Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

lord randall

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, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Memoriam – To The End

Since The Hellfire Demos announced Karl Willetts’ return to Death Metal at the helm of MEMORIAM in 2016, it’s a mere 5 years on, and we’re already looking at the band’s fourth full-length. On its own, that’s not saying much. A good many bands are as productive. Often, though, such a rigorous writing/recording regimen can cause the quality to suffer, at times. Thankfully not so here, as ‘Onwards Into Battle’ is a true call to arms, majestic as the quartet has ever sounded, as ready for havoc, but united, in lock step with Spikey T. Smith’s rhythm engine, which doesn’t […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Fuoco Fatuo – Obsidian Katabasis

Italy – possibly not surprisingly, considering the iron grasp of the church of Rome, and the sense of the liturgical ensuing – has been a stronghold of doom for many years, the organ-driven NOCTU, the more traditional ABYSMAL GRIEF, and SEPULCHRAL VOID coming to top of mind. Enter Lombardy’s FUOCO FATUO with Obsidian Katabasis, its third full-length celebrating its first decade of existence. Comprising three more extended pieces, each over 13 minutes in length, and divided by shorter, yet no less important, instrumental movements, it’s easy to see the album as a concept. It may well be that, but not […]

Interviews

Interview: SOMNURI

Brooklyn progressive sludge trio SOMNURI know a lot about overcoming obstacles, as witnessed on their sophomore full-length. Recorded pre-pandemic, placed in somewhat of a forced hibernation for 2020, this Summer will find the threesome decimating eardrums upon the June release of Nefarious Wave. RIDING THE WAVEInterview with Justin Sherrell [Vocals, Guitars] and Phil SanGiacomo [Drums] of SOMNURIInterview By: Lord Randall Rebel Extravaganza: Your bio mentions “The strength of will to survive in New York” being a reason for the heaviness found in what SOMNURI does. These days, that’s anywhere, right? Being from Detroit, there’s obviously a lot of pride in […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: T.O.M.E. – I-III

Though from the hotbed of black metal of all discernable forms that is Finland, T.O.M.E – formed nearly a decade and a half ago – is only now seeing its debut realized for wider consumption. Originally independently released in 2009, I-III now bears the mark of Spread Evil, and, as such, is the herald of future material. Distended notes hang in the chilled air, no semblance of warmth at the start of ‘I’, near-doom tempo and plod ala AVSKY, yet fanged and clawed, let not the slowness be mistaken for lethargy or laziness. By 3 ½ minutes in, what’s come […]

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