Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

lord randall

Album Reviews

Album Review: Dungeon – Into The Ruins [EP]

After a five-year wait, the misfits of London’s DUNGEON return with their 2nd EP, Into The Ruins. ‘Nagasaki Sunrise’ takes a bit too much time on the rev-up, but once the foursome gets going, stratospheric six-six-sick-string strafing, rocket-propelled rhythms and harsh harangues are not only what, but pretty much all that’s on offer. D’ ya like speed metal? Do you like speed metal?! Vocalist/guitarist Luke Drew’s snarl is surely more of the Teutonic school, bits of early Denis Bélanger, maybe, but less unhinged and into the impressive ‘Put Them In Their Graves’ we go. Guitar harmonies are sideswiped by even […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Undergang – De syv stadier af fordærv [EP]

Denmark death-dealers UNDERGANG have been around forever. Well, not forever, but when, since 2009, the band has released not only 4 full-lengths, but managed to toss out well over a dozen Splits, EPs as well as two live albums, let’s just say the “no rest for the wicked” axiom holds true. De syv stadier af fordærv races forward at the start, not running out of the gate, but crashing through, ‘Død’ careening headlong in fury, only slowing briefly to insert one of the churning, churlish nearly crust groovy moments for which the foursome has become known. ‘Mælkehvid og gennemsigtigt’ is […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Nuclear Dudes – Boss Blades

My first experience with NUCLEAR DUDES was ‘Concrete Cage/Abandoned’ from last year’s tribute to HIS HERO IS GONE, Monuments To Arson. While not so jagged as the original, ND founder and solo (most of the time) member Jon Weisnewski of SANDRIDER and AKIMBO managed to put his own spin on a sludge/crust/doom “classic”, if there ever were such a thing. With that being said, whatever you think NUCLEAR DUDES’ first full-length is, it isn’t…or it is in some spaces, but definitely not easy to pigeonhole. Synth stabs ala some amphetamine-jacked Keith Emerson are peppered through ‘Boss Blades’, but the presence […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Xasthur – Inevitably Dark

So, one of the strangest touring packages I’ve seen in a good while was WINO & XASTHUR a few years back. Granted, gone were all elements of black metal from what Scott Connor and his guitar compadre, Joe Baker were doing there, at that dive bar in Nashville, TN, so maybe it wasn’t that outlandish after all. All he needed was a cowboy hat, right? Well, over XASTHUR’s set, I was reminded of what a good guitarist he actually is. And now, a few years after, Connor returns with the sprawling Inevitably Dark, recorded solo and on a Tascam DP-03. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Vulture Industries – Ghosts From The Past

Norway’s VULTURE INDUSTRIES has been a case of quality over quantity from its inception, so we’ll forgive them if it takes a year, or three, or four between albums. Swimming just beneath the surface, it seems, in the ocean that is prog-infused metal without going full-bore into unabashed wankery, the five-piece has never gotten its due, at least from where this fellow sits. And now, six (count ‘em!) years after the stellar Stranger Times, the band return with Ghosts From The Past. ‘New Lords Of Light’ shines, elements of SENTENCED, GREEN CARNATION and, yes, LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE, a heady blend of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Oxblood Forge – Cult Of Oblivion [EP]

The blend of stoner and doom is hard to get right, even more so when bands task themselves with (or come by it naturally, which is best) tossing some traditional heavy metal into the cauldron to kick the concoction up a few notches. Boston’s OXBLOOD FORGE is one of those, and Cult Of Oblivion follows its first full-length showing, Decimator of 2021. Instantly I’m not fond of Ken MacKay’s vocal approach, but I’m equally unsure if it’s due to my setting expectations prior to listening, or if his shout/bellow/screech delivery would be truly better suited to a more aggressive style. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Dead Heat – Endless Torment [EP]

Ahh, crossover. That glorious, sweat ‘n’ stale beer-drenched alliance unexpectedly created by streetwise hardcore kids who became better musicians and suburbanite headbangers who wanted to add a bit more groove to the rapid-fire riff onslaught of thrash. And when your first album ends with a CRUMBSUCKERS cover, it’s clear you know your history. So let’s see what ya got, DEAD HEAT. ‘Endless Torment’ begins with a keyboard intro that lasts about 40 seconds and is, therefore, 40 seconds too long, but rest assured that once this Oxnard, California four-piece gets going all is forgiven. A more outright thrash attack during […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blodulv – I, II, III – Burial

The early ‘00s were a time of sonic upheaval in black metal. Tectonic plates were shifting, stars were realigning into some configuration never dreamt of by black metal’s originators, and likely never intended by the 2nd Wave of the early ‘90s. EMPEROR silenced its existence for a time with the uber-progressive – and final – studio album, Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire & Demise, France’s BLUT AUS NORD would drop The Work Which Transforms God in ’03, and ENSLAVED released the still-divisive Below The Lights. Into this shift strode BLODULV. With albums simply titled I, II and III – Burial, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Cloak – Black Flame Eternal

Having seen the Atlanta quartet open for IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT in what amounts to a shoebox with a bar inside earlier this year, I can vouch that CLOAK’s “is it black/death or death/black” hybridization does carry over well into a live setting. To be honest, I’ve never “gotten” the WATAIN comparisons, as, musically, CLOAK has more clarity while managing to haunt – and thus far thrive in – the shades beyond dark and light, good and evil when it comes to lyrical fare. Striking hard and early the anvil of the search for enlightenment, ‘Ethereal Fire’ ignites, the band sounding full-bodied […]

Music News

Album Review: Chrome Waves – Earth Will Shed Its Skin

Let’s just get this out of the way to start with. The term “post-” anything has begun to rub me very much the wrong way when it comes to genre identifiers. Yes, yes, I understand, due to the seemingly endless sub-sub-subgenres comingling in some bland incestuous orgy of redundancy, you “need” defining terms to guide you toward artists/bands that might be of interest. I get that. My true contention is that the prefix “post-” has been deep in glut for years now, much the same as the progressive scene experienced in the ‘70s. Chicago’s CHROME WAVES have been at it […]

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