Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Dr. Abner Mality

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: 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: 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: Blind Equation – A Funeral In Purgatory

This was one of the most painful listening experiences I’ve had in a while. I really debated whether I should review this at all, as musically this is my version of Kryptonite. I don’t really enjoy doing super negative reviews. But BLIND EQUATION described themselves as “cybergrind”. With that bit of blatant mislabeling, all bets are off. There’s about as much grind in this as a TAYLOR SWIFT album. Which is to say, none. You want grind? Put in the latest from CAUSTIC WOUND…a tenth of a second of that would annihilate this. I can’t believe this is a Chicago […]

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: 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 […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Overdrivers – Glory Or Nothing

Ah, this is just what the doctor ordered…and what this doctor needed! Hard crunchy rock that’s easy on the brain and tough on the neck muscles. Not sure where these guys are from, but they’ve come up with an album full of high adrenaline metallic rock in the vein of AC/DC, SKID ROW, BULLET and more! ‘Kings Of The Road’ sets the stage beautifully with a cracking AC/DC style rocker with touches of old ACCEPT tossed in. Adrien Desquirez has a snotty, nasal sounding vocal that would be a problem for any style of music but this kind. For this […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Spiritworld – Helldorado

For me, hell is standing eternally in the middle of a plain. On one side, every mumble-rapper with “Lil” in his name is belting out garbage on Autotune. On the other side, we have phony cowboy hat guys calling themselves “Clay” and “Tucker” playing the horror that passes for modern country music on a loop. I cannot imagine a fate worse than this! Which makes it a surprise that I actually like SPIRITWORLD, a band that started out playing “outlaw country” and then switched over to raging SLAYERized thrash metal with a spaghetti Western aura. I suspect that Stu Folsom, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Chamber Mage – By Light Of Emerald Gods

Ah, the galloping riff! Steve Harris’ pride and joy, it’s become one of the staples of traditional heavy metal, particularly bands dealing with fantasy and medieval themes. That leads us directly to Colorado’s CHAMBER MAGE, who love swords, sorcery and those galloping riffs. This record oozes both classic metal and high fantasy. Not 100% sure, but I think By Light Of Emerald Gods is a concept album telling one mighty tale. If you love OMEN, MANILLA ROAD and the horribly overlooked MEDIEVAL STEEL, you’re going to be over the moon with CHAMBER MAGE. Once ‘In Battle’ locks into its patented […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Gates To Hell – Death Comes To All

Of all the new bands trying to cash in on the brutal death/hardcore mash-up trend, this is the worst I’ve heard so far. I’m appalled a record of this low quality is on Nuclear Blast. I know they sign some bad bands to jump on bandwagons, but this is bad right down to the production quality and playing ability. It makes SANGUISUGABOGG and BONGINATOR look like ATHEIST. I like death metal and hardcore when they are primitive and to the point. This is DUMB, not primitive…an onslaught of uninteresting riffs, lobotomized breakdowns that have been done over and over for […]

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