Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Album Reviews

Album Review: Manic Abraxas – Skinformation

Alright, MANIC ABRAXAS, here you are again, in my face and earholes, right around two years from the time I sang your praises for Foreign Winds. What, you think I’ve got all the time in the world here? And who’s this bastard child of Eddie, Vic Rattlehead and Korgull from Dimension Hatröss lookin’ like we ‘bout to have a problem staring out at me from the cover of Skinformation? I see you finally got around to calling a song ‘Manic Abraxas’. About time, but we’ll argue about how it should’ve gone on the self-titled debut to complete the Band/Album/Song trifecta […]

Music News

LEGIONS OF DOOM: Doom Metal SuperGroup To Release Debut Full-Length The Skull 3 On September 13th Via Tee Pee Records; New Video/Single Now Playing, Limited Edition 7” EP Announced, And More

LEGIONS OF DOOM will release their The Skull 3 full-length on September 13th via Tee Pee Records, unveiling the record’s first single and preorders. Where does The Skull end and LEGIONS OF DOOM begin? The answer might be “right here”. Welcome The Skull 3. The 2021 passing of vocalist Eric Wagner (The Skull, ex-Trouble, Blackfinger, etc.) looms over LEGIONS OF DOOM’s debut, as The Skull guitarist Lothar Keller and bassist Ron Holzner (also ex-Trouble) pick up with material that would have been on that band’s third full-length and realize it in a different form. With Wagner’s involvement in the composition […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Absorb – Smog [EP]

Hamilton, Ontario’s ABSORB bashed out two respectable full-lengths between 2015 and 2018, then poof (or puff?)! Like ‘The Smokeman’ himself, the band were in the mists until last year’s stench-ridden return by way of the EP. And now, just over a year later, the Smog be upon us… What shouldn’t also escape notice here is the sense of Confessionalism found in the lyrics of the band, especially prevalent in “I still think it’s 2020 / I never really dream / Circling the drain / I’m moulting – alone / On a dog day afternoon in the middle of summer / […]

Music News

MAMMOTH VOLUME: new album coming on Blues Funeral Recordings

Swedish godfathers of progressive stoner rock MAMMOTH VOLUME announce the release of their new album, Raised Up By Witches, on August 23rd through Blues Funeral Recordings and present its first single with ‘Serpent In The Deep’. Watch MAMMOTH VOLUME’s new video ‘Serpent In The Deep’ andListen to the official single on all streaming services. MAMMOTH VOLUME return with a new album that harnesses their absolute fluency with the somehow compatible genres of ’70s progressive rock and modern stoner riffage. The result is an absorbing trek through head-nodding grooves, wispy instrumentation and quirky brilliance that’s riveting. MAMMOTH VOLUME has made it […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Octoploid – Beyond The Aeons

Merriam-Webster defines pedigree in part as “2a: an ancestral line (Lineage) b: the origin and the history of something”. Well, when the bloodline of a band includes current/past members of AMORPHIS and SWALLOW THE SUN (among others), to say that OCTOPLOID has “an impressive pedigree” is a bit of an understatement. Still, that’s no guarantee that what emerges will be anything more than a blending together of two already near-cousins in sound; possibly even something that would’ve worked better kept within each’s respective outfit. Alright, that’s the last of the comparisons made, now let’s get to the important thing – […]

Music News

Gates of Hell Records Signs Detroit Power Metallers, Demon Bitch; New Album On The Way

Detroit (MI) – Gates Of Hell Records is proud to announce the signing of Detroit power metallers DEMON BITCH. The label will release the band’s long-awaited sophomore album, Master Of The Games, later this year. The label will also be reissuing the band’s 2014 Death Is Hanging… EP, as well as heralded full-length debut, Hellfriends. Stream ‘Into The Archway’, from the forthcoming Master Of The Games album. DEMON BITCH was formed in 2011, and after the aforementioned Death Is Hanging… EP, released Hellfriends in 2016, which was hailed by Toilet Ov Hell as “passionate, clever, and often outright bizarre, Demon […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: New Horizon – Conquerors

Conquerors starts with such an incredible barrage of quality that I really thought this might be the best power metal album I’ve ever heard. Well, things do start to slip by the middle of the album, but even with that “slippage”, this is still one Hell of an awesome melodic metal album. When God was handing out voices, he loaded Nils Molin up with more talent than just about any other human being I’ve heard. Good…God…Almighty! What a golden set of pipes Nils has! This is a singer for the ages, right up there with the late Ray Gillen, early […]

Music News

VANHELGD Unleash New Song, ‘Kerernas Törst’

The newest track from dödsmetall horde VANHELGD is now streaming! ‘Kerernas Törst’ comes off the band’s long-awaited new album, Atropos Doctrina. Listen now at THIS LOCATION After six long years, VANHELGD has finally installed a successor to 2018’s monumental Deimos Sanktuarium on the notorious Svensk Dödsmetall throne. But as the saying goes, good things are worth waiting for, and as the Fates would have it, the Swedes’ sixth opus Atropos Doctrina might just be the best of the bunch. Dark Descent Records will release Atropos Doctrina on July 12. Order the album at Dark Descent Records Webshop Dark Descent Records […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: QAALM – First Light Of The Last Dawn [EP]

QAALM arrived seemingly from nowhere in 2022, a quintet who kicked up its share of interest with debut Resilience & Despair. Now trimmed to a three-piece (Family Size to Snack Size…maybe I’m just hungry…), drummer Dave Ferrara and guitarist/vocalist Henry Derek join forces with guitarist Minsu Dylan Kim to “usher in” what purports to be “a new era” for the band. A droning intro, populated by sparse fingerings and even more spacious bass, QAALM never in the greatest rush to get anywhere. This can harm some bands more than help, as a good many just don’t know how to give […]

Music News

THUNDER HORSE: Dead Alive In Texas out now

Texas heavy and doom metal juggernauts THUNDER HORSE release their new live album, Dead Alive In Texas, on vinyl, CD and digital through Ripple Music. Known for their electrifying performances, THUNDER HORSE is set to reignite a cherished tradition with the release of their latest album, Dead Alive In Texas. Evoking the spirit of rock’s golden era, THUNDER HORSE channels the energy and raw power of live performances into a captivating 9-track record. In homage to the revered practices of the 1970s, where legendary bands would unleash three studio albums before delivering a monumental live experience, THUNDER HORSE follows suit […]

Older Posts