Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

lord randall

Album Reviews

Album Review: Venefixion – A Sigh From Below

Simmering since 2013, with a demo, EP, and split release with Belgium’s POSSESSION to its name, the black magic Bretons VENEFIXION now prepare to turn up the heat with debut full-length, A Sigh From Below. After the Obligatory Intro Track ™, ‘Veneficial Upheaval’ gets things rolling, and roll they do. Heads, tanks, freaking boulders chasing Indiana Jones. If it can be rolled, it’s in motion. The one-sheet for ASFB mentioned “swagger”, and it wasn’t wrong, as the riff/rhythm at 2:01-2:24 is the stuff of which blood orgies are made. Bits of early DEATH pepper ‘Of Wolves And Ghosts’, albeit filtered […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Thy Catafalque – Vadak

Reliability is a rare commodity these days, be it in personal relationships, professional commitments, or certainly in the arts. To find one of those bands – you know, the ones that worm under your skin and into your soul, to the point that you view each new release with hope instead of trepidation – is a true gift, indeed. Recorded in no less than 12 countries – aided by guest musicians and, indirectly, by the current isolation we all feel to some degree – ‘Szarvas’ ushers into Vadak with ULTRAVOX-worthy synthscapes, bolstered by bristling guitars that could as easily be […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hooded Menace – The Tritonus Bell

Well, Lasse Pyykko and his band of merry noose-knotters are at it again. Wisely removing themselves from the utter dreck that was 2020, HOODED MENACE return to ring The Tritonus Bell, and, in turn, our ears…we hope. For the first time since 2008 debut, Fulfill The Curse, the time between full-lengths hasn’t been stop-gapped by at least one EP or split, leading one to believe that ol’ HM really did pour everything it had into the cauldron, churned it up with a femur, added one eye of defrocked priest, one hymen of promiscuous nun, the blood of a somewhat perturbed […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Lower 13 – Embrace The Unknown

LOWER 13 is a trio hailing from Cleveland, OH, an area I’ve always much more associated with the hardcore of RINGWORM, SIX FEET DEEP, or the doom of FRAYLE, the dirty-dirty sludge of FISTULA, RUE and their incestuous spawn. Which means I’m intrigued at what sort of traditional metal comes from the land of the burning river, so here goes. The band’s fourth, Embrace The Unknown, stumbles from the start, the title track a jumbled mish-mash of “alright, I guess, if you like that sort of thing” to outright bad ideas firing off in all directions, as if, lacking anything […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: VREID – Wild North West

Sogndal’s favorite sons, VRIED, return with album number nine, having kept to a reliable schedule of an album every 2-3 years throughout the entity’s nearly two-decade career. While never veering too far from the path originally embarked upon in Kraft, the outfit has managed to remain reliable in quality as well thus far. To be honest, Wild North West was one of those albums that, even before listening, I entered upon the assumption that it would rise to the same watermark as the formers had. At first look, there was that rare sight of a vibrant cover, bursting with Frank […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hellcrash – Krvcifix Invertör

Italy’s HELLCRASH cranked out two demos and a split between 2013-2015, then unceremoniously departed from sight. Apparently, the trio has spent the time since on a strict regimen of liver punishment, graveyard hijinks and a diet of pre-’87 thrash/speed metal, now returning with its first full-length, Krvcifix Invertör. HELLCRASH makes no secret of its allegiances right out the gate, four of the nine song titles invoking the name of Satan, so it’s clearly time to party, right? Hellraiser’s guitars and sneer could’ve literally been spawned from Killing Is My Business… – era Mustaine’s drunken sweat, while the title track is […]

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. […]

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