Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Album Reviews

Album Review: He Is Legend – Endless Hallway

‘The Prowler’ leads the charge – or attempts to, the verses licking the dirt-rock, speedster boots of ZEKE and HOOKERS, while the choruses are straight out of the early CLUTCH playbook. The dragging tempo of the final minute or so, instead of being climactic, arrives and pulverizes any built-up interest into dust by the time ‘Lifeless Lemonade’ arrives, and if you’ve ever wondered why some of MAYLENE & THE SONS OF DISASTER works and HE IS LEGEND never seems to, this is your template; rhythms built for skipping, disjointed cut/paste rock interspliced with a weird ‘80s pop vocal nod at […]

Music News

MEMORIAM To Release Rise To Power Full-Length February 3rd Via Reaper Entertainment; New Artwork Revealed

MEMORIAM needs no introduction. Founded by former Bolt Thrower singer Karl Willetts and Benediction bassist Frank Healy — living legends of old-school death metal — MEMORIAM are arguably the most creative band of the genre right now. The band has built its own loyal fan base over the past seven years developing a distinct musical identity and has finally announced the release of their new studio album, Rise To Power, set to drop on February 3rd, 2023 via Reaper Entertainment. With Rise To Power, the band builds upon their signature sound with additional dynamics. From brutal grooves to moments of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Black Anvil – Regenesis

This New York black metal crew pop up every few years with a new album, which gets talked about for a month or two and then promptly forgotten until the next cycle begins. With the title of Regenesis, perhaps they see themselves as reinventing the band and their sound. The album is well produced and competently played, but leaves me pretty cold. I know that past BLACK ANVIL works were more aggressive and darker than this. They do try to mix things up here and they succeed in giving each track its own identity, but the songs are generally softer, […]

Music News

GORGATRON Appearing at Obscene Extreme in July 2023

Fargo (ND) – U.S. Death Metal quintet GORGATRON is proud to announce its forthcoming appearance at the Czech Republic’s revered Obscene Extreme festival, which will take place July 5 – 9, 2023. Ticket packages are available at THIS LOCATION GORGATRON released the Agony Reborn EP November 4 on digital and cassette formats via Blood Blast Distribution. The cassette version is limited to 100 copies and also includes four exclusive live tracks on Side B. Stream Agony Reborn Purchase Agony Reborn The EP, which is the final release of the Blood Blast Distribution deal, consists of three original studio recordings and […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Forever Autumn – Crowned In Skulls [EP]

Massachusetts forest-dweller Autumn Ni Dubhghaill emerged from the cocoon years of 2004-’08 by, against expectation, harkening back to an older, more ancient time with her art. Rustic, simpler, almost agrarian in execution, Waiting For Öktober was sparse, that new-formed, black-winged butterfly clawing through and out of an enclosure, unsure but committed. Three albums and an EP have followed – including 2021’s black metal scorcher Hail The Forest Dark – to today, where FOREVER AUTUMN returns to folk-seasoned doom (or is it doom-seasoned folk?) with Crowned In Skulls. Assisted by mainstay cellist/foil Jon McGrath throughout and revisited by Aaron Stainthorpe of […]

Music News

TRIBUNAL: Vancouver-Based Gothic Doom Metal Duo To Release Debut LP, The Weight Of Remembrance, Through 20 Buck Spin In January; ‘Apathy’s Keep’ Now Playing + Preorders Posted

20 Buck Spin presents the label’s first release of 2023, the melancholic and entrancing debut LP from Vancouver, British Columbia-based duo TRIBUNAL. TRIBUNAL may yet be unknown to the wider world, but their spellbinding The Weight Of Remembrance is poised to immediately change that. Steeped in the black velvet finery of gothic doom metal, the band weaves dark tales of ultimate judgement, never-ending rain, and forsaken despair. Featuring classically trained cellist/bassist/vocalist Soren Mourne and guitarist/vocalist Etienne Flinn, TRIBUNAL’s brick-heavy classic doom riffage borders on death metal heaviness, like My Dying Bride filtered through a colossal stained-glass edifice. The sound is […]

Music News

Doom metallers COSMIC REAPER share new track off Doom Sessions Vol. 7 split EP with ENDTIME; out January 20h on Heavy Psych Sounds

North Carolina’s stoner doom merchants COSMIC REAPER premiere their new song ‘Sundowner’, taken from the Doom Sessions Vol.7 split EP with ENDTIME to be issued through Heavy Psych Sounds. Says COSMIC REAPER: “The song is about someone with a debilitating brain disease succumbing to paranoid hallucinations in the dark. We’re capable of creating a lot more horrors in our minds than we ever could in reality. With ‘Sundowner’, we went for something groovy, but foreboding, with an ending that descends into madness. But, more importantly, we hope this track makes you bang your head!” Listen to COSMIC REAPER’s new track […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: In The Woods… – Diversum

After a huge shakeup in membership shortly after 1999’s Strange In Stereo, IN THE WOODS… became, for all intents and purposes, sole original member Anders Kobro’s project. Resurfacing with a revamped lineup for 2016’s Pure and Cease The Day of two years after, we now behold Diversum, featuring (surprise, surprise!) a new bassist and vocalist. Lineup shifts aside, IN THE WOODS… has always marched to the beat of its own drum, and its early work – if we’re being honest – to varying degrees was influential in such revered bands as ENSLAVED and OPETH’s transformation into their current sound(s). Subtle […]

Music News

ARTHUR BROWN announces December 2022 European shows

ARTHUR BROWN is announcing three shows each in Germany and Italy to take place this December. The much admired and iconic British singer will be performing in support of his current album, the critically acclaimed Long Long Road, which was released on his 80th birthday on June 24, this year. Arthur Brown writes: “I am thrilled to finally be able to start presenting Long Long Road live on tour, starting with Germany and Italy”, the self-proclaimed “God of Hellfire” enthuses. “There will be more shows coming, so watch this space. Of course, I will also bring those classics in my […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Stormruler – Sacred Rites & Black Magick

These guys are from ST. LOUIS?! After listening to the utter blackened majesty of STORMRULER, I would have picked Sweden or Finland as their stomping grounds. Or even more likely, the realm of Gondor, or perhaps the frozen North of Tad Williams’ fantasy tales of Osten Ard. At any rate, these two warriors have conjured up a feast of gloriously over the top melodic black metal that embraces the epic. Yes, this is maximalism, not minimalism. And it works. The two major touchstones of STORMRULER’s sound would have to be DISSECTION and IMMORTAL. They draw upon the former’s freezing cold […]

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