Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

lord randall

Album Reviews

Album Review: The Grasshopper Lies Heavy – A Cult That Worships A God Of Death

Going into a band “blind” for a review is the two-sided coin we critics/celebrants/self-proclaimed journalists flip more and more often these days, as we come to the sobering realization that you simply can’t Hear Everything. Bands pop up on your radar, seemingly out of nowhere, despite having been in existence for sometimes many years prior. Such is the case with yours truly and THE GRASSHOPPER LIES HEAVY. Helmed by multi-instrumentalist/vocalist James Woodard, and completed by Mario Trejo on bass and drummer Steven Barrera, TGLH has moved over it’s 10+ years from a primarily instrumental outfit to a more “standard” band. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Godslave – Positive Aggressive

Ahh, thrash. For me, coming into my teens in 1985, heavy metal was beginning to stake its claim in my pubescent, hormone-driven/angst-ridden/terminally depressed soul. MOLLY HATCHET, OZZY OSBOURNE and TWISTED SISTER were slowly ceding listening time to MEGADETH, DARK ANGEL and CANDLEMASS. Things were getting hectic. And then, thanks to print rags such as Metal Mania, and Kerrang, I began to hear about SODOM, KREATOR, etc. It seemed those German bands had a bite, a hunger, razor-styled riffing and raspy vocals that the US bands just weren’t giving me. To this day, the thrash I do enjoy is mainly of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Dungeon Serpent – World Of Sorrows

Looking at the cover art of DUNGEON SERPENT’s debut full-length, World Of Sorrows, I was instantly reminded of the CANDLEMASS albums Nightfall and Ancient Dreams. Delving a bit deeper, come to find out that the same artist – 19th century British-American painter, Thomas Cole – is responsible for all. I remember buying Nightfall when it came out, having no idea what I’d be hearing once I got home, and falling so under that spell as to now have the iconic skull-and-spikes image now tattooed on my body. ‘Necroscope’ doesn’t waste any time whatsoever getting down to the business of death, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Exil – Warning

Umeå, situated in Norrland of Sweden, has a rich cultural history. So much so that – if you’re reading this – you probably either really love or really hate its most famous metal export, MESHUGGAH. But more than this…much more than this…is that if you’re of a certain age, and listened to punk/hardcore, the name “Umeå” was mentioned without irony alongside the scenes of New York, Cleveland, Detroit and LA. That history flows deep within EXIL, though Stockholm is where the elements of this culture-shattering bomb came together to create Warning. Made up of members current and former of U.X. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Voidgazer – Dance Of The Undesirables

Oh, you had me at “biker prog”, PR dude, if for no other reason than that the utter trainwreck of a STEPPENWOLF / NEKTAR hybrid would be fun to watch go down in flames. Could it possibly be worthwhile, though? Alright, VOIDGAZER, hit me… While the name/project itself has been around for about 5 years now, a complete overhaul in 2019-2020 of all but guitarist Austin Rakey could spell either doom or a reinvention, of sorts. ‘Jesus Take The Needle’, spends around a minute revving the engines, as if to make sure it’s truly good to go. The main riff […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hinsides – Under Betlehems Brinnande Stjärna

From the opening minute of ‘Afsägelserit’, I wasn’t sure what exactly I was supposed to be hearing. Remember that sound when your cassette player starts to eat the tape itself, so you quickly remove the tape, wind it back up, and it miraculously still plays when you reinsert it into the player, but the music never sounds quite “right” again? Yeah, that. I’ve heard…I’ve made better-sounding demos than this with the punk band I was in when I was 13, and we were legitimately recording into a boom box. Six minutes of hectic that somehow managed to have absolutely nothing […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Death On Fire – Six Foot Box [EP]

One would think, after two albums and a split heading up the annoyingly-named DEATH ON FIRE, as well as a “funny” little grind parody project ALPHA O-MAGA, Tim Kenefic would’ve either given up, or at least latched onto something worth a listen. Regrettably, what we’re given with Six Foot Box is more of the same. The title track wanders, even 30 seconds in, meandering, Kenefic doing his best DANZIG impression (check out the band’s truly abysmal stumble through ‘How The Gods Kill’ for his worst), lackadaisical vocals reminiscent of nowadays Phil Anselmo reliving the nods from his heroin days, all […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Orphan Donor – Unraveled

My early 20s were a time fraught with experimentation of practically any sort you’d care to imagine. Some of those early alchemical attempts “took”, becoming part of my fiber to this day, some not at all, and some “took” in ways they shouldn’t have. Of the former, a video store (VHS, natch) rental of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s first English-language film, Santa Sangre, resulted in that uncomfortable yet strangely titillating sensation of someone dipping their fingertips into the edges of your mind, toying, testing. While backtracking through Jodorowsky’s previous works, I came upon 1973’s The Holy Mountain, which was the equivalent of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: CMPT – Mrtvaja [EP]

Clocking in at a goat’s breath shy of 20 minutes, Balkan entity CMPT has its work cut out for it. With only two songs, almost evenly cleaving Mrtvaja in twain, not a second of space can be wasted, even one minute of aimless wandering would taint the purity I’m sure CMPT is seeking to display. Built on indigenous ways and Slavic folklore, ‘Mrtvaja Part 1’ lures, hypnotic before a blazing, triumphal chaos unfolds, enfolds the listening ear, offering no chance of escape. Rhythmically impressive – and it’s satisfying to hear the drumming so clear, so prevalent in the mix – […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Angstskrig – Skyggespil

I always get a little worried when a group/band/gathering of entities feels the need to tell us they are “shrouded in mystery” or esoteric. Shouldn’t such things speak for themselves, after all? Shouldn’t the darkness, the obscured lure the listener in? Even more is the concern when it seems the duo of ?? and ?? have been tutored from a young age in the ways of black metal by some sort of occultic Svengali, so as to execute all aspects of their art “correctly”. It’s not often I preview an album by watching a video, but ‘Lucifer Kalder’ was helpful, […]

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