Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Dr. Abner Mality

Album Reviews

Album Review: Angel Witch – Angel Of Light

Talk about an erratic album schedule…ANGEL WITCH should top that list. The last effort from the NWOBHM giants was As Above, So Below back in 2012…7 years ago. Over the last three decades, I’m never exactly sure if these guys are an active band or not, but Angel Of Light definitely declares that ANGEL WITCH is back in the game. My feelings towards this one are conflicted. It is certainly true to the classic ANGEL WITCH style of gloomy and galloping melodic metal that approaches doom, but is not quite there. The band hasn’t thrashed up their style or gone […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Warsenal – Feast Your Eyes

Here’s a shot of something fresh in the thrash world. Hailing from the metal hotbed of Montreal, WARSENAL is doing something a bit different than just imitating what has gone before, but at the same time, they have the feel of something that could have come from the glory days of thrash. Think of ’80s thrashers that went against the grain; REALM, ANNIHILATOR, DBC, even VOI VOD. That’s the ballpark these guys are trying to inhabit. Feast Your Eyes is fast! Above all else, these guys play with high velocity, but favor unusual time changes and riffing patterns. It is […]

Show Reports

Show Report: OBITUARY / ABBATH / MIDNIGHT / DEVIL MASTER

OBITUARY / ABBATH / MIDNIGHT / DEVIL MASTEROct. 13, 2019The Majestic, Madison, WIBy: Dr. Abner Mality I was in a bind. There were a number of cool concert options available to me, but with this inconvenient thing called a weekend work schedule looming over me like a dark cloud, I could select only one show to get time off for. It wound up being this one and I think it was a solid choice. From top to bottom, this was an interesting lineup for the diehard metal connoisseur. The show was originally scheduled for the Sylvee but moved to The […]

Interviews

Interview: Tomb Mold

Our planet is in peril. Does it have its own consciousness, its own voice? Perhaps it speaks to us through music. If Canada’s TOMB MOLD are the conduit for this planetary mind, then the voice of the world is more of a scream of rage and horror. That is what TOMB MOLD captures on their new album Planetary Clairvoyance. The band has been one of the most talked about in death metal circles for the last few years. Few bands can capture both sickness and technicality like TOMB MOLD can. They also have a cosmic/science fiction edge which gives their […]

Music News

Album Review: White Ward – Love Exchange Failure

Long time music reviewers all have to deal with the possibility of burnout. You get so much thrown at you, it becomes increasingly difficult to be moved by a piece of music. In the metal realm, you hear a lot of “good” stuff that is pleasing but soon forgot. More rarely, you encounter a real headbanger that gets your blood flowing. But still it doesn’t enter the realm of something profound, of music that really opens your eyes and inspires. Those kind of records come along very, very rarely. Here is one that transcends the metal tag. I had no […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Exhumed

On their previous album Death Revenge, EXHUMED experimented with more involved songwriting and a conceptual storytelling approach. Reaction to the record was decidedly mixed, so the gorehounds have gone back to basics and stripped their music to the literal bone. Horror disposes of the long songs and ambient interludes and dives into a pit of simple gory grind. The band is probably going to want to kill me for this, but I actually prefer Death Revenge. That was an album that took a few risks with the formula. Horror is pretty much formula deathgrind right to the core. With sixteen […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Wraith – Absolute Power

This unheralded trio from Indiana have come up with a sizzling firecracker of an album…a brief but blistering blast of thrash with a rock n roll touch that so far is one of the best records of its kind this year. This is about a half hour of thrash that will drop you on your head. The chief comparison I can make to WRAITH would be MIDNIGHT, but I think I enjoy Absolute Power even more than MIDNIGHT’s last album. It’s definitely thrash metal, but with a punky, rawky edge to it. The opening one-two punch of ‘Devil’s Hour’ and […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Sacred Reich – Awakening

Here’s the long-awaited comeback for classic thrashers SACRED REICH. You knew it was coming, you just didn’t know when. This band sure had their moments (mostly Ignorance and Surf Nicaragua), but they never really broke through to the top tier level many thought they could reach. Their later albums like Heal were downright boring. Awakening features all of the classic SACRED REICH elements you would expect, but much like back in the day, it is just not a blow away record. One thing’s for sure, they don’t overstay their welcome. Awakening is a very brisk 31 minutes and change, consisting […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Tomb Mold – Planetary Clairvoyance

TOMB MOLD have emerged as one of the most talked about new death metal bands around. Usually that bodes ill for a band, but for these guys, it is perfectly understandable. They have found a way to merge sick, diseased sounding death metal with a more technical and progressive version of the genre. This is by no means an easy thing to do, as the scale usually tips too much in one direction for such a combo to actually work. TOMB MOLD make it work. Planetary Clairvoyance picks up where their last album Manor Of Infinite Form left off. They […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Memoriam – Requiem For Mankind

MEMORIAM continues to crank albums out at a pace that most modern bands wouldn’t have a clue about. As soon as one has come out, work starts immediately on the next. It hasn’t been that long since The Silent Vigil emerged and now here is Requiem For Mankind. Sometimes having albums come out on a conveyor belt means a drop in quality…how about in MEMORIAM’s case? This is actually the best MEMORIAM yet. It totally retains the old school BOLT THROWER/BENEDICTION feeling of the band but the pace seems quicker, the music a little angrier and the riffs a bit […]

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