Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

2025

Album Reviews

Album Review: Degrave – Metalithic

Not a heck of a lot of metal coming out of Missouri these days, but DEGRAVE is a very potent exception. I like these guys a lot! There’s a real grittiness and rawness to what they dish up on Metalithic that sounds pretty refreshing. When the final feedback of ‘Death Is…’ came to an end, I immediately wanted to start over with ‘Usurper Of Flame’ once more. That doesn’t happen too often in Mality’s world these days! What’s really cool about DEGRAVE is that they don’t really resemble any other band…also a rare thing. Sure, the press compares them to […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Victim Of Fire – The Old Lie

Returning with its third full-length in nearly a decade of its existence, death-fueled crustmongers (or is it crust-fueled deathmongers?) VICTIM OF FIRE flame forth from the fertile soil of Colorado with The Old Lie. Mind you, one of the key elements of crust with any sort of socio-political overtones is its timeliness, so we’ve also been assaulted with a trio of EPs and a few demos during this time, confirming that not only shouldn’t a band in this style, but that a band in this style is physically incapable of sitting on its collective ass for too long. The title […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Barbarous – Initium Mors

The world needs another death metal band like I need an extra asshole. Remember that saying “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody’s got one.”? Well, every city seems to have a death metal band – some more than their share, some more than any of us need – and straight outta the Bay Area comes yet another steaming pile of either excrement or entrails by the name of BARBAROUS. We shall see… Initium Mors (“The beginning of death”) blasts forward with the intro-less ‘Injection Of The Exhumed’, already something in that grisly, sharpened tone recalling the band’s heritage, ala Bonded By […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Cancer Void – First Metastasis

Well, at least CANCER VOID had the balls to call its dreaded intro track ‘Introduction’, so there’s that going for the quintet already. Synths surround and oscillate, and I’m sure this dungeon synth gone Windham Hill sampler is going to sound nothing whatsoever like the actual tunes on here, so let’s just get through this and move on, shall we? You’re already spending nearly 2 minutes of a record that’s less than 20 farting around like the bastard chillun’ of Vangelis and Mortiis. Echoes of INCANTATION permeate ‘Breeding Pyramids’, and the sound is surprisingly organic given the precursor. There’s some […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Black Magnet – Megamantra

Industrial metal that sounds like a swarm of killer androids fashioned from junkyard materials, that’s what you get from BLACK MAGNET. Industrial music has always appealed to me, if done right. That means if done with the proper aggression and atmosphere and not sounding like evil disco music. No worries here…BLACK MAGNET has a suitably abrasive and heavy approach. You can hear influences from all the standard industrial acts here, like MINISTRY, NINE INCH NAILS, FEAR FACTORY, SKINNY PUPPY. Those influences are blended in such a way that BLACK MAGNET has its own sound. Even in the almost “danceable” moments, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Pulpit Vomit – Hospital Lens

From either the too stupid to ignore or the too good to ignore file (and I’m not sure which), PULPIT VOMIT speweth forth its first full length in the form of Hospital Lens. Several singles brought us here – many holiday themed – but the trio has wisely left the holiday-specific ones off of the debut…what, adding another 3:35 to an already short record woulda killed you? The first of the three already released, ‘Razor Jaw’ scrapes and scrambles, rats in a maze, but we’re the rats and the maze is on fire, and we’re on fire, and, oh yeah! […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Kontusion – Insatiable Lust For Death

Heard of KONTUSION before? Yeah, me neither, but apparently the gruesome twosome of Mark Brozino (formerly of IRON REAGAN and MAMMOTH GRINDER) and drummer Chris Moore from a somewhat important band named REPULSION have been touring like fools across the US since a self-titled demo was spewed forth in 2022. And now, to add to the glut of death metal of the past few years, we’re provided Insatiable Lust For Death. Hey, if it sucks, it’s less than a half-hour long, right? I’ll suffer for your edification. Proud students of the get in, grind, get out school, ‘Endless Horror’ dispenses […]

Short Sharp Shocks

FALL & RESIST – Dissolved In Misery [EP]

Australian quintet FALL & RESIST returns with its third EP. At under 20 minutes there’s no time to waste, but the first 0:54 of ‘Living The Lie’ are perfect, building up from a scratchy vinyl to so keys, then finally exploding with a robustness the band hasn’t displayed previously. The guitars could’ve been more forward in this mix, but it’s a small complaint. There’s a bit of NWOAHM in ‘Moments Of Clarity’, yet nary a breakdown, the band clearly having spent time trying to hew out their own sound in a cluttered scene. ‘Cogs In The Machine’ ups the ante […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Vindicator – Whispers Of Death

It’s an all out thrash attack from this long-running Ohio band, and they really know what they’re doing. You don’t have to get too deep into Whispers Of Death to realize this is a veteran band that focuses on the essence of thrash. There’s no attempt to update the sound, smooth things out or add some grand concept to what they’re doing…they’re in it to whoop ass and that’s about it. You might not be able to sit down for a week after the ass-whooping delivered here. When VINDICATOR is operating at its peak, they rival EXODUS as far as […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Bright Sunshine – Executive Power Supreme

After shaking up the power structure of the Southwestern service area for the past few fiscal years, regional representatives of the corporate headhunting group BRIGHT SUNSHINE have entered into a partnership with Reptilian Records in hopes to boost brand recognition and expand upon an already lean and mean business acumen with Executive Power Supreme. Alright, time to gather ‘round…everyone, take your seats. Linda? Linda? No, Linda won’t be hosting this meeting due to the Sign-Up Sheet Fiasco of ’22. Focus on the positive here, as we open with ‘Growth Opportunities’, a calamitous ride down a gravel road, slamming into guardrail […]

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