Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

2025

Album Reviews

Album Review: Affliction Vector – Contra Hominem

Using the time-honored (or dishonored, should your tastes lean – or not lean – in that direction) two-piece drummer and vocalist/axe-wielder template popularized by DARKTHRONE, Italy’s blackdeath force, AFFLICTION VECTOR, return five years after their Death Comes Supreme EP with debut full-length, Contra Hominem. ‘Antiuomo’ begins, almost KING DIAMOND-esque, what might be a harpsichord providing disjointed, broken dance music for twisted marionets before being blasted by martial drum cadence and vocals more howled than screeched. Throat scraper Ans must’ve really taken his psychiatrist’s words about Primal Scream therapy to heart, as that’s what’s going on here, and to disquieting effect. […]

Uncategorized

Bludgeoned By Deformity – Epoch Of Immorality [EP]

Comprising members of TOMB SENTINEL and PIG DESTROYER among others, you already get an idea of where BLUDGEONED BY DEFORMITY heading. ‘Invocation Of Suffering’ rains down sonic abuse from the start, vocalist Devin Swank a mixture of burled and gnarled GADGET-styled grind and guttural death, while ‘Immortality’ leans more toward MALEVOLENT CREATION / MONSTROSITY at times, an interesting and terrifying combination. ‘Intestinal Suspension’ is perfectly situated as the centerpiece, careening wildly between pinch harmonic-driven acceleration and a churning visceral ground ‘n’ pound. That the tone of the stringed instruments, nay, every element within the whole of the EP is malevolence […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mugshot – All The Devils Are Here

Much like any genre, the glut experienced in what called itself metalcore during the NWOAHM in the mid-‘00s was fit to burst straight through the stomach lining of heavy music, and it seemed like every new band wanted to be JOB FOR AN AUTOPSY IN THE WHITECHAPEL. Arriving as they did a decade after, MUGSHOT had the chance to make something fresh and took it on 2016’s Dull Boy. And now, nearly ten years later, the Texans return with All The Devils Are Here. ‘Die In Fear’ suffices, pinch harmonics and bulldog barking vocals, but seems to never put much […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: King Parrot – A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot

The PARROT squawks again! I thought this bird had almost ceased to exist (there’s a comedy sketch in here somewhere!) but it’s just too mean to die! Not only that, but A Young Person’s Guide To King Parrot shows that they are angrier, louder and more vitriolic than ever. If there was ever such a thing as a bird that could get rabies, KING PARROT would be that bird! The band has always been manic and violent, but this new one pushes them further than ever. I would still call them grindcore, but there’s no band that sounds quite like […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: King Witch – III

‘Cross the misted moors and moonlit eventides cometh Scotland’s KING WITCH, now trimmed to a trio and releasing its third album – aptly titled III – like hound’s breath at thine heels. Eventually I’ll get around to sharing in detail my Third Album Hypothesis, which has served me well since the late ‘80s, and will hopefully prove true here. 2025 also marks the ten-year anniversary of the band, making III doubly (triply?) important. With a natural, anticipatory build to the song itself, ‘Suffer In Life’ moves from a regal entrance to a self-assured, mid-paced stride, vocalist Laura Donnelly shrugging off […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Walking Bombs – Blessings Bestrewn Part 1

While being extremely new to shapeshifter(s) WALKING BOMBS, courtesy of the January 2025 mixtape Bong Hits For The Death Of Imperialism, I quickly realized there was something possibly fantastic to be discovered. I mined the Brave Hours record of 2017, surprised to find more of a “true” band setup (whatever that is anymore), and found the indie-folk of ‘Loveislove’ childlike that best way, simple and strong enough to be. ‘Flower Punx 4ever’ became a memory trip through my own days of coming up in that glorious era of skaters/BMXers who jammed RUN DMC, CIRCLE JERKS and HUSKER DU on the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Medea Project – Kharon

THE MEDEA PROJECT lists its beginning as 2003, however, the UK duo’s first long-player didn’t arrive until 2020’s Sisyphus. Enjoyable, succinct, thinking neither too highly of itself, nor too headily about the sound it was crafting, the band – while not going leagues beyond in a search for a singular sound – used economy to its advantage on the debut. EPs Southern Echoes (2021) and Reflections (2023) acted as sonic travelogues, showing that THE MEDEA PROJECT was beginning to search its own heart to discover what blood flowed through. Anguished vocals submerged in a wet fog moan/cry from behind the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Employed To Serve – Fallen Star

Energy…it’s the one thing that keeps EMPLOYED TO SERVE afloat and not sinking into a sea of modern metal mediocrity. I noted the same thing in my review of their last record, Conquering. You could tell they put a lot of genuine fire into their playing and so you could forgive moments of banal cliché. The same thing goes for Fallen Star, except this record sounds somewhat bigger and more ambitious. But in terms of style, ETS is still trying to be a bit of everything to everybody. Within the grooves of this record, you’ll find balls-out modern thrash, touches […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Deathblow – Open Season [EP]

The Salt Lake City hooligans return with a new EP, Open Season. Quality over quantity, natch, bro. With members named Holger, Gunk, Grob and Smelly, DEATHBLOW’s sounding a bit like a UK82 punk/Oi! band, but I’m here for it as Grob’s three-count kicks off ‘Open Season’. Think a slower-paced EXODUS circa Impact Is Imminent, but with tasty blues leads at the start, only to crash headlong into a hardcore-fueled rant. The train keeps chug-a-lug-alooing, meaty riffs and Holger’s bark resembling MADBALL’s Freddy at times in ‘Deny Defend Dispose’. The bass-heavy ‘Tormentor’ and ‘Never Again’, with its disjointed time signatures, prove […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Rum Runners – Wreck And Revere [EP]

Well, ALESTORM’s gone to shite long ago, SWASHBUCKLE’s last yawnfest was a song about the movie Starship Troopers, and YE BANISHED PRIVATEERS – while fantastic – aren’t what I’d call metal, so it’s about time for another pirate-themed crew, aye? RUM RUNNERS think so, returning after 2015’s The Quest For Mead with Wreck And Revere, new crewmates aboard, and ready to (hopefully) hoist my not so Jolly but quite formidable Roger. ‘In Sirens’ Wake’ eschews the trappings of for a feisty, thrash-injected thrust of the prow into the open seas, a bit of EDGUY (sans comedic tomfoolery) in their delivery, […]

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