Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Dr. Abner Mality

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 […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: RADIEN – Unissa Palaneet

I dunno, I must have a different idea of what “devastatingly heavy sludge” is than RADIEN and the folks who write their press. Sludge metal to me is an attack of thick, gooey bass heavy riffs that proceed in slow or medium pace, usually accompanied by pained vocals and thudding drums. I think of bands like ELECTRIC WIZARD, CROWBAR, WEEDEATER, BRAINOIL, etc. That description doesn’t seem to fit this Finnish act at all. Half of Unissa Palaneet isn’t even what I’d call metal, and the heavier parts seem much closer to what I think of as “post metal” (although a […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mystic Prophecy – Hellriot

Hellriot is the 12th studio album from this German metal institution and I’m hoping this will be the one to get them the attention they deserve. I’m not holding my breath, though, and that’s a shame because when it comes to classic PRIEST/DIO inspired metal with a kick, MYSTIC PROPHECY is hard to beat. This is the kind of record that you’re glad when the band tries nothing new. They don’t really need to. They’ve staked out this territory and dominate it…to me, they should be on the same level as PRIMAL FEAR. Their singer R.D. Liapakis has always been […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Downfall Of Gaia – Silhouettes Of Disgust

Even though Germany’s DOWNFALL OF GAIA have been around for 15 years, this record is my first actual encounter with them. I could have dived into their previous output as research for this here review, but I thought I would go into this from zero. Everything about the band is new to me and I feel my missive should reflect that. This is a hodgepodge of sounds ranging from very fast and aggressive “semi-black” metal to drifting post metal drones to screaming modern hardcore a la CONVERGENCE. It’s all whipped together and sometimes winds up sounding pretty choppy. For example, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Xysma – No Place Like Alone

XYSMA was right there at the beginning of the Finnish death metal movement and back then they were as icky and revolting as any of them. That phase didn’t last too long; along with CONVULSE, they radically altered their sound and injected more straight rock and roll as well as other influences into their sound. But even that was 25 years ago… Of course, no band stays retired in this day and age and after a quarter of a century, XYSMA have returned. Anyone pining for their gruesome death metal days can continue pining…there’s none of that here. However, if […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Minenwerfer – Feuerwalze

In the history of warfare, no battle was deadlier, more chaotic and more hellish than the Battle Of The Somme in World War I. Casualties were tabulated at more than one million and this grueling conflict rewrote the rules of war. Feuerwalze, the latest album of American black metal force MINENWERFER, is a concept album dealing with The Somme. This album sounds like all-out warfare. Fast, savage, chaotic yet militant, this is trench war given aural form. World War I is no longer an unusual subject for a metal band – GOD DETHRONED, 1914 and even IRON MAIDEN have dealt […]

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