Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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 […]

Music News

ANANDA MIDA: Live At Duna Jam album announced on HPS Records

Heavy ’70s blues collective ANANDA MIDA (with vocalist Conny Ochs) announce the release of the Live At Duna Jam album this July 12th on Heavy Psych Sounds, and premiere the video for ‘The Future’ exclusively on It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine. Watch ANANDA MIDA perform ‘The Future’ ANANDA MIDA is a stoner and psychedelic rock music collective led by Max Ear (OJM’s drummer and Go Down Records’ Art Director) and Matteo Pablo Scolaro. From the very beginning of the project, graphic imagery has been given a crucial role thanks to the precious collaboration with the visual artist Eeviac. Since 2015, they […]

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 […]

Music News

Sijjeel unleash the death metal insanity of Affiliation Of Horrid Containment

After the scenes of carnage left by last year’s two track EP, The Concurrent Cycle, SIJJEEL have returned once again with more sounds of otherworldly horror – this time a full album of mind-breaking, soul-burning death metal of the very darkest hues. More deeply steeped in the essence of terror than ever before, SIJJEEL have invoked the ineffable, the unspeakable…the Affiliation Of Horrid Containment! Drinking deeply from a well of inspiration whose waters are black with the blood of old gods and the effluence of devils, SIJJEEL have summoned into existence an album of horror and madness such as other […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Slugcrust – Discharge(d) [EP]

When you consider that SLUGCRUST’s two EPs, full length album and split release with Floridians SWAMP clock in at under 1 hour, you know what you’re getting with Discharge(d). ‘The Antitrust’ is audio warfare ala PIG DESTROYER, pure and visceral. ‘Feral Natural’ stalks with menace, a giardia-infected WOORMS while ‘V4’ packs a bass-fueled fury, a band always existing in that split second before the whole thing implodes. It’s with the title track, though, that the band’s unfuckwithable knack for writing riffs and beats that chisel and pound their way into your skull comes to fruition. Ever wondered what the tines […]

Music News

KVAEN: Swedish Melodic Death/Black Metallers To Release The Formless Fires Full-Length June 21st

KVAEN will release their third album, and first for Metal Blade Records, The Formless Fires, on June 21st. There are many great extreme metal bands in Sweden, but only one from Kalix. This remote beauty spot near the Finnish border, on the northernmost shores of the Baltic, is home to Jacob Björnfot, creative mastermind behind melodic black/death metal project, KVAEN. A sumptuous but bitingly intense exploration of beauty and violence, KVAEN’s The Formless Fires is a melodic black metal masterwork radiating an inspirational sense of place. Even more than 2020’s folky, speed metal-infused debut The Funeral Pyre or 2022’s compelling, […]

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 – […]

Music News

Grand Demise of Civilization to Release The Blaze of Abaddon on June 4 via Ordovician Records

GRAND DEMISE OF CIVILIZATION is set to release The Blaze Of Abaddon, their fourth album of Epic Hell Metal, on June 4 through Ordovician Records. The album will be available on compact disc, cassette, and digital formats. A lyric video for the album’s first single, ‘Silencer’, is available now at THIS LOCATION The song is also available on Bandcamp Formed in 2008, GRAND DEMISE OF CIVILIZATION quickly became a notable fixture of the Minnesota metal scene. Playing a brand of blackened death metal both melodic and brutal they garnered attention for their speed, intensity and precision. Typically long-form, their music […]

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 […]

Music News

DYMNA LOTVA release full Dark Easter Metal Meeting concert video

DYMNA LOTVA release a multi-camera recording of their complete live performance at this year’s Dark Easter Metal Meeting in Munich, Germany on March 30, 2024. View the full stream at THIS LOCATION DYMNA LOTVA comment: “The best Easter is Dark Easter!”, vocalist Katsiaryna “Nokt Aeon” Mankevich enthuses. “We hope that you will like this video as much as we enjoyed playing in Munich!” The Belarus band has more concerts to come and all currently confirmed upcoming dates can be viewed further below. DYMNA LOTVA are performing in support of their current album Зямля Пад Чорнымі Крыламі: Кроў (“The Land Under […]

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