Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Album Reviews

Album Review: Brazen Tongue – Of Crackling Embers & Sorrows Drowned

‘The Weight Of Self’ suffers from a more lightweight guitar tone than the style demands, session drums of Kevin Paradis busy as all Hell, but somehow coming across as laid down after too few listens to the scratch tracks sent ‘cross the pond to result in anything he’s emotionally involved in. Vocalist/guitarist/synth-ist (synthesizerist? synther?) Scott Skopec has a fine death delivery, no doubt heavily influenced by the other guitarist – and only other actual member – Ethan Gifford’s Gothenburg surroundings, and both ‘Metaviral’ and ‘Walking The Parapets’ wave proudly the flag of G-burg’s melodic death past both in arrangement and […]

Music News

Bob Mould Announces Solo Fall Tour Dates

Today BOB MOULD announces a 2024 fall solo tour through New England, the Midwest, and the Southeast in that order. The tour will take place through September and October. See below for the full list of tour dates or visit the tour page In conjunction with the tour announcement, today Mould also releases a live recording of a new unreleased song ‘Breathing Room (Live Solo Electric)’, his first since 2020, and one of many new songs to come. “I’m looking forward to bringing even more new material to everyone this fall. Generally speaking, the new compositions are brief, catchy, and […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ascalapha – Somber Vampyric Night

Does the world need another bedroom black metal “band”? Turns out, “need” or not, we’ve certainly had far worse than ASCALAPHA foisted upon us. ‘Dark Moon’ slowly begins her westward arc, tasteful and tunefully caressing the sable half-dome of the night, belying the grim subject matter, the resignation to the end. Lyrically, we find Monstro – and thus, ASCALAPHA – to be sparse, more a collection of handfuls of water (tears?) from life’s cold stream than traditional rhyme, which then affects the musical form; no “verse-chorus-verse” here. After a ‘Ceaseless Drought’, we stride the ‘Nameless Path’, filled more of determination […]

Music News

ARX ATRATA release stunning new video for the title track of their upcoming album, A Reckoning

The new album from ARX ATRATA is nearly upon us, with A Reckoning set to be released on CD and digital formats on July 5th. Today, Ben Sizer, the man behind the music ARX ATRATA, presents a magnificent narrative video to accompany the album’s title track. Filmed beneath the boughs of ancient English woodland, the imagery and music entwining perfectly to create a captivating representation of the ARX ATRATA creative vision. Speaking about the new song and video, Ben offered the following thoughts… “The lyrics of the new album tell a story through each song, and the title track ‘A […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Castle Rat – Into The Realm

There’s getting to be so many cosplay metal bands around now that it’s almost a rarity to see a band with no image. CASTLE RAT goes all-in on the dress-up aspect, but in a pretty low rent way, with very home-made looking get-ups good for a quick trip to the RenFaire. Almost all of this band’s interest is going to center around the statuesque Red Sonja-looking frontwoman the Rat Queen aka Riley Pinkerton. With chain mail brassiere, thigh high boots and an enormous mas of red curls, she cuts a striking figure without a doubt. Is the music any good […]

Music News

QAALM: First Light Of The Last Dawn EP From Los Angeles-Based Atmospheric Doomsayers Out Now On Hypaethral Records

First Light Of The Last Dawn, the new EP from Los Angeles-based atmospheric doomsayers QAALM, is out on Hypaethral Records. The follow-up to the band’s critically lauded Resilience & Despair debut, First Light Of The Last Dawn ushers in a new era of QAALM, introducing influence from black metal and progressive rock and ultimately pushing their new material beyond the boundaries set by their earlier work. Even the production, graced by the skillful engineering of Paul Fig and expert mixing and mastering of Zeuss, two powerhouses who have collectively worked with the likes of Slipknot, Hatebreed, and Municipal Waste, displays […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Huntsmen – The Dry Land

‘This, Our Gospel’ leads off HUNTSMEN’s third, swirling scales and surrounding sonics until the psychedelia the band has toyed with before is ushered into the forefront with chanted refrain and off-kilter meter. Then, sadly, not even three minutes in, we’re back in typical post-gaze-whatever-land, where we stay for the remainder of this 8+-minute opener. Sure, there are moments that pique the interest, but they’re brief and peripheral, a grasp too light to hold the attention; vital when you’re dealing with any style, but this one most especially. Digressionary from the start, ‘Cruelly Dawns’ repeats the pattern, an appealing vocal melody […]

Music News

ORANGE GOBLIN Share Third Single And New Video For ‘The Fire At The Centre Of The Earth Is Mine’

Science, Not Fiction is now released via Peaceville. The track, titled ‘The Fire At The Centre Of The Earth Is Mine’, follows ‘(Not) Rocket Science’ and ‘Cemetary Rats’ as the third single to be taken from the album and is accompanied by a new lyric video by Matt Vickerstaff (https://www.instagram.com/matthew_vickerstaff ). Watch the lyric video for ‘The Fire At The Centre Of The Earth Is Mine’ Speaking about the new track, singer and lyricist Ben Ward said, “We are very proud to present our new single ‘The Fire At The Centre Of The Earth Is Mine’. We consider this a […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Trail Of Tears – Winds Of Disdain [EP]

Norwegian Sympho-gothers TRAIL OF TEARS were always at the very least reliable for being TOT, and now, after just over a decade, these early progenitors of the “Napalm sound” make their return on the Winds Of Disdain. New female vocalist Ailyn shines amid the gruffness of Thorsen on the title track, the band seeming breathing, alive, as if the silence has been a time of true reevaluation and this move forward purposeful, focused. I would’ve liked to see the melodic, subtle ‘Take These Tears’ continue in that way through the whole tune, but ‘No Colors Left’ bounces off the walls, […]

Music News

ALUNAH: new album, Fever Dream, streaming in full

Birmingham proto-metal and hard rock pillars ALUNAH return with their seventh album, Fever Dream, this September 20th on Heavy Psych Sounds, and premiere the debut single, ‘Never Too Late’, exclusively on The Obelisk today! Featuring guest vocals by Francis Tobolsky from Wucan, their new single ‘Never Too Late’ is an uplifting heavy metal stomper crammed with infectious vocals and heroic riffing. The band comments: “‘Never Too Late’ combines the bones of an idea we came up with right at the start of the writing process for the album, along with fresh inspiration that happened once in the recording studio. Fran […]

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