Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Album Reviews

Album Review: Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium

HORRENDOUS have now been around long enough that they can’t be considered new kids on the block anymore. But with every new album, the metal press waxes rhapsodic over them as if they are as fresh as a spring daisy blooming in the graveyard. I’ve never really bought into the hype, but with this album, things start to coalesce and come together more than before. Plus, I think the album is coming out at just the right time. Death metal is kind of a big deal again, with newer bands leading the way. Most favor a primitive, knuckle-dragging style, like […]

Music News

KRIEG: US Black Metal Cult Releases ‘No Gardens Grow Here’ Video/Single; First Album In Nine Years, Ruiner, Nears October Release On Profound Lore Records Alongside Northeast Mini-Tour

‘No Gardens Grow Here’ is the dismal new single from time-honored, Philadelphia-based black metal collective, KRIEG. Delivered through a harrowing video, the song is the newest harbinger of the band’s long-awaited new LP, Ruiner, nearing October release on Profound Lore Records. KRIEG’s Ruiner is the first full-length from the long-running and iconic cult since 2014’s Transient and is a despondent expression that captures the classic band complexion which has solidified the band as a vanguard and pioneer of US black metal. Although Ruiner is the band’s first full-length album in nine years, KRIEG has continued to remain active leading up […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: 20 Watt Tombstone – The Chosen Few

Seems like you can’t throw a limited-edition vinyl of Degüello, Welcome To Sky Valley or Captain Beyond without hitting 18 bands trying to cop that feel, morph it, and – hopefully – twist it into something their own. Complain about the surplus of post-black metal bands these days all you want, and Lord knows I do, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the sheer glut of stoner rock bands. Mind you, not doom. Not at all. Very different animals, muchaco, and rarely even of the same species, when done right. Returning with its all-important third album, Wisconsin’s […]

Music News

FABRICANT: Drudge To The Thicket Debut LP From California Death Metal Trio Formed By Members Of Mefitis Now Streaming; Album Available On Profound Lore Records

California death metal trio FABRICANT presents their long-awaited debut album, Drudge To The Thicket, now streaming in its engrossing entirety. Formed by members of dark metal band, Mefitis, FABRICANT leverages any musical tool for their riff and song fabrication. Speed, stillness, technicality, simplicity, consonance, dissonance… are all at play for the express purpose of telling the stories of humanity’s hubris, madness, and frailty. FABRICANT glimpsed into this black vortex, extracted the raw materials of inspiration, and refined the chaos into the ten fully actualized, death metal songs on their debut album Drudge To The Thicket. This album was FABRICANT’s obsession: […]

Interviews

Interview: Courtney Gains (2023)

COURTNEY GAINS, while clearly most known by horror fans as the dreaded enforcer Malachi in 1984’s groundbreaking Children Of The Corn, has been continuously active in film and TV for nearly four decades. Lesser known, but no less important to our subject, is his musical outlet. At times solo, at times as part of a band framework, COURTNEY GAINS now prepares to release his Safe Haven EP via Fake Fangs Records. Lord Randall takes a walk behind the rows… TRUE BELIEVERInterview with COURTNEY GAINSInterview By: Lord Randall Rebel Extravaganza: I have to start out by letting you know Children Of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mizmor – Prosaic

MIZMOR’s fourth proceeds, ‘Only An Expanse’ a whirlwind of unadorned and raw auricular fury, which is strange, given the acceptance of the subject matter. Not so much resigned to fate as an “…in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content”, yet aware that moods shift, experiences at times flash through, and in others drag one into the slough. It’s rare that our bright flashes of happiness can be converted to a sustaining joy, also uncommon that a grief, a trauma, a general “bad event” doesn’t want to rest its weary feet in the cabin of our heart and lives […]

Music News

U.S. Trad-Metal Stalwarts ENTIERRO to Release The Gates Of Hell in October

New Haven (CT) – Traditional heavy metal band ENTIERRO has just completed their fifth collection of new songs, titled The Gates of Hell, at Dexter’s Lab Studio under the watchful eye of engineer Nick Bellmore. The album will be released on October 19! The album’s title track is streaming now HERE The Gates Of Hell not only marks a return to the studio where they recorded their self-titled full length album, but also introduces a new period for the band, as this incarnation of the unit has grown into a solid force in songwriting and collaboration. Most bands take time […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Marduk – Memento Mori

Time sure hasn’t sanded the edges off of MARDUK. Memento Mori has some of the fastest, most vicious metal these guys have ever played. There’s a hardcore contingent of “fans” that complain the band has lost its edge when they ditched their Sieg Heiling bass player. You sure can’t hear it here. ‘Blood Of The Funeral’, ‘Coffin Carol’ and ‘Red Tree of Blood’ are like barbed wire whips that rip the flesh from your bones. Yet if you listen carefully, there is also strange melody and even a kind of brutal elegance that slips into some of these tunes. The […]

Music News

CONNY OCHS: Singer/Songwriter To Release German-Sung Wahn Und Sinn LP Through Exile On Mainstream In October; Artwork, Track Listing, And Preorders Posted

Four-and-a-half years have passed since CONNY OCHS’ most recent album, Doom Folk. While new music from the man was rare in the record store, he was quite active on stage. In addition to some solo tours and very intensive concerts including the online Roadburn Festival 2020 and two touching performances in the Dolomites in 2021 and 2022, which fans could follow via livestream, the artist, who works and lives in Germany and Italy, surprised us especially with the band Trialogos, whose 2021 debut album Stroh Zu Gold presented a completely new side of CONNY OCHS. Working with multi-instrumentalists Kiki Bohemia […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Courtney Gains – Safe Haven [EP]

Aside from co-starring in my second favorite horror film of all time (more on that in an upcoming interview), COURTNEY GAINS has realized a dream that a very small percentage of actors and musicians see come to life – that of working in his chosen field for nigh on four decades. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, look, there’s this fancy schmancy “internet” thing. You’ll recognize him. But this here’s about the music so, as the Looney Tunes theme song says, “On with the show, this is it!”. ‘Safe Haven’ begins with a guitar phrasing that blends surf tone […]

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