Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

2024

Short Sharp Shocks

Halcyon Way – Night Crawling [EP]

ProgPower USA hometown boys HALCYON WAY return with… Okay, I understand no one wants to hear another version of ‘Smoke On The Water’, but a MILEY CYRUS cover? ‘Night Crawling’ reeks of THEATRE OF TRAGEDY’s techno dreck, tossing in a bit of ‘White Wedding’ for extra tee hee hees. ‘Insufferable’ lives up to its name, everything from jumpdafucup moments to MOTLEY CRÜE’s Generation Swine to DRAGONFORCE-Lite (if you can believe that) gets a run-through. It’s only with ‘Stand For Something’ that the HALCYON WAY we know and appreciate allows us a glimmer of hope for upcoming material. Even for an […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Belushi Speed Ball – Stellkira

It was my sometimes drinking buddy Johnny Vomit who first made me aware of these guys. Goofy ass crossover thrashers from Louisville, KY armed with a wild stage show, numbskull lyrics and…best of all…sizzling thrash riffs to turn your spine to jelly! Having never seen them live, I can’t speak to that part of their repertoire, but when I saw song titles like ‘Garth, Let My Family Go’, ‘My Favorite Color Is Pizza’ and ‘Tater Tot Eyes’, I got some uneasy flashbacks to the metalcore of the early 2000s, which wrote the book on idiotic “ironic” song titles. Well, BELUSHI […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Di’Aul – EP II [EP]

‘Azazel’ is wrapped in the fuzz for which DI’AUL has been known, the band moving at a plod, yet managing to keep from walking so slowly as to fall on its face. The “solo” is less an actual solo than a few notes wrung out from the consistent rhythm-based riffs. Tasteful, minimalist, and fitting the song. Continuing the measured gait, ‘Golgotha’ hefts itself forward only by sheer force of will, but we find DI’AUL becoming more adept at using the open spaces that seemed to be filled with nothing in its early output. With as many EPs as full lengths […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blaze Of Perdition – Upharsin

BLAZE OF PERDITION has made a name for itself in a country known for a blistering, early SLAYER-ized take on both black and death metal by adding a fluidity and sense of peaks and valleys that has thus far set it apart from the more known exports of Poland. On its second for Metal Blade, the band has taken the bold step of releasing Upharsin in their native tongue, a first for them when it comes to full lengths. At once, ‘W kwiecie rozlamu’ seems more outwardly abrasive, but soon enough moves into a mid-paced (don’t call it a) groove […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Black Totem – III: Sacrifice Tonite

Well, BLACK TOTEM has reached it; that time in a band’s career when I would normally be giving my trademark, copyrighted, and infallible spiel about how important a band’s third album is. But I won’t, as these Finns are all about keeping things short, simple, and to the point. Might as well join the party at the cemetery… ‘Hex Hood’ sneaks in under the fog, but only briefly, as the cryptkicker drums and fiery riffs ignite torches around the perimeter, and you know you’re in trouble. As guitarist/vocalist Spit Poison so aptly, well, spits “This is Hex Hood, ain’t no […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Slugcrust – Discharge(d) [EP]

When you consider that SLUGCRUST’s two EPs, full length album and split release with Floridians SWAMP clock in at under 1 hour, you know what you’re getting with Discharge(d). ‘The Antitrust’ is audio warfare ala PIG DESTROYER, pure and visceral. ‘Feral Natural’ stalks with menace, a giardia-infected WOORMS while ‘V4’ packs a bass-fueled fury, a band always existing in that split second before the whole thing implodes. It’s with the title track, though, that the band’s unfuckwithable knack for writing riffs and beats that chisel and pound their way into your skull comes to fruition. Ever wondered what the tines […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: DÅÅTH – The Deceivers

DÅÅTH returns after a smattering of 2023 singles, 14 years after their self-titled album left nary a blip on most folks’ radar with The Deceivers. That the album features one original member must be noted, as well as that the quintet has expanded, now including a third guitarist, as well as longtime vocalist Sean Zatorsky. So let’s see what fruits are born of sonic upheaval… ‘No Rest No End’ began melodically, until suddenly a wash of discombobulating keys broke any sense of fluidity. Thankfully, this was short-lived, a relatively catchy riff pattern devolving into groove metal grunt-fest, and then – […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Caldwell – Caldwell

‘No Flowers Today’ blooms, funky-slinky bassline and snap drums buoying a jaunty guitar and Caldwell’s sugared vocals. A square of slightly less worn and ragged fabric cut cleanly from the multicolored robe of SCREAMING TREES’ Uncle Anesthesia, this opener is an ideal introduction to this self-titled (not really a) debut. Southern California harmonies and a bit of a Country/Western tone to the guitar add a bit of that Laurel Canyon vibe to ‘Love Confession’, while ‘Lonely Man’ carries a Lennon/McCartney sensibility ably, the cynicism of John tempered by the pop flavorings of Paul from those turbulent final BEATLES years when […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Stargazer – Bound By Spells [EP]

Initially released on Hallowe’en 2023 by Nuclear War Now! Productions on Vinyl + Digital formats, STARGAZER’s Bound By Spells EP sees its CD release nearly seven months later via Personal Records. The Adelaide alchemists (or assault brigade, depending on the form their music takes) have been around since the mid-‘90s, spewing forth four albums, splits and EPs, which doesn’t seem like much, when you get right down to it, especially considering the tomblike silence between 2014’s A Merging To The Boundless and Psychic Secretions of seven years after. Still and all, Bound By Spells finds the trident every bit as […]

Music News

Fortress Festival unveils Fortress Forum conference

Fortress Festival unveils Fortress Forum, a unique metal conference with Tom G. Warrior, Wolves In The Throne Room, Cult Never Dies and more! A unique opportunity for festival attendees to hear artists talk about their careers and experiences. Participants include Tom G. Warrior (Triptykon, Celtic Frost), Cedar Serpent (Wolves In The Throne Room), Dayal Patterson (Cult Never Dies), Ralph Schmidt (Ultha), The Watcher (Fen, Fellwarden), Der Weg Einer Freiheit and Gaerea Side-event to take place at a 300-capacity theatre room at Scarborough Spa and available only for Fortress Festival ticket holders Scarborough, UK; 28.04.24: Fortress Festival, the highly anticipated UK […]

Older Posts