Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

lord randall

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hurakan – Via Aeterna

France’s HURAKAN returns for the all-important third album, moving up to virtual abattoir of death metal, Czechia’s Lacerated Enemy Records. Via Aeterna from the start reveals a darker, more seasoned HURAKAN, ‘Imperium’ slowly but deliberately moving into our field of vision, a hulking being, orchestral arrangements courtesy of Philippe Parickmiler adding just the layer the foursome needed to move forward. And thus we do, into ‘Void’, which isn’t so much of an earworm as the prior track, but drummer Thomas Cremier seems to have fixed the slight thinness I thought I was hearing before. Unhurried yet not lazy, this seems […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: ORATORY – Inner Pyre [EP]

I won’t lie. As much as I pride myself on being musically openminded I expect truth in and from the musicians I listen to and strive to be authentic above all in my own work. You’ll never see me sporting a Harley Davidson shirt. You know why? I do not own a Harley Davidson. Don’t slap a Viking helmet on your dome and sing about Lindisfarne if you’re from bloody Croatia, and if your band members are going to wear CELTIC FROST and NEUROSIS shirts in your promo photos, I’d better hear you at least trying to inject some of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: HALLUX VALGUS – Reflections Of Distant Dreams

Okay, so the cat got me. I mean, look. On the cover. It’s a cat. And it looks like my cat, for fuck’s sake. I’ve been going through a late ‘60s-early ‘70s psych/folk phase for the past year or two such as INCREDIBLE STRING BAND blended with monster ‘70s guitar rock ala CROW and RAM JAM, and the art of this first widely-available edition left me unsure what to expect, but intrigued enough to press Play. A hard-charging riff sets Reflections Of Distant Dreams off at a gallop, ‘Ghastly Reflections’ harking back to the days when thrash/speed was beginning its […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Vaamatar – Medievalgeist

And so it was that, after suffering through the utter dreck comprising HELL MILITIA’s newest half-assery, I needed the black metal version of a palate cleanse. Having no experience with VAAMATAR prior, but armed with the assurance that Iron Bonehead Productions is usually reliable for at least quality if not preference, we venture forth into Medievalgeist. The title track arrives, synth, screams and sacrifice giving way to equally orgiastic glee, and the first thing that stands out is the surprisingly robust production. No ‘Several Species Of Small Armored Pandas Together In A Cave A Mile Away And Grooving With A […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Eight Bells – Legacy Of Ruin

Released parallel to the compiling of its prior works, the aptly-titled Histories 2010-2016, EIGHT BELLS delivers its third long-player, Legacy Of Ruin on some expectant ears. Well, these, at least. Sonically I’ve always found Melynda Jackson & co. not-so-distant cousins to the now-defunct SUBROSA, albeit more diverse in their palette. Where the former came from the dark heart of folk, EIGHT BELLS treads more in the realms of doom, all the while tossing shovelfuls of hard prog ala POPOL VUH, the devilish dirge of JACULA and orbit-twisting YOB… All evidenced splendidly on opener ‘Destroyer’, which had me reaching for my […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Skumstrike – Deadly Intrusions

Ah, Quebec! Home of Mononc’ Serge, black metal, Poutine, black metal, and a little band we all know and had better respect, VOIVOD. Oh, and GORGUTS. Oh, and…now SKUMSTRIKE! Beginning with the soft, soothing intro track as all albums should, ‘Caustic Poison’ comforts and gives peace and if you believe that, stop reading, this fuck is not for you! Surprisingly battle-hardened despite having only a demo and 3 EPs under its bullet belt, the duo of ZS and LA [drums, vocals and string bedevilment respectively] go straight for the balls on ‘Blood Red Vision’, a slaughter-stomp if ever there was […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: BA’A – Egregore

A relative new arrival to black metal, France’s BA’A stirred up things a bit with 2020’s Deus qui non mentitur, the debut embracing the overarching aspects of the genre without seeming beholden to tradition to the point of obstinance. Now don’t get me wrong, I can fully respect a BOLT THROWER-esque refusal to move either “forward” or “backward” sonically, it’s just that to have put up such an image for BA’A – especially given the pedigree of its members – would’ve seemed dishonest. And thus, credit where due. Not having nearly enough French to even begin deciphering Egregore lyrically, I’ll […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Midnight – Let There Be Witchery

There aren’t many good things to come out of the Buckeye State. As a Michigander there are the obvious “sportsball” rivalries, but mainly Ohio’s just something to avoid driving through on your way to get anywhere else. Don’t wanna “get any on ya” or anything. And yet, this is where the nasty blackthrashspeed of founder and sole member Athenar has thriven for nearly two decades now. Thus, I’ve promised myself this review will only take as long to write as a listen through his fifth under the black banner of MIDNIGHT. Thoughts of some piss-poor “intro” get flushed septic-ward once […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Dark Meditation – Polluted Temples

With a PR sheet name-dropping everyone from VENOM to PRIEST to DANZIG and mentioning the members’ previous “punk ethos” Polluted Temples could’ve gone either way. Shiver-inducing images of early ‘00s CRADLE OF FILTH or any DANZIG after III: How The Gods Kill plagued my mind, but on a ridiculous bright and sunny Monday morning in February, 2022, I gathered my courage and… After the mercifully short ‘Prelude’, ‘Babalon.Money.Magick’ is…oh, yes, now I see where the DANZIG influence comes from, but it’s not even good DANZIG, instead sloughing forward with all the energy of a greasy devilock and half the passion. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: HEBOSAGIL – Yössä

When a band morphs from a pretty much by-the-numbers speed/thrash act into a strange hydra of noise rock, abusive sludge and identifiably Scandinavian punk, it’s a chance taken; but when the change happens over the course of nearly two decades – and seems natural – it’s downright impressive. Think about it. Do any of our precious 2nd wave black metal bands sound the same as they did in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s? Well, there you have it. So, though the core ethics/beliefs may not have changed, through age and experience they have developed, much like the sound of HEBOSAGIL on […]

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