Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Album Reviews

Album Review: Barren – The Hanged Man

New Jersey’s BARREN arrives with its debut, The Hanged Man. ‘Unheard’ begins with the all-too-common sound of the church bell, winds blowing in the darkness, and a wail over a plain – but still somehow interesting – chord structure. There’s a feeling of an extended prelude here, though, as a true song never takes shape. Vocalist/guitarist/bassist Andrew Campbell does seem to be desirous of some sort of purging, and his delivery is understandable, while carrying the burden of desperation. There’s something of the Akron – Cleveland, OH sound in ‘Death Interrupted’, bands like ULTRALORD and FISTULA coming to mind in […]

Music News

DEMISER Announces US Winter Tour With Nunslaughter

South Carolina hell bringers, DEMISER, will join Nunslaughter for a two-week US tour this Winter. The Pestis Infernum Tour runs from January 31st in Washington, DC through February 15th in Atlanta, Georgia. Additional support will be provided by Desolus. The band comments, “DEMISER is fuckin’ stoked to hit the road! After a year in wait, we return to the East Coast with our brothers in blasphemy – the mighty Nunslaughter – with speed demons Desolus in tow! This time, in support of our latest offering Slave To The Scythe, bangers like ‘Hell Is Full Of Fire’ and ‘Phallomancer The Phallomancer’ […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Bedsore – Dreaming The Strife For Love

Aside from a split album with Japan’s MORTAL INCANTATION, 2020’s slow grower, Hypnagogic Hallucinations was the last we’d heard from BEDSORE… until now. When I refer to the debut as a “slow grower”, the mistake would be to view that as a bad thing, especially in this case. Neither one to chop the tail off a song unnecessarily to meet some self-enforced track length, nor to draw out a piece to the snapping point for the same reason, there was a lot going on in BEDSORE, even from the start. And thus, it’s no real surprise that, if anything, the […]

Music News

GOBLIN HOVEL’s Gobischkevrot Now Streaming

The clan of the moon fist has arrived! The new album from the genre-defying collective known as GOBLIN HOVEL is now available on CD and digital formats. Stream and purchase Gobischkevrot The album is a synthesis of avant-garde metal and comedic audio drama. Gobischkevrot recounts the story of a beleaguered clan of goblins seeking mystical power in a desperate struggle for survival in a human-dominated world. A concept album in the truest sense, Gobischkevrot blends intense folk-inspired metal with spoken-word narration from the Goblin RaidBoss known as Skraptif. With over 20 releases under their belt, GOBLIN HOVEL fully embraces their […]

Short Sharp Shocks

NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS – The Mother Of Death [EP]

Churning out two EPs last year and as many this year, adding up to the playing time of pretty much a single album, Chicagoans NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS return with The Mother Of Death. ‘Trick Or Treat’ leads, a beefed up RUMPLESTILSKIN GRINDER blended with ACID WITCH vocals, obsession with ‘70s/’80s horror flicks in full force. While the drums could stand a bit more heft in the mix, and the guitars tend to get buried in the bass-heavy mix, ‘Infestation’ and the title track are punchy and chock fulla riffs. The ambient ‘Itchy Tasty’ is surprisingly worthwhile, and ‘Salem’s Lot’ conjures […]

Music News

MANTAR To Release Post Apocalyptic Depression Full-Length February 14th, 2025 Via Metal Blade Records; New Video/Single Now Playing

MANTAR will release a brand new full-length, Post Apocalyptic Depression, on February 14th, 2025 via Metal Blade Records. 2022’s Pain Is Forever And This Is The End saw the German duo bring a sonic richness to their madly heavy blackened death-punk grooves, assisting the record to its position at #2 on Germany’s Official Top 10 album chart. The record added smoother, calmer, more harmonic textures to MANTAR’s expanding palette, but on 2024’s Post Apocalyptic Depression, the band smashes the palette and punches a hole in the canvas. “We wanted to do everything different from the last album,” affirms guitarist/vocalist Hanno […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Goatlord Corp. – Temple Of Serpent Whores

GOATLORD CORP. arrives, kicking open the rust-encrusted gate to Temple Of Serpent Whores with ‘Slave Disciplin’, a confidently striding riff soon devolving into the equivalent of a sentient woodchipper on crack, ferocious. Vokillist Saint Vincent dredges up a mighty Mille Petrozza from KREATOR’s early years, all snarl, sneer and raspy execution. The title track only fans the flames here, the chorus of ‘Temple Of Serpent Whores’ demands horns raised, heads banged, blood in the pit in a way that those black metal bands with convoys of tour buses and Nuclear Blast touring budgets rarely succeed. Deceptively, the song shifts and […]

Music News

GODZILLIONAIRE: new album and track announced on Ripple Music

Kansas-based dark and soulful heavy rockers GODZILLIONAIRE have signed to Ripple Music for the release of their sophomore full-length, Diminishing Returns, this January 17th, and present its groovy first single ‘3rd Street Shuffle’. Check out new single ‘3rd Street Shuffle’ via Outlaws of the Sun Fronted by legendary singer, poet, and artist Mark Hennessy from grunge band Paw, GODZILLIONAIRE is known for creating focused music equal in ferocity and lovelorn sensitivity and bringing raging, emotionally intense live performances. Hennessy is joined by Ben White (guitar), Michael Dye (bass), and Cody Romaine (drums) in creating music with focus and intention, rooted […]

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Album Review: Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja

It doesn’t get much weirder than ORANSSI PAZUZU. The eccentric Finns left their black metal roots in the dust long ago and have boldly steered full speed ahead into the land of “WTF”. Their 2020 album, Mestarin Kynsi, didn’t do a heck of a lot for me, as they seemed to reject any form of memorability in their quest for strangeness. 2024 brings us Muuntautuja…how does this one fare? This record is more batshit than anything they’ve done so far. Sheer noise has never played such an important role as it does here. In the press, the vocalist/guitarist Jun-His describes […]

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