Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Metal Blade

Album Reviews

Album Review: Sanhedrin – Heat Lightning

After three absolute bangers in the hard rock / trad-metal field (you want some elitism? Any diehard MANILLA ROAD fan will give the most panda-painted supporter of [Insert Black Metal Band Name Here] a run for their money when it comes to what is or is not Metal, SANHEDRIN returns with Heat Lightning. Salivating with anticipation, ‘Blind Wolf’ begins, soon thrusting into a choppy, syncopated machine, Erica’s [Stoltz, vocals/bass] as clear yet fierce as ever. Her tone may not be as road-raggedly “queen of the mountaintop” as Doro Pesch, nor as operatically weak-livered as the corseted “symphonic” dame of the […]

Music News

SANHEDRIN Unleashes ‘Franklin County Line’ Single; Heat Lightning Full-Length To Drop March 14th On Metal Blade Records

‘Franklin County Line’ is the new single from New York heavy metal trio SANHEDRIN. The fiery new hymn comes by way of the band’s Heat Lightning full-length, set for release on March 14th via Metal Blade Records. SANHEDRIN has spent the last decade at the forefront of the American heavy metal scene blending traditional metal and hard rock sounds with a fresh modern energy and perspective. With 2022’s critically lauded Lights On full-length, the band had created their most complete work to date. With their follow-up, Heat Lightning, the band delivers a diverse collection of songs that wholly captures their […]

Music News

DEMISER Announces US Winter Tour With Nunslaughter

South Carolina hell bringers, DEMISER, will join Nunslaughter for a two-week US tour this Winter. The Pestis Infernum Tour runs from January 31st in Washington, DC through February 15th in Atlanta, Georgia. Additional support will be provided by Desolus. The band comments, “DEMISER is fuckin’ stoked to hit the road! After a year in wait, we return to the East Coast with our brothers in blasphemy – the mighty Nunslaughter – with speed demons Desolus in tow! This time, in support of our latest offering Slave To The Scythe, bangers like ‘Hell Is Full Of Fire’ and ‘Phallomancer The Phallomancer’ […]

Music News

MANTAR To Release Post Apocalyptic Depression Full-Length February 14th, 2025 Via Metal Blade Records; New Video/Single Now Playing

MANTAR will release a brand new full-length, Post Apocalyptic Depression, on February 14th, 2025 via Metal Blade Records. 2022’s Pain Is Forever And This Is The End saw the German duo bring a sonic richness to their madly heavy blackened death-punk grooves, assisting the record to its position at #2 on Germany’s Official Top 10 album chart. The record added smoother, calmer, more harmonic textures to MANTAR’s expanding palette, but on 2024’s Post Apocalyptic Depression, the band smashes the palette and punches a hole in the canvas. “We wanted to do everything different from the last album,” affirms guitarist/vocalist Hanno […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ensiferum – Winter Storm

That ENSIFERUM was on a downward slide between 2009 classic From Afar and ‘20s Thalassic still kind of hurts, given how reliable the band was for its first four albums. I’ve kept up peripherally with them since, always at least given each new release a spin, but have come away feeling disappointed, and never went back to see if there was anything I might’ve missed, because there was so much more to hear and give time to, even within the folk metal sub-subgenre. Intro ‘Aurora’ sounds like the loading screen for the flash game Crush The Castle, and ‘Winter Storm […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Wolfbrigade – Life Knife Death

Who needs coffee and energy drinks when WOLFBRIGADE is around? Hell, who needs cocaine?! This long running Swedish band is bone-breaking speed and power in concentrated music form. I was kinda shocked when I found out their new album would be on Metal Blade. I’m glad they’re on one of the bigger metal labels, but for a band with deep roots in the crusty Swedish punk scene, it’s a strange fit. Strange or no, they haven’t toned down one iota for this record. The press compares them to DISCHARGE, MOTÖRHEAD and old ENTOMBED, and that really hits the nail smack […]

Music News

ARMORED SAINT Releases Rendition Of ‘One Chain (Don’t Make No Prison)’; Video/Single Now Playing

ARMORED SAINT, leaders and stalwarts of the American heavy metal scene since the early 1980s, are back with a brilliant rendition of ‘One Chain (Don’t Make No Prison)’. The classic track was originally written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and was first released by People in 1970. Additional covers include The Four Tops (1974), Santana (1978), and The Doobie Brothers (1989). Comments vocalist John Bush, “[Bassist] Joey [Vera] came up with the idea of doing the song. We’ve always been huge fans of old school soul and R&B music so it was a no brainer. It’s got a great […]

Music News

ENTHEOS: Progressive Death Metal Duo Unleashes ‘Life In Slow Motion’ Video/Single

Progressive death metal duo ENTHEOS today unleashes their latest single, ‘Life In Slow Motion’. The track, and accompanying video, follows the band’s crushing ‘An End To Everything’ single released last month and serves as a precursor to the music to come later this year. Elaborates vocalist Chaney Crabb, “‘Life In Slow Motion’ is a song about seeing life through the eyes of drug addiction and the ways that it affects not only the addict, but the people who surround them. It’s about wanting to return to a moment in life where the addiction took over and pondering what could have […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blaze Of Perdition – Upharsin

BLAZE OF PERDITION has made a name for itself in a country known for a blistering, early SLAYER-ized take on both black and death metal by adding a fluidity and sense of peaks and valleys that has thus far set it apart from the more known exports of Poland. On its second for Metal Blade, the band has taken the bold step of releasing Upharsin in their native tongue, a first for them when it comes to full lengths. At once, ‘W kwiecie rozlamu’ seems more outwardly abrasive, but soon enough moves into a mid-paced (don’t call it a) groove […]

Music News

KVAEN: Swedish Melodic Death/Black Metallers To Release The Formless Fires Full-Length June 21st

KVAEN will release their third album, and first for Metal Blade Records, The Formless Fires, on June 21st. There are many great extreme metal bands in Sweden, but only one from Kalix. This remote beauty spot near the Finnish border, on the northernmost shores of the Baltic, is home to Jacob Björnfot, creative mastermind behind melodic black/death metal project, KVAEN. A sumptuous but bitingly intense exploration of beauty and violence, KVAEN’s The Formless Fires is a melodic black metal masterwork radiating an inspirational sense of place. Even more than 2020’s folky, speed metal-infused debut The Funeral Pyre or 2022’s compelling, […]

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