Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

lord randall

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ihsahn – Ihsahn

I mean, really, in 2024, what point is there in backstory? If you’re into metal/extreme music whatsoever, you’re at the very least aware of IHSAHN, and his history. If not, a quick search will provide such, but let’s focus, as I’m sure he would desire, on the music/art, which is why we’re discussing him at all. For IHSAHN’s eighth – though all of his releases have an element of the forward-thinking, and he has always been seen as the most “experimentally-minded” member of EMPEROR, for better or worse – he’s chosen to pull out all stops and present the project […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: DIPYGUS – Dipygus

While death metal was born swathed in gore (I mean, it is death metal, right?), since the mid-‘80s the genre has morphed into subgenre after sub-subgenre after sub-subgenre, resulting in…well, if we’re going to take brutal death, goregrind, and gore metal as examples…does anything truly shock and appall anymore? When’s the last time a song’s lyrics truly creeped you out? When’s the last time those lyrics joined with the music to create something utterly terrifying? Returns DIPYGUS with its third full-length, ready to spew blood, choler and phlegm in a fountain of yellow bile ‘cross us all, ‘Perverse Termination (Bulb […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Black Absinthe – On Earth Or In Hell

BLACK ABSINTHE was born a little over a decade ago, yet On Earth Or In Hell is only its second full-length. While not necessarily a cause for concern, this will be a sure test of the sophomore slump most bands experience on their second release. ‘Dead Queen’ begins with a snappy riff/rhythm combo, but it seems a bit overproduced for the heavy metal/punk hybrid the trio is shooting for. Still and all, Cerre’s vocals are like a less hammered Lemmy, the mix is full, and none of the instruments are muscling the others out of the way, so let’s call […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Obsidian Tongue – The Stone Heart [EP]

OBSIDIAN TONGUE weaves into ‘The Stone Heart’, and we, standing in a clearing while gazing toward the shimmering line of grey rain that falls steady, sure on the border with the surrounding forest. The storm shifts, turns inward, closer, then enters us, wreaking havoc. Suspended yet descending slowly, ‘Winter Child’ is ache and melancholia, yet a stark look at the flesh and eyes that gaze back at one from the mirror of truth – unfoolable and unforgiving. Amid the droning vocal harmonies and harsh howl, we bow, scrawling our destiny on frozen ground. Instrumental ‘Bear At The Tree Of Light’ […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Big Scenic Nowhere – The Waydown

While I remember digging BIG SCENIC NOWHERE’s initial two EPs, Dying On The Mountain and especially 2020’s more prog-tinged Lavender Blues, I’ll admit to letting 2020 debut LP Vision Beyond Horizon and The Long Morrow of the following year slip under my radar, always “intending to” go back and investigate what the foursome could do within the space of an album. I never did, though, so no better time than now to check in. Opener and title track, ‘The Waydown’ doesn’t so much arrive as materialize before closed eyes and open ears, the vocal harmonies and flowing, yet purposeful momentum […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Ghoul – Noxious Concoctions [EP]

For well over 20 years GHOUL has been splattering minds and bodies with their truly twisted death/grind/thrash, so it’s no surprise Noxious Concoctions follows that same formula. With ‘The Eyes Of The Witch’, the foursome chugs along at a mid-paced but mangling rhythm ‘n’ riff-ride, while the title track ups the ante in both speed and fury, a bit of UNLEASHED in the guitar tone. ‘Shotgun Gulch’ returns to a confrontational stomp/swagger, fine for what it is but a bit too “throwaway” SIX FEET UNDER for my taste. However, the snarling ‘Ratlicker’ and FUNEROT cover that put the final shovelful […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Upon Stone – Dead Mother Moon

Ah, melodic death metal. From Gothenburg, Sweden and Finland did the beautiful yet razored strains of our beloved metal flow. While I’ll admit to being a lifer of the Stockholm sound, the rusted yet tearing teeth of the Swedish Chainsaw (HM-2) cranked to oblivion, the sometimes- bludgeoning doom-influenced moments, there’s something special about the more precise attack of the G-burg bands, and the inherent melody they brought to the table. And thus, from the cold, jagged cliffs, the snow-encased lands of the San Fernando Valley, California comes UPON STONE. Say what you will, but I’d imagine growing up as a […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Lord Dying – Clandestine Transcendence

LORD DYING’s third album, Mysterium Tremendum, set the Portlandians (Portlanders? Portlandites?) firmly amid the bands that release watershed albums in which they could’ve really gone any direction from where they were. Brushes with previous prog elements became more intentional, and it helped the foursome in carving out its own niche in the somehow currently crowded sub-genre of doom in all its facets. Clandestine Transcendence sees founders Olson and Evans return with a new rhythm section, and slowly, almost languidly ushering us into ‘The Universe Is Weeping’ with guitars reminiscent of WISHBONE ASH or PROCOL HARUM when they knew they had […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Nobody’s Fool – Time

‘Cherrie’ kicks off the NOBODY’S FOOL’s fourth album with an effects-drenched guitar tone that sounds alright at the start, but when it’s kept up for the entire song, it turns what could be a neat introduction to the band into a something the trained ear has to struggle to “listen past” in getting to the meat of an otherwise-decent opening. Things seem to be reined in a bit more on ‘So Wrong’, and we’re able to see NOBODY’S FOOL has some chops, and know the ‘80s Sunset Strip sound well, ticking all the boxes. Clean, higher-register vocals, blue collar rhythm […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Slope – Freak Dreams

‘Talk Big’ takes shape slowly, fluidly, almost slow funk influenced before the actual funk is kicked into gear. Problem is, it’s not even really that funky, recalling more (Hed)PE half-assing its way through an early RHCP cover. Conversely, ‘It’s Tickin’’ kicks with a BEASTIE BOYS flavor circa Hello Nasty for the most part, only the outro dragging down any of the momentum SLOPE was close to gaining. ‘Chasing Highs’ carries on in this style, a very slight CIV presence revealing itself in the chorus but keeps the energy up for the entire tune. ‘Hectic Life’ is another winner once it […]

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