Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Album Reviews

Album Review: FRENZY – 
Blind Justice

In the interest of full disclosure, my enjoyment of comic books during childhood and up to today was/is limited to the classic G.I. Joe, Judge Dredd, Werewolf By Night and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. Heavy Metal, though, hunted me down around age 12-13, and I either went willingly, or am still in some Stockholm Syndrome-like “phase” that hasn’t ended over three decades later. And, thus, when FRENZY’s debut album came across my desk, the idea of a true Heavy Metal band inspired by comics at least caught my interest, which means I’m about to either really enjoy or really hate […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: GRASS – Fresh Grass

Brooklyn’s GRASS is billowing with smoke and charm with the physical release of their first EP, Fresh Grass. They have the heavy, SABBATH-infused riffs you would come to expect from a band of its namesake, but I was surprised at how big and catchy the choruses were. The EP starts with ‘Amnesia/My Wall’, and that opening riff could come right off SLEEP’s Holy Mountain. The song moves on, Phil Anton’s wail kicks in at full force, and I am hooked. ‘Black Clouds’ rolls in, and I get this mix of Stevie Ray Vaughan and THE REVEREND BIZARRE. This ended up […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: THE MUNSENS 
- Unhanded

THE MUNSENS…a strange name for an unconventional band. The name has been floating around for years but this is the first time I’ve been able to connect any music to it. It was not what I was expecting, that’s for sure. These days, that’s a good thing, and having a name that you can’t connect to any particular style of music is also refreshing… This Denver band plays some fairly epic material. The first track ‘Dirge (For Those To Come)’ caught me off guard right away…a melancholy, almost post-metal beginning that really does sound like a dirge that soon morphs […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Spirits Of Fire – Spirits Of Fire

If metal bands were ranked and judged like dogs at fancy dog shows, the bloodline and pedigree of SPIRITS OF FIRE would have them winning “Best In Show” hands down. Consider the metallic breeding of bass messiah Steve DiGiorgio, lead guitar phenom Chris Caffery, drum wizard Mark Zonder and oh yeah, the vocals of a guy called Ripper who has sung with a few bands you may have heard of. There is no way that SPIRITS OF FIRE should fail with this purebred talent. I cannot say that the self-titled debut doesn’t have some awe inspiring moments, but there is […]

Music News

LECHEROUS NOCTURNE EMBARKING ON NORTH AMERICAN CONQUEST TOUR IN MARCH

South Carolina’s USDM stalwarts LECHEROUS NOCTURNE Will hit the road next month for the North American Conquest Tour. Joining them for the U.S. and Canadian dates will be Blackened Death Metallers and South Carolina brethren OLKOTH. Tour dates are below. More info can found at THIS LOCATION. March 8 – Spartanburg, SC – Ground ZeroMarch 9 – Willmington, DE – Bar XIIIMarch 10 – Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus BarMarch 12 – Quebec, QC – L’Anti Bar & SpectaclesMarch 13 – Ottawa, ON – Cafe DeheufMarch 14 – Toronto, CA – Coalition TorontoMarch 16 – Montreal, QC – Piranha BarMarch […]

Album Reviews

ALBUM REVIEW: HORNDAL – Remains

Long live HORNDAL! Their debut album, Remains, brings sludgy, punchy hardcore that almost had me put my fist through a wall just to let out some energy. Remains tells the true horror story of the devil’s destruction of their hometown of Horndal in the 1970s. That story is an interesting read, and I encourage you to read it while listening through this album. The album opens with the single they have been promoting, ‘Wasteland’, and really sets up the rest of the album. This is an anthem to fight for your life, a true call to arms, and I cannot […]

Music News

CONTRARIAN Premiere Lyric Video for ‘Whomsoever Worships The Whiteworm’

Rochester (NY) – U.S. progressive Death Metal squad CONTRARIAN have partnered with Heavy Blog is Heavy for the lyric video premiere of ‘Whomsoever Worships the Whiteworm’, a song from forthcoming album Their Worm Never Dies. Stream ‘Whomsoever Worships The Whiteworm’: http://heavyblogisheavy.com/2019/02/18/exclusive-premiere-its-time-to-worship-the-white-worm-with-contrarians-new-track/ CONTRARIAN will release Their Worm Never Dies March 15 on Willowtip Records. Pre-order via Willowtip: https://tinyurl.com/contrarian-willowtip Pre-order via Bandcamp: https://tinyurl.com/contrarian-bandcamp A new school of old school death metal. Creating death metal that is authentically new while have a natural memory and understanding of the old. Rooted in early 90’s progressive death metal, but with an unrelenting forward thinking approach, […]

Album Reviews

ALBUM REVIEW: Funereal Presence – Achatius

One man band FUNERAL PRESENCE has given us another reminder that it’s the most off the wall and batshit crazy bands that are the most entertaining. The thing I will remember most about this oddball outsider unit is their use of bells…the clear glorious ringing of tubular bells and the earthy clank of the almighty cowbell. Over the course of these four epic and mind-dizzying tunes, you will hear both kind of bells used to brilliant effect.  The use of bells stands out, but really Funereal Presence deliver crazed extreme metal that is unlike anything else out there. Each of […]

Interviews

Interview: PULCHRA MORTE

For our first interview on the relaunched Rebel Extravaganza, who better than PULCHRA MORTE, an entity which, though newly formed, harks back to those few formative but oh, so important years when both death and doom were colliding, and bands were creating something heretofore unheard within the realm of metal. Lord Randall recently sat down with guitarists Jarrett Pritchard and Jeff Breden, drummer Clayton Gore and vocalist Jason Barron to discuss the band’s debut offering, Divina Autem Et Aniles. Rebel Extravaganza: Did you approach the songwriting of the new album with conscious thought as to PULCHRA MORTE being a different […]

Music News

Poland’s DOOMBRINGER set release date for new NUCLEAR WAR NOW! album, reveal first track

Today, NUCLEAR WAR NOW! PRODUCTIONS sets March 7th as the international release date for the highly anticipated second album of Poland’s DOOMBRINGER, Walpurgis Fires, on CD format. The vinyl LP version will be released on April 15th. For over a decade, Poland’s DOOMBRINGER has consistently produced a hybrid strain of extreme sound: the stalwart machinery of death metal adorned in the opaque cloth of black metal. With only two demos and a few EP tracks foreshadowing its debut album, the band’s sparse discography is a testament to the meticulous curation of its body of work. It has now been nearly […]

Older Posts