the book on idiotic “ironic” song titles. Well, BELUSHI […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blaze Of Perdition – Upharsin

BLAZE OF PERDITION has made a name for itself in a country known for a blistering, early SLAYER-ized take on both black and death metal by adding a fluidity and sense of peaks and valleys that has thus far set it apart from the more known exports of Poland. On its second for Metal Blade, the band has taken the bold step of releasing Upharsin in their native tongue, a first for them when it comes to full lengths. At once, ‘W kwiecie rozlamu’ seems more outwardly abrasive, but soon enough moves into a mid-paced (don’t call it a) groove […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Black Totem – III: Sacrifice Tonite

Well, BLACK TOTEM has reached it; that time in a band’s career when I would normally be giving my trademark, copyrighted, and infallible spiel about how important a band’s third album is. But I won’t, as these Finns are all about keeping things short, simple, and to the point. Might as well join the party at the cemetery… ‘Hex Hood’ sneaks in under the fog, but only briefly, as the cryptkicker drums and fiery riffs ignite torches around the perimeter, and you know you’re in trouble. As guitarist/vocalist Spit Poison so aptly, well, spits “This is Hex Hood, ain’t no […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: DÅÅTH – The Deceivers

DÅÅTH returns after a smattering of 2023 singles, 14 years after their self-titled album left nary a blip on most folks’ radar with The Deceivers. That the album features one original member must be noted, as well as that the quintet has expanded, now including a third guitarist, as well as longtime vocalist Sean Zatorsky. So let’s see what fruits are born of sonic upheaval… ‘No Rest No End’ began melodically, until suddenly a wash of discombobulating keys broke any sense of fluidity. Thankfully, this was short-lived, a relatively catchy riff pattern devolving into groove metal grunt-fest, and then – […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Caldwell – Caldwell

‘No Flowers Today’ blooms, funky-slinky bassline and snap drums buoying a jaunty guitar and Caldwell’s sugared vocals. A square of slightly less worn and ragged fabric cut cleanly from the multicolored robe of SCREAMING TREES’ Uncle Anesthesia, this opener is an ideal introduction to this self-titled (not really a) debut. Southern California harmonies and a bit of a Country/Western tone to the guitar add a bit of that Laurel Canyon vibe to ‘Love Confession’, while ‘Lonely Man’ carries a Lennon/McCartney sensibility ably, the cynicism of John tempered by the pop flavorings of Paul from those turbulent final BEATLES years when […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Stargazer – Bound By Spells [EP]

Initially released on Hallowe’en 2023 by Nuclear War Now! Productions on Vinyl + Digital formats, STARGAZER’s Bound By Spells EP sees its CD release nearly seven months later via Personal Records. The Adelaide alchemists (or assault brigade, depending on the form their music takes) have been around since the mid-‘90s, spewing forth four albums, splits and EPs, which doesn’t seem like much, when you get right down to it, especially considering the tomblike silence between 2014’s A Merging To The Boundless and Psychic Secretions of seven years after. Still and all, Bound By Spells finds the trident every bit as […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Heavy Temple – Garden Of Heathens

Philly’s HEAVY TEMPLE are listed as “heavy psychedelic doom” and there is truth in that. But on Garden Of Heathens, it’s also true to say that they are an ass-kicking heavy metal band. This record has the ability to reach beyond its simple description and venture into other realms of heaviness. This is a revelation all the way around. Opening salvo ‘Extreme Indifference To Life’ is thick and sludgy doom all around, kind of like WINDHAND but not quite as fuzzed out. That even extends to the mournful vocals of High Priestess Nighthawk. But she’s no mere Dorthea Cottrell knockoff, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Six Feet Under – Killing For Revenge

Aside from a wheezing, heart attack inducing “Is this Geritol in my bongwater” run partway up Half-Ass Mountain with Undead (2012) and Unborn (2013), Ol’ Chrissy’s been faltering at best, flatlining at worst since 1995’s Haunted. Chris Barnes had no choice but to get Jack Owen on board, as roping/duping another member of the O.G. CANNIBAL CORPSE lineup was the only way SIX FEET UNDER could retain any level of credibility in death metal. And so, the hopeful did hope. And lo, did Nightmares Of The Decomposed flop harder than Nicolas Cage with T__ W_____ M__. We shouldn’t have been […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Deliria – Phantasm

Birthed in 2017, DELIRIA had the misfortune of coming into being shortly after the “post-black metal” (I will never understand that term) dam had burst, unleashing a saddened, craft beer-sipping, beard-grooming, horde of L.L. Bean-wearing DEAFHEAVEN fans masquerading as shoegaze devotees into the gene pool. Thankfully, Nausea had enough going for it to pass as more than Muzak made for immersing yourself in during your time at the local Whole Foods Market, and thus…Phantasm. ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ wants to shimmer its way into your consciousness, but there’s just something about the tone of this guitar that’s annoying from jump. Blessedly, […]

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