Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

lord randall

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mork – Monolitt

For over two decades, Norway’s MORK has become and remained a bastion of quality and reliability, releasing an album at least every few years. Granted, some have rang truer than others, but each has stood on its own merit for the time, and at the least warranted repeated listens. Thomas Eriksen is MORK, plain and simple, so victory or defeat rests squarely on his shoulders when it comes to Monolitt. ‘Under Vekten Av Verden’ unfurls a massive dark flag across an unforgiving storm-swept sky, cleaved by riff lightning, heaving with the thunderous rumble of Asgeir Mickelson’s (more on that later) […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Speedslut – Cimbrian Rites

From the earliest occultic bursts of MERCYFUL FATE to the speed-fueled attacks of ARTILLERY, INVOCATOR, and the underrated FURIOUS TRAUMA, the country of Denmark – with a population less than New York City alone – has clearly made its presence known in the realm of heavy music. Thus, it’s safe to say any Danish speed/thrash band has a high bar already set. Enter SPEEDSLUT, last year’s Ferocity Of Steel EP waving the denim ‘n’ leather flag proudly, its 12 minutes less a thoughtfully planned military operation than a wild shot into enemy territory to make clear its malicious intent. Sharp-tongued […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Du Cane – Veil Of The Abyss

Progressive rock (and now metal) has a somewhat distinct problem, much like fusion, in that so much of it claims to be and so little of it is truly progressive. This has been an issue since the early days of the style, in which any band with a keyboardist fancied itself the new YES, the new ELP, the new NEKTAR, despite doing little or nothing to actually move the music forward; to progress. The same plagued jazz, experiencing its own renaissance almost in parallel to progressive rock, resulting in what would be called “fusion”. DU CANE is a new band […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Dead Void – Cranial Devastation

Danish death/doom duo A & K return from 2022’s Volatile Forms, having trimmed the lineup to themselves, each taking up portions of the bass, adding to their respective drums and guitars, and now unleashing Cranial Devastation upon us. Well, let’s hope so. You can’t just drop a title like that and not deliver. Actually, you can, and we’ve seen it far too frequently before. ‘Regurgitation Of Ancient Manifest’, thankfully, drips with bass-drenched plod, oozing slow yet vile malignance from every festering pore. RUNEMAGICK comes to mind, a less off-the-rails KHANATE due to the focus employed. Around the 2:20 mark, the […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Endseeker – Coffin Born [EP]

After 12 years, 4 studio albums, and hanging onto the same lineup through it all, Germany’s ENDSEEKER depart this sewage planet via Coffin Born. ‘Enemies Of Peace’ conjures images of tanks cresting the hill, but you’re in the valley and doomed. Elements of SACRILEGE, MEMORIAM, and whatever DYING FETUS wishes they could ever be join the rampage party, which only increases the sense of volatile danger. Witness ‘No After. No Before’, where off-time rhythms and riffs careen into the title track, sirens and slaughter surrounding your twitching, pleading forms. ‘Life Breeds Death’ grants no reprieve, and a DAVID HASSELHOFF cover […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Witch Ripper – Through The Hourglass

When a band’s PR one-sheet compares any band to MASTODON, DAVID BOWIE and COHEED AND CAMBRIA not only in the same paragraph, but the same damn sentence, ya just gotta wonder what kind of fever dream or ayahuasca trip was being recovered from here. You know the bands themselves don’t write these, and – while you trust this particular source – you kinda hope for the best. WITCH RIPPER’s been at it awhile now, and Through The Hourglass is it’s third. Riding on the back of two solid releases, the chances of the ball being completely dropped are few, but […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Soul Exchange – Slow Descent [EP]

Texans SOUL EXCHANGE return with the Slow Descent EP, clearly of the HATEBREED school but tossing in just enough early BIOHAZARD / SIX FEET DEEP to keep things interesting. ‘Familiar Poison’ drops unexpected dual leads into the mix, while ‘In The Room But Not With Me’ employs clean vocals at times to good effect. Mostly mid-paced for hardcore, I’d love to see the quintet rev the engines a bit above 2nd gear a bit more often (‘Cash And Cold Hands’), but there are elements that – if focused on – could make them stand out. Bands of this style are […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Goetia – Mortuary Cult

After three years and as many EPs, Washington, D.C.’s GOETIA welcomes us into the Mortuary Cult on its first full length release. I’m blindfolded, mind, having never heard the band before, but given their previous choice of covers [KREATOR’s ‘Ripping Corpse’ and ‘Don’t Burn The Witch’ from VENOM], one hopes for at least a spark from these mighty torches has found its way into what we’re about to hear. Ahh, the intro. The seemingly ever-present and often pointless intro which seems to plague death metal bands specifically. Thankfully, ‘Lanterns Of The Dead’ rips the scab off, taking its share of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: THE FRĒQS – No God On The Gold Coast

There’s been quite the resurgence of noise and noise-adjacent rawk in the past few years, with longtime bands like THE ANTIKAROSHI releasing the finest work of its career [2024’s L’inertie Polaire], the recent MELVINS / NAPALM DEATH’s Savage Imperial Death March collaboration, not to mention relative newcomers EYES and BRIGHT SUNSHINE adding their own angular, jagged shards to the scene with Spinner and Executive Power Supreme respectively. ‘John Travolta’ pops his collar to the sound of that prehistoric dial-up internet connection we love so well, and THE FRĒQS follow shortly. Messrs. Crowell, Mandly and Fierman have come darker this time, […]

Short Sharp Shocks

Mangled Recrement – Demo [EP]

ENTOMBED. DEATH. MARDUK. Judging by the t-shirts, Poland’s MANGLED RECREMENT as least have good taste. ‘Boiled To Death’ instantly sears, white hot and bubbling, a twisted mishmash of NIHILIST and pre-Obscura GORGUTS, before all the prog came in. Really, it’s like the world blew up somewhere around ’94 when it comes to sonic references here, ‘Irresponsive Cephalic Fracture’ ascending / descending riffwork and herculean drum assaults caressing shadows of early OBITUARY, while ‘Bile Seeping Crypt’ steps out into frenetically off-kilter time signatures. Concluding this initial demo, ‘Buried Beneath Grubs’ brings the burl of Florida slammed against the largely more intricate […]

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