Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Dr. Abner Mality

Album Reviews

Album Review: Prong – State Of Emergency

State Of Emergency is lucky #13 for New York’s stalwarts PRONG. Judging by the photos accompanying the release, it seems the “band” is pretty much just Tommy Victor at this point. Of course, Tommy is so multi-talented that he doesn’t need anybody else. Except maybe when it comes to the live show. The album will satisfy and delight anyone who has ever grooved or thrashed to PRONG’s mechanistic style of heavy metal. And if you hated and ignored PRONG before, this won’t change your mind. Will it draw new ears to Tommy’s pride and joy? Maybe, if you give it […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Malokarpatan – Vertumnus Caesar

If you’ve never delved into the mystic world of MALOKARPATAN before, I strongly advise you to do so. Vertumnus Caesar is a perfect entry point for getting to know this extremely quirky metal band from Slovakia. Their sound has echoes of many of the giants of the past, yet it still manages to be its own animal, with a completely singular identity. These guys really do sound like they’ve come from a different time and place. They are deeply steeped in the lore of Central Europe and their lyrics and song titles are all in jaw-breaking Slovakian that I will […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium

HORRENDOUS have now been around long enough that they can’t be considered new kids on the block anymore. But with every new album, the metal press waxes rhapsodic over them as if they are as fresh as a spring daisy blooming in the graveyard. I’ve never really bought into the hype, but with this album, things start to coalesce and come together more than before. Plus, I think the album is coming out at just the right time. Death metal is kind of a big deal again, with newer bands leading the way. Most favor a primitive, knuckle-dragging style, like […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Marduk – Memento Mori

Time sure hasn’t sanded the edges off of MARDUK. Memento Mori has some of the fastest, most vicious metal these guys have ever played. There’s a hardcore contingent of “fans” that complain the band has lost its edge when they ditched their Sieg Heiling bass player. You sure can’t hear it here. ‘Blood Of The Funeral’, ‘Coffin Carol’ and ‘Red Tree of Blood’ are like barbed wire whips that rip the flesh from your bones. Yet if you listen carefully, there is also strange melody and even a kind of brutal elegance that slips into some of these tunes. The […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blight House – Blight The Way

I’ve found a direct correlation between the amount of samples on an album and said album’s quality, which is almost always poor. On Blight The Way, there are a LOT of samples. Case closed, my point is proven. This is two guys and a drum machine from Rhode Island, trying to create cyber-death grind that’s so lowbrow that there’s no brow left at all. Now I like icky primitive death metal like MORTICIAN and FLUIDS, and I can get a laugh now and then from GWAR. Sometimes, though, shit is shit. BLIGHT HOUSE has all the technical prowess of a […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Somnuri – Desiderium

SOMNURI from Brooklyn, NY play an interesting amalgam of sounds on this, their third full length album. A good deal of what they play is raw, angry sludge music with hellacious tortured vocals, but mixed with a much more melodic kind of tuneage that’s a lot like prime 90s grunge. The vocalist Justin Sherrell is a remarkably versatile singer, who runs the gamut from rasping troll-like screeches to almost Eddie Vedder-sounding clean vocals…and all points in between. On top of that, he’s also the guitarist for SOMNURI, so he is very much the focal point for the band. The contrast […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Sigil – Argante [EP]

What a pleasant surprise this EP is! If you’re a fan of proto-metal/retro rock, this Swedish band is not to be missed. They could definitely be lumped in with the “occult rock” category, but I feel the songwriting and production is better than most of that ilk. The five tunes here are genuinely well crafted and should appeal to fans of diverse acts like JETHRO TULL, BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, OPETH, ALAN PARSONS PROJECT and URIAH HEEP. The sound is organic hard rock from the heart of the ’70s. ‘The Shape of Shadows’ starts things off with a driving, guitar-oriented tune. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Liquid Flesh – Dolores

Talk about a dark horse coming out of nowhere…that’s just what we have with this band from Grenoble, France (hometown of Andre The Giant, by the way). This is thinking man’s death metal of the first order, superbly played and recorded and, most importantly of all, something new that hasn’t been done to death like 90% of the death metal being released these days. This thing is loud! The opening chords of ‘Urbex Macabre’ hit like hammer blows, huge and vast in impact. The whole album comes across with the same force and clarity. It’s hard to nail down exactly […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Frozen Soul – Glacial Domination

Texas’ FROZEN SOUL is one of the new generation of death metal bands stepping up to the plate and trying to take the torch from the giants of old. That is a super difficult task, because almost all of these bands just sound like an echo of what has gone before. In FROZEN SOUL’s case, they obviously are BOLT THROWER’s junior division and I imagine vocalist Chad Green spends a lot of time in front of a mirror polishing his best Karl Willets tones. Out of all the new “primitive” death metal bands getting big publicity…the group includes SANGUISUGABOGG, 200 […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Vomitory – All Heads Are Gonna Roll

Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby. And when it comes to classic Stockholm death metal, VOMITORY is as real as it gets. Very glad indeed to see these old school OGs wielding their axes again; they live up to the album title and more! The first two tracks hit with all the subtlety of a pit bull on Fentanyl! This is laser focused destruction that reminds me a lot of fellow Swedes DEFLESHED in terms of economy and ferocity. VOMITORY have come up with a kind of paradoxical sound that is raw in true Swe-death fashion, yet it’s also […]

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