Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

COME TO GRIEF: Legendary Sludge Offshoot Release New EP + Announce New Bassist

New England-based sludge legends COME TO GRIEF are pleased to announce the release of their second EP Pray For The End, out now via Grievance Records, as well as the addition of bassist Randy Larsen (ex-Cable, ex-Isis). Formed in 1991 by Disrupt guitarist Terry Savastano, GRIEF’s style of “extreme doom” was seminal to all things slow, doom, and sludge to follow. For more than a decade, GRIEF would release several albums, EPs, splits and compilations before calling it quits in 2001, despite a couple of reunion attempts. Fast-forward to 2014, Terry’s new version of the band (including former drummer Chuck […]

Interview: Porta Nigra

PORTA NIGRA emerged from the Rhineland a decade ago sans corpsepaint and battle vests, more apt to be found sipping a glass of wine and perusing the works of Schopenhauer and Baudelaire than LaVey and Crowley. No less degenerate, however, the duo of Gilles de Rais (T.) and O. have moved beyond their early explorations of Fin de siècle, added a member in vocalist Tongue, and delivered Schöpfungswut on this, PORTA NIGRA’s 10th year. Lord Randall sat down with instrumentalist and lyricist T. to discuss… DECADE OF DECADENCEInterview with T. of PORTA NIGRABy: Lord Randall Rebel Extravaganza: In today’s fast-consumption […]

FUNERAL LEECH: New York City Death/Doom Bringers To Release Death Meditation Full-Length Via Carbonized April 17th; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available

Stream / Share FUNERAL LEECH’s ‘Statues’ At THIS LOCATION New York City-based death/doom bringers FUNERAL LEECH will unleash their debut full-length, Death Meditation, this April via Carbonized Records. Death Meditation spews forty-five soul-crushing minutes of death/doom darkness mired in contemplation of our mortal fragility. Recorded and mixed at Chapel Black Studios in Brooklyn, New York by Travis Bacon (White Widows Pact, Black Anvil, Hogwasche) and mastered by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Tomb Mold), through the putrid resonance of Death Meditation, FUNERAL LEECH believes that death is a new beginning! Death Meditation will be released on LP and digital formats via […]

Death metal band MONOLITH (South Africa) release new single

Port Elizabeth’s MONOLITH have just released their stunning new single ‘Black Earth’s Gate’. The song is from their upcoming album The Lord Conspirator, which will be released in April via MMD Records. The band commented, “‘Black Earth’s Gate’ is our first single from the forthcoming album, The Lord Conspirator. It’s a menacing track, which achieves its sense of gritty heaviness by stripping away the speed. Punctuated by soaring melodies and steady grooves, the track appears halfway through the album, and represents a change in mood that sets the scene for the album’s final chapter.” Listen to the song HERE MONOLITH […]

RITUAL DICTATES reveal third single from forthcoming ARTOFFACT debut

It is a big day for RITUAL DICTATES, as they release their new single ‘Extinction’ – LISTEN HERE Singer Justin Hagberg comments, “We can’t wait to perform Give In To Despair live! It’s been a while since RITUAL DICTATES has performed, so we’re very excited to dust away the cobwebs and return with a killer live band and a batch of new tunes.” Over the past month, RITUAL DICTATES has released music for ‘Terror Of Time’ and ‘Given To Despair’, which was also made into a lyric video and premiered with BraveWords.com. Watch the lyric video for ‘Given To Despair’ […]

Germany’s HORN set release date for new IRON BONEHEAD album, reveal new video

Iron Bonehead Productions sets May 15th as the international release date for the highly anticipated eighth album of Germany’s HORN, Mohngang, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Since 2017, with the release of the album Turm am Gang and then the Retrograd mini-album a year later, HORN have aligned forces with Iron Bonehead, resulting in a refreshed taste of German steel. The Horn saga began in 2002, and throughout those many years, mainman Nerrath has been steadily perfecting a classicist, almost-medieval style of black metal bound to pagan roots. Staunchly solitary to the present day, the initial drive behind HORN […]

Album Review: God Dethroned – Illuminati

GOD DETHRONED has been one of my “go to” bands since the early ’90s, as well as probably the top extreme metal act from Holland. That’s why it pains me to say that their latest, Illuminati, is a very average release, and one that lacks the usual fire and fury we can expect from Henri Sattler and whoever his current cohorts are. It’s not that the band have radically changed their style here, or that this lacks technical skill and ability. Something just seems off about it. It is generally slower than what we’ve been getting from GOD DETHRONED and […]

PLAGUE YEARS: Michigan Crossover Death Thrashers To Unleash Circle Of Darkness Full-Length Via Entertainment One May 22nd

View / Share PLAGUE YEARS’ ‘Play The Victim’ Video At THIS LOCATION Michigan-based crossover death thrashers PLAGUE YEARS will unleash their punishing Circle Of Darkness full-length via Entertainment One on May 22nd. Like an icepick to the face, PLAGUE YEARS arrives with an electric surge of sudden pain. An unrelenting end of the world assault of the cataclysmic convergence of thrash and hardcore, with bits of blackened death and midtempo madness to spare, the Detroit master blasters are here to crash the crossover party. Summoning the primitive spirit of the singular moment when the heaviest of metal first smashed into […]

Album Review: Lychgate – Also Sprach Futura

LYCHGATE’s fourth release (and first for Debemur Morti Productions) seems as good a starting point as any for my ears. Having three full-lengths to its name at this point, and with nary a core lineup change since its inception, LYCHGATE should be settled into what it is and what it is not, thereby providing the new listener an experience of a band at its best. Quite frankly, I’m ashamed at myself, as big a fan of ESOTERIC as I am, not realizing the part Greg Chandler plays as a third of this trio, but rest assured, this isn’t some “pet […]

Monolord singer/guitarist Thomas V. Jäger announces solo debut, shares title track via Consequence of Sound

“The hazy atmosphere and production echo MONOLORD’s aesthetics, with Jäger applying the underlying sonic principles of the band to his solo material. Consider the track ‘A Solitary Plan’ to be Jäger’s ‘Planet Caravan’ – even the heaviest and doomiest need to keep it chill sometime.” – Consequence Of Sound MONOLORD singer/guitarist Thomas V. Jäger announces his debut solo album, sharing the title track, ‘A Solitary Plan’ via Consequence Of Sound. Hear and share ‘A Solitary Plan’ HERE Thomas V. Jäger is best known as the vocalist/guitarist in MONOLORD, the hottest, most crushing melodic doom band in the world. So, releasing […]