Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

lord randall

Interviews

Interview: SAMMATH

Black metal death engine, SAMMATH, has been crushing eardrums under its tank treads for over a quarter century, yet sixth full-length, Across The Rhine Is Only Death shows no second of fatigue, no moment of weariness or unreliability from founder J. Kruitwagen & co. Normally, we keep current as possible with interviews, but our recent chat was too good not to include here. Lord Randall armors up… THE STRENGTH OF KRUPP STAHL Interview with J. Kruitwagen of SAMMATH Interview By: Lord Randall Rebel Extravaganza: After putting out your first 4 albums on a fairly regular schedule, it’s been close to […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Cadaver – D. G. A. F.

Norway’s CADAVER has always been, is, and looks to forever be Neddo. It also seems to foul the ears so sporadically as to almost be forgotten in the interim, despite cranking out some morbidly grotesque death under the name CADAVER. And so, 16 years after the flesh-covered wrecking ball that was Necrosis, Neddo surfaces again, journeyman skinbasher Dirk Verbeuren behind the kit, to deliver D. G. A. F. At just over 10 minutes long, the duo has neither the time (nor thankfully) the inclination to fuck around, Jeff Walker lending his rasp to the title track. Luddite as all Hell, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Trivium – What The Dead Men Say

I don’t know what it was about TRIVIUM’s debut Ember To Inferno that I dug back in ’03, but clearly, it didn’t take long for Heafy and the boys to monkeywrench what was already a barely roadworthy machine, becoming a pastiche of even themselves only two years later, and firing off an album that would’ve killed a less merch-driven band only one year after that with The Crusade. It’s nearly 15 years later now, and the musical climate has changed. TRIVIUM hasn’t, though, and album #9 flails and falters from the start, twee guitar squeal with all the rage of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Khemmis – Doomed Heavy Metal

KHEMMIS’ 2018 release proved my Third Album Theory on so many levels. At some point, I’ll have it up on this site, but suffice it to say that it wasn’t only my ears which heard something special in the Colorado quartet that – while it might’ve been there before – came shining through within Desolation. It’s really no surprise that the first tune we’d hear from the band after its most blatantly metal album was a song of the stature of ‘Rainbow In The Dark’. What is impressive, however, is that KHEMMIS pulls it off with nary a hitch nor […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Front – Antichrist Militia

After four years and doubling its lineup in size, Finland’s FRONT return with MCD, Antichrist Militia. Still on the Iron Bonehead imprint, still peddling its brand of war-tinged blackthrash, a bit of death sprinkled here and there for taste, Missile shriek string histrionics and an instantly catchy riff & rhythm riot advance onto the battlefield, the title track literally spilling over with bloody ideas come to fruition, riffs imprinting on your memory at first listen, and would’ve stood just fine as an opener without the seemingly obligatory and needless intro, ‘Doom Cult Legion’. After the blatant MOTORHEAD homage ‘Iron Front’, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Collision – The Final Kill

15 releases in 20 years ain’t that bad of a run for a band of any sort, and while a good many of those were of the Split/EP variety, there’s no doubt the Dutch killing machine that will be remembered as COLLISION ate, drank, and shat grind. The Final Kill is to be the quintet’s swan song, if the press releases are to be believed, but at the end of this 15-minute (17+ minutes on album due to the vinyl-only cover of S.O.D.’s ‘Kill Yourself’) blastfest, you’re left with the feeling that COLLISION wasn’t planning on going out with anything […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Curse Upon A Prayer – Infidel

Much has been made of the fact that Finland’s CURSE UPON A PRAYER have anti-Islamic lyrics, to the point that all other facets of the band are in danger of shuddering under the weight of this supposed gimmickry. Truth is, CUAP has crafted some fairly solid black metal in its short history, and isn’t black metal supposed to be anti-…well, pretty much everything anyway? So let’s get to it. While I was a bit concerned that ‘Call To Prayer’ was going to be a full on intro of the Adhan, I needn’t have been, the foursome unrolling a hazy rug […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Death The Leveller – II

When a band’s first long-player is titled II, two things become starkly clear. One, something has come before – in this case, 2017’s creatively-titled I. And two, that what’s found on DEATH THE LEVELLER’s Cruz Del Sur debut is to be seen as a continuation. And thus, so armed, to Bandcamp I did go, armed with 4 EUR ($4.34 for USsians), and was summarily impressed by the emotion found within I’s four expansive tracks, ‘Gone Forever’ especially showing a band with promise and clearly with its eyes to the future, albeit bleak. Now comes II, and the wailing guitar stunt-doubling […]

Interviews

Interview: Frayle

Within its short 3-year lifespan, Ohio’s atmospheric metal duo (now turned quintet) FRAYLE has birthed 2 EPs featuring its heady blend of ethereal vocals and towering riffs/rhythms, culminating now in the recently-released debut full-length, 1692. Lord Randall sat down with founding members Gwyn Strang and Sean Bilovecky to time travel back to 1692, and discuss how, though much has changed, much remains the same. BY CHOICE, NOT BLOODInterview with Gwyn Strang and Sean Bilovecky of FRAYLEInterview By: Lord Randall Rebel Extravaganza: Back in 2017 when FRAYLE was birthed, did you already have a plan in mind – an image or […]

Interviews

Interview: Porta Nigra

PORTA NIGRA emerged from the Rhineland a decade ago sans corpsepaint and battle vests, more apt to be found sipping a glass of wine and perusing the works of Schopenhauer and Baudelaire than LaVey and Crowley. No less degenerate, however, the duo of Gilles de Rais (T.) and O. have moved beyond their early explorations of Fin de siècle, added a member in vocalist Tongue, and delivered Schöpfungswut on this, PORTA NIGRA’s 10th year. Lord Randall sat down with instrumentalist and lyricist T. to discuss… DECADE OF DECADENCEInterview with T. of PORTA NIGRABy: Lord Randall Rebel Extravaganza: In today’s fast-consumption […]

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