Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Dr. Abner Mality

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 […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Picture – Wings

PICTURE is a band that almost made it big in heavy metal. Like many other bands of the dawn of the metal age, they SHOULD have made it big. All the tools were there. It’s been 40 years since these Dutchmen first made their mark. Is there a place for PICTURE in 2019? You bet your sweet bippy there is. Wings has such a flavor of what made metal great in the early ’80s and that formula still works today. You’d have to be dead inside to not get a warm fuzzy feeling from this record. This is where classic […]

Album Reviews

ALBUM REVIEW: Gaahl’s Wyrd – GastiR – Ghosts Invited

There’s no doubt that Mr. Kristian Espedal better known as GAAHL is one of the most polarizing, if not the most polarizing figure on the black metal scene. And so he’s been for quite some time. Much of it seems to revolve around his sexuality, which I could give a rat’s ass about. It’s no more pertinent with Gaahl than it is with Rob Halford or the dude from TORCHE. But even beyond that, the guy’s been a real outsider since Day One and in a lot of ways he sums up the rebel aspect of black metal a lot […]

Show Reports

Show / Festival Report: NYDM Spring Bash X – 2019

NYDM SPRING BASH XFeaturing ANVIL, EVILDEAD, HIRAX & many othersApril 18-20, 2019Club Garibaldi and Cactus Club, Milwaukee, WIBy: Dr. Abner Mality**Special Thanks to Scary Dan Gildea + Scaryhouse for assistance!** Well, that’s a wrap! After 10 years, one of the best metalfests in the Midwest, if not the USA, comes to an end and with it, a lot of memories. I made all but one of these events. I can’t tell you how many bands I was able to cross off my bucket list because of NYDM Spring Bash. Well, maybe I can…how about OMEN, ARTILLERY, WHIPLASH, POSSESSED, RUTHLESS, and […]

Older Posts