Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Music News

Cruz Del Sur Music Announces The Return Of ONWARD

Cruz Del Sur Music is proud to announce the signing of cult U.S. power metallers ONWARD! The label will release their studio album Of Epoch And Inferno sometime in 2022. Formed in 2000 by guitar hero Toby Knapp, ONWARD broke onto the international metal stage with 2001’s Evermoving and 2002’s Reawaken, both of which were released via Century Media Records. The albums showcased Knapp’s superlative guitar skills that blended neoclassical and melodic sensibility, as well as original vocalist Michael Grant’s smooth delivery. Grant sadly passed away in 2012, leaving Knapp to issue his final recordings on 2014’s New Fathoms Dawn. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Lucifer’s Hammer – The Trip

There are a lot of ’80s inspired metal bands coming from South America today, but Chile’s LUCIFER’S HAMMER is the king of them all. This wonderful band just oozes metal class from every pore, and fans of great guitar work and melody in particular should waste no time tracking this down. Beyond The Omens was excellent in itself, but The Trip levels up in a big way, as it’s more classical and epic in style, with more complex songs that aren’t afraid to jam a little. Who does LUCIFER’S HAMMER sound like? Early MERCYFUL FATE and HELSTAR are good starting […]

Music News

Quebec Death Metal Trio OBVURT Release Video of Elementary School Performance

Quebec (CA) – Death Metal trio OBVURT has released a video of its performance at Saint-Albert-Le-Grand Elementary School. Guitarist and music teacher Phillippe Drouin, who re-learned the instrument using his left hand after a car accident robbed his picking ability, explains: “The physical education teacher and school principal introduced me to this idea. He was thinking about a party to celebrate the end of the school year by doing a show in the school backyard where Philippe teaches music. He knew about the release of The Beginning on March 31, and thought about the idea to bring The Beginning to […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Godslave – Positive Aggressive

Ahh, thrash. For me, coming into my teens in 1985, heavy metal was beginning to stake its claim in my pubescent, hormone-driven/angst-ridden/terminally depressed soul. MOLLY HATCHET, OZZY OSBOURNE and TWISTED SISTER were slowly ceding listening time to MEGADETH, DARK ANGEL and CANDLEMASS. Things were getting hectic. And then, thanks to print rags such as Metal Mania, and Kerrang, I began to hear about SODOM, KREATOR, etc. It seemed those German bands had a bite, a hunger, razor-styled riffing and raspy vocals that the US bands just weren’t giving me. To this day, the thrash I do enjoy is mainly of […]

Music News

KING WOMAN SHARE ‘PSYCHIC WOUND’ VIDEO

KING WOMAN, who recently announced the July 30 release of their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Celestial Blues (Relapse Records), have shared a second song from the upcoming release, unveiling the Muted Widows directed video for ‘Psychic Wound’. “‘Psychic Wound’ is about paying the price for eating forbidden fruit,” explains Kris Esfandiari of the riveting track and its visual companion. “When desire turns into obsession it can keep you longer than you intended to stay and nearly destroy your sanity.” The video arrives as KING WOMAN have confirmed Boy Harsher DJ and Rituals Of Mine will join them for their upcoming Los […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Darkthrone – Eternal Hails

Well, true to form, the 19th DARKTHRONE album sounds like it was recorded on a 4-track in a barn somewhere in Norway. That much is expected, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. Eternal Hails is definitely the band’s “doom metal” album. Slower tempos have been a strong part of DARKTHRONE for much of the “primitive punk metal” period of the last 15 years or so, but never have they played such a significant role. To be quite honest, the album is a very mixed bag for me. The doom is across all five lengthy tracks, mixed with the […]

Music News

Doom Metal Kings CANDLEMASS Announce Select U.S. Tour Dates in 2022

Swedish Grammis award-winning/US Grammy-nominated doom metal legends CANDLEMASS will officially hit American shores in 2022! The band will perform at the SOLD OUT Hell’s Heroes Festival in Houston, TX on April 22, bookended by two other performances featuring support from special guests The Skull and Frayle. See below for all tour dates and grab tickets when the go on sale this Friday, June 25 at 10:00am EDT. Visit https://candlemass.se/ for more information and individual venues for tickets. Mats Björkman of CANDLEMASS says: “We are really pleased to finally get back to the US of A. Our fans have been waiting […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Dungeon Serpent – World Of Sorrows

Looking at the cover art of DUNGEON SERPENT’s debut full-length, World Of Sorrows, I was instantly reminded of the CANDLEMASS albums Nightfall and Ancient Dreams. Delving a bit deeper, come to find out that the same artist – 19th century British-American painter, Thomas Cole – is responsible for all. I remember buying Nightfall when it came out, having no idea what I’d be hearing once I got home, and falling so under that spell as to now have the iconic skull-and-spikes image now tattooed on my body. ‘Necroscope’ doesn’t waste any time whatsoever getting down to the business of death, […]

Music News

SUMMONING THE LICH ANNOUNCE US SHOWS & SHARE LIVE VIDEO OF ‘UNITED IN CHAOS’

St. Louis, Missouri based technical death metal band, SUMMONING THE LICH have announced a string of August and September shows across the US – alongside The Behest Of Serpents and Carrion Vael. The shows will be SUMMONING THE LICH’s first live dates since the release of their debut long player, United In Chaos (Purchase HERE), in February. Accompanying the tour announcement, the band have also today shared a performance video of United In Chaos‘ title track live from Encapsulated Studios – recorded by Gabe Usry and filmed by Danny Tilson. Speaking on the tour announcement, the band says: “We’re incredibly […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Exil – Warning

Umeå, situated in Norrland of Sweden, has a rich cultural history. So much so that – if you’re reading this – you probably either really love or really hate its most famous metal export, MESHUGGAH. But more than this…much more than this…is that if you’re of a certain age, and listened to punk/hardcore, the name “Umeå” was mentioned without irony alongside the scenes of New York, Cleveland, Detroit and LA. That history flows deep within EXIL, though Stockholm is where the elements of this culture-shattering bomb came together to create Warning. Made up of members current and former of U.X. […]

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