Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Album Reviews

Album Review: Barbarous – Initium Mors

The world needs another death metal band like I need an extra asshole. Remember that saying “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody’s got one.”? Well, every city seems to have a death metal band – some more than their share, some more than any of us need – and straight outta the Bay Area comes yet another steaming pile of either excrement or entrails by the name of BARBAROUS. We shall see… Initium Mors (“The beginning of death”) blasts forward with the intro-less ‘Injection Of The Exhumed’, already something in that grisly, sharpened tone recalling the band’s heritage, ala Bonded By […]

Music News

WARNING: Sign To Relapse Records

Relapse Records has today announced the signing of legendary British doom band, WARNING. The label will reissue albums from the band’s back catalogue and will release the first new WARNING material for twenty years. Shortly after the release of their now-iconic album, Watching From A Distance, in 2006, WARNING disbanded and was dormant until reuniting in 2017 for a series of performances playing the album in full. This return resulted in a Live At Roadburn album which will be reissued in addition to the original studio album, and their 1999 album, The Strength to Dream. The existing WARNING catalogue is […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Cancer Void – First Metastasis

Well, at least CANCER VOID had the balls to call its dreaded intro track ‘Introduction’, so there’s that going for the quintet already. Synths surround and oscillate, and I’m sure this dungeon synth gone Windham Hill sampler is going to sound nothing whatsoever like the actual tunes on here, so let’s just get through this and move on, shall we? You’re already spending nearly 2 minutes of a record that’s less than 20 farting around like the bastard chillun’ of Vangelis and Mortiis. Echoes of INCANTATION permeate ‘Breeding Pyramids’, and the sound is surprisingly organic given the precursor. There’s some […]

Music News

Finnr’s Cane – new single

From northern Ontario comes ‘Awaken the Sleeping Forest’ – the second single from FINNR’S CANE’s forthcoming self-titled album, arriving August 29 via Nordvis. A surge of raw energy and reverent power, the piece channels the spirit of the vast Canadian wilderness through blast-driven black metal riffing, symphonic flourishes, and the band’s hallmark chordal richness. Piano arpeggios weave throughout, evoking both grandeur and introspection. Like much of the album, the song was born of spontaneous creation – shaped during an improvisational jam and recorded in the solitude of a Sudbury winter. Its title speaks to a deeper intent: a stirring of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Black Magnet – Megamantra

Industrial metal that sounds like a swarm of killer androids fashioned from junkyard materials, that’s what you get from BLACK MAGNET. Industrial music has always appealed to me, if done right. That means if done with the proper aggression and atmosphere and not sounding like evil disco music. No worries here…BLACK MAGNET has a suitably abrasive and heavy approach. You can hear influences from all the standard industrial acts here, like MINISTRY, NINE INCH NAILS, FEAR FACTORY, SKINNY PUPPY. Those influences are blended in such a way that BLACK MAGNET has its own sound. Even in the almost “danceable” moments, […]

Music News

UK Heavies CULT BURIAL Premiere New Track, ‘Beseech’

London (UK) – Blackened Death Metallers, CULT BURIAL, in partnership with No Clean Singing, have premiered ‘Beseech’, the second single from forthcoming album, Collapse Of Pattern, Reverence Of Dust. Stream ‘Beseech’ In other recent news, CULT BURIAL has announced that Blastbeats Vinyl will be the exclusive U.S. distributor for the vinyl LP variants of Collapse Of Pattern, Reverence Of Dust. The LPs will be available for purchase in the U.S. on September 5, the album’s official release date. Collapse Of Pattern, Reverence Of Dust is a record about erosion — of structures, of certainty, of meaning. Across eight tracks, CULT […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Pulpit Vomit – Hospital Lens

From either the too stupid to ignore or the too good to ignore file (and I’m not sure which), PULPIT VOMIT speweth forth its first full length in the form of Hospital Lens. Several singles brought us here – many holiday themed – but the trio has wisely left the holiday-specific ones off of the debut…what, adding another 3:35 to an already short record woulda killed you? The first of the three already released, ‘Razor Jaw’ scrapes and scrambles, rats in a maze, but we’re the rats and the maze is on fire, and we’re on fire, and, oh yeah! […]

Music News

CRYPTODIRA: Genesis Of Error EP From Progressive/Experimental Metal Architects Out Now On Silent Pendulum Records

“The metalcore revival has gone in a whole bunch of different directions over the years, but it feels like it’s been a minute since we’ve gotten this type of chaos – or at least this type of chaos done this well.” – BrooklynVegan Stream CRYPTODIRA’s Genesis Of Error EP With their latest offering, CRYPTODIRA are once again pushing themselves beyond the boundaries of metal and into a space of their own. Notes Brooklyn Vegan of the band’s ‘The Same River Twice’ single, “[It’s] an under-two-minute frenzy that’s cut from that same BTBAM/DEP cloth, with a little Converge in there too, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Kontusion – Insatiable Lust For Death

Heard of KONTUSION before? Yeah, me neither, but apparently the gruesome twosome of Mark Brozino (formerly of IRON REAGAN and MAMMOTH GRINDER) and drummer Chris Moore from a somewhat important band named REPULSION have been touring like fools across the US since a self-titled demo was spewed forth in 2022. And now, to add to the glut of death metal of the past few years, we’re provided Insatiable Lust For Death. Hey, if it sucks, it’s less than a half-hour long, right? I’ll suffer for your edification. Proud students of the get in, grind, get out school, ‘Endless Horror’ dispenses […]

Music News

ALPHA DESTROYER (Featuring Members of CRASHDÏET, BUCKCHERRY & SLEEPLESS) Share Title Track To Fast Lane

ALPHA DESTROYER, the explosive new band featuring Martin Sweet (Crashdïet), Kelly LeMieux (Buckcherry), and Eric Sexton-Dorsett (Sleepless), has launched the first single off their upcoming debut album, Fast Lane. The album is out this fall on Necromantic Press Records. “The first single and title track, ‘Fast Lane’, really sets the pace for the LP,” comments Sexton-Dorsett. “Though the album is super diverse, Fast Lane comes right out of the gate with a straightforward, almost punk vibe that is matched by Martin’s heavy yet melodic lyrical approach to life’s struggles.” Watch the video for ‘Fast Lane’ Stream the song on Spotify […]

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