Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Short Sharp Shocks

Noroth / Grave Infestation – Split

When Washington State deathmongers NOROTH and GRAVE INFESTATION of British Columbia get together, there’s gonna be mayhem. NOROTH begins with ‘Trepanation Ritual’, positively spewing bile and fueled with an d-beat urgency, The Cult Is Alive DARKTHRONE, but more meaty, more burled, more gnarly and destructive; memorable in the way getting smacked in the cranium with a ball peen hammer is memorable. Instantly overpowering, GRAVE INFESTATION wields riff and convulsing rhythm with an uncompromising dexterity within the ‘Necroslaughterhouse’, sheep-bleating (bleeding?) leads and time changes aplenty, daring us to latch onto a time signature for more than 10 seconds, knowing we’ll fail […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Gaerea – Coma

Sticking with the pattern of releasing an album every two years since 2018’s aptly named Unsettling Whispers, Portuguese outfit GAEREA return with Coma. ‘The Poet’s Ballet’ glides into the ears, unhurried, yet with a sense of the near-liturgical, ALICE IN CHAINS vocal harmonies over peaceful keys and synths, the antithesis of what most have come to expect from GAEREA thus far – at least not to this degree. The true mark of quality here, among the many to be found over its catalog, is that, at just over 1/3rd of the way through the track, when treble flurries and the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Deadform – Entrenched In Hell

DEADFORM’s self-titled EP didn’t so much “burst” onto the scene in 2022, unless speaking of a pustule oozing its infection out after the needle has pierced it to drain. Apparently the pus has returned, but instead of the surgical prick of a needle, the trio has decided to apply pressure until it ruptures of its own accord with Entrenched In Hell. What else would one expect from former members of STORMCROW, the mighty DYSTOPIA, and LAUDANUM? ‘Of Plagues’ quickly shifts from cave dweller drone to HELLBASTARD groove-laden crust, the rhythm section/dual vocalists battling to be heard over their own cacophony, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Dark Tranquillity – Endtime Signals

While Gothenburg stalwarts DARK TRANQUILLITY were there at the start of the whole melodic death metal sound – and, in fact, had a hand in creating it – the band has never really “broke through” to mainstream consciousness on the level of IN FLAMES or AT THE GATES. Factor in that, post-1999’s Projector, DT fell victim to the ‘00s in a very real and recognizable way. While never quite going off the deep end into blatant courting of the Hot Topic set ala Jesper Stromblad & co., there’s no denying that founder Mikael Stanne has been playing it safe for […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mammoth Caravan – Frostbitten Galaxy

Following 2023’s debut, Ice Cold Oblivion, as well as the I, Megafauna EP released the same year, Little Rock, Arkansas’ MAMMOTH CARAVAN returns with the even more strangely named Frostbitten Galaxy. A jiggering of the lineup has occurred, a former drummer moving to guitars, a new guitarist. Just saying, I’ve been to Little Rock, and ain’t a single thing ice cold or frostbitten about the weather there at any point of the year. We’re talking galaxies here, though, folks, so… Opener ‘Absolute Zero’ slips in, taking its time getting where it’s hopefully going, a bed of synths beneath a soft, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Black Sites – The Promised Land?

Roughly three years after Untrue, BLACK SITES returns with fourth album, The Promised Land? Don’t let the fact that the band’s now trimmed to a trio worry you, as opener, ‘Descent’ sets the standard, robust and ready, the lyric “Cometh now the punishment for sins of yesterday / for those who lie, how many times betrayed?” laying a dark tone. Founding guitarist/vocalist Mark Sugar’s vocal range is firmly entrenched in the mid-range, so those in search of vocal gymnastics or histrionics may initially be put off, but for fans of equally melodic bands such as SOUND & SHAPE and Parallels […]

Music News

Album Review: Glacial Tomb – Lightless Expanse

From the fertile musical soil of Denver, Colorado, GLACIAL TOMB returns with its second full length. Annoying keys and overblown effects lead us into the ‘Stygian Abattoir’, and oh, man, are these guys trying to sound like early Gothenburg here, at least in the music. The vocals haven’t changed much since the self-titled 2018 debut, nondescript as ever. I’m sure some may thrive on the frequent shifts from second-tier death metal growl to blackish bark, but to me, there’s nothing appealing. The trio seems to feel they’re a blend of sludge, black and death metals, but the tired-ass bridge in […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hatchend – Summer Of ’69

In the world of death/grind, Polish label Selfmadegod Records has long been a bastion of quality output. Bands as far-ranging as AGATHOCLES and ENCOFFINATION call it home, the former firing off multiple split releases per year, the true scatterguns of grind, the latter patient-yet-passionate doom/death. Racing headlong into this fray comes HATCHEND. ‘Shackled Humanity’ pierces right out the gate, feral and uncompromising in its love of speed, speed and speed. What’s truly impressive even from the start is the strength of the riffs themselves, lashing out from the blistering blast, discernable and diabolical at once. With no time for such […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Pharmakon – Maggot Mass

After four albums on Sacred Bones Records (also home to releases by artists as disparate as the world-splitting KHANATE, the goth-proto-punk of LATHE OF HEAVEN and ZOLA JESUS’ electro-pop) cometh the Maggot Mass… Worry not, longtime fans of PHARMAKON, when we tell you that she’s experimenting with songs structured in a more “traditional” way. First, you must consider what one who has her past output would consider traditional, then you must put even that aside for this journey. ‘Wither And Warp’ ushers in the consecration, ceremonial in rhythm and intonation, a calling forth? Or to? Skitter-scritchings of insects, chattering, a […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Atom Driver – Occupants [EP]

By my count Occupants is ATOM DRIVER’s sixth EP, despite the band being around since 2016 with nary a full-length to show for it. Doesn’t matter, though, as the title track immediately jettisons me back to the days of snagging 7” from record stores by bands that fired off a couple-few songs at a time, little sonic pioneers, out into the frontier of independent shops, squats and bookstores. Shades of SNAPCASE’s more accessible work, JAWBREAKER’s Bivouac shove us headlong into ‘Say Anything You Want’, the snarling guitar recalling the abrasion of CAVE IN, but again, filtered through the lens of […]

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