Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

2026

Short Sharp Shocks

Endseeker – Coffin Born [EP]

After 12 years, 4 studio albums, and hanging onto the same lineup through it all, Germany’s ENDSEEKER depart this sewage planet via Coffin Born. ‘Enemies Of Peace’ conjures images of tanks cresting the hill, but you’re in the valley and doomed. Elements of SACRILEGE, MEMORIAM, and whatever DYING FETUS wishes they could ever be join the rampage party, which only increases the sense of volatile danger. Witness ‘No After. No Before’, where off-time rhythms and riffs careen into the title track, sirens and slaughter surrounding your twitching, pleading forms. ‘Life Breeds Death’ grants no reprieve, and a DAVID HASSELHOFF cover […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Witch Ripper – Through The Hourglass

When a band’s PR one-sheet compares any band to MASTODON, DAVID BOWIE and COHEED AND CAMBRIA not only in the same paragraph, but the same damn sentence, ya just gotta wonder what kind of fever dream or ayahuasca trip was being recovered from here. You know the bands themselves don’t write these, and – while you trust this particular source – you kinda hope for the best. WITCH RIPPER’s been at it awhile now, and Through The Hourglass is it’s third. Riding on the back of two solid releases, the chances of the ball being completely dropped are few, but […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Ghoulstars – The Dark Overlords Of The Universe

I used to have quite a liking for horror punk…indeed, for any music connected to the horror genre…but in recent years, the flood of cosplay “monster bands” has soured me on a lot of it. Everybody today loves to play dress up…we have Vikings, Ninjas, Pirates, aliens. And of course, monsters. Monsters up the wazoo. So forgive me if I’m not impressed by THE GHOULSTARS all that much. Oddly, these guys have roots in Finnish underground death-doom, with members of KUOLEMANLAAKSO and HOODED MENACE amongst their ranks. Expect none of that here, as THE GHOULSTARS are a way for them […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Soul Exchange – Slow Descent [EP]

Texans SOUL EXCHANGE return with the Slow Descent EP, clearly of the HATEBREED school but tossing in just enough early BIOHAZARD / SIX FEET DEEP to keep things interesting. ‘Familiar Poison’ drops unexpected dual leads into the mix, while ‘In The Room But Not With Me’ employs clean vocals at times to good effect. Mostly mid-paced for hardcore, I’d love to see the quintet rev the engines a bit above 2nd gear a bit more often (‘Cash And Cold Hands’), but there are elements that – if focused on – could make them stand out. Bands of this style are […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Goetia – Mortuary Cult

After three years and as many EPs, Washington, D.C.’s GOETIA welcomes us into the Mortuary Cult on its first full length release. I’m blindfolded, mind, having never heard the band before, but given their previous choice of covers [KREATOR’s ‘Ripping Corpse’ and ‘Don’t Burn The Witch’ from VENOM], one hopes for at least a spark from these mighty torches has found its way into what we’re about to hear. Ahh, the intro. The seemingly ever-present and often pointless intro which seems to plague death metal bands specifically. Thankfully, ‘Lanterns Of The Dead’ rips the scab off, taking its share of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: THE FRĒQS – No God On The Gold Coast

There’s been quite the resurgence of noise and noise-adjacent rawk in the past few years, with longtime bands like THE ANTIKAROSHI releasing the finest work of its career [2024’s L’inertie Polaire], the recent MELVINS / NAPALM DEATH’s Savage Imperial Death March collaboration, not to mention relative newcomers EYES and BRIGHT SUNSHINE adding their own angular, jagged shards to the scene with Spinner and Executive Power Supreme respectively. ‘John Travolta’ pops his collar to the sound of that prehistoric dial-up internet connection we love so well, and THE FRĒQS follow shortly. Messrs. Crowell, Mandly and Fierman have come darker this time, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Sacriversum – Before The Birth Of Light

Have you ever wondered what DEEP PURPLE would sound like as a death metal band? SACRIVERSUM from Poland definitely provides an answer! These guys have a long history going back to the early ’90s but this is my first encounter with them…and it’s a very delightful one! This is a great combination of death metal and prog rock. A lot of credit goes to the inventive keyboard work of “Baran”, who adds some awesome Jon Lord quality Hammond organ sound to SACRIVERSUM’s diverse attack. This is heard nowhere better than the first two proper tracks ‘We’re Storming Through The Night’ […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Mangled Recrement – Demo [EP]

ENTOMBED. DEATH. MARDUK. Judging by the t-shirts, Poland’s MANGLED RECREMENT as least have good taste. ‘Boiled To Death’ instantly sears, white hot and bubbling, a twisted mishmash of NIHILIST and pre-Obscura GORGUTS, before all the prog came in. Really, it’s like the world blew up somewhere around ’94 when it comes to sonic references here, ‘Irresponsive Cephalic Fracture’ ascending / descending riffwork and herculean drum assaults caressing shadows of early OBITUARY, while ‘Bile Seeping Crypt’ steps out into frenetically off-kilter time signatures. Concluding this initial demo, ‘Buried Beneath Grubs’ brings the burl of Florida slammed against the largely more intricate […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Immolation – Descent

I’ve intentionally shied away from reviewing certain bands over time, either due to a blatant dislike or an appreciation that bordered on the slavish, knowing that both would result in a bias leaning heavily on one side or the other. DRAGONFORCE lies on one end of that seesaw, IMMOLATION the opposite. As I suffered through the latest album of the former, I felt the Noo Yawk-based death metal stalwarts were deserving of the same, so let us begin the descent into…Descent… Imagine, for a moment, a pastoral scene; maybe something of John Bradley or Frederic Edwin Church. But only for […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Relic – Crown Of Flies [EP]

Comprising a few of Milwaukee’s best and darkest, RELIC’s Crown Of Flies debut explodes with ‘The Void Between The Gods’, a cavernous maw in which the entrails of HERESIARCH and ORDER FROM CHAOS writhe in unbridled ferocity. War metal missiles streak across the skies of ‘Filth Of Rebirth’, yet pummeled broadside with mid ‘00s death ordnance and, though ‘Scavenger’s Daughter’ may slow the pace overall somewhat, it lends the punishment extra heft. A surprisingly melodic solo near the end leads us into ‘Iron Sacrament’, which imagines a more scattershot MEMORIAM in league with recent BELPHEGOR to disastrous effect. While Crown […]

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