Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: Stormtide – A Throne Of Hollow Fire

As much as I dread intros as a whole, ‘A Valley Of Ashes’ captivates, and – for the uninitiated – draws in, which is exactly a band wants to happen when inviting new ears. Right out the gate more symphonic in execution than I was expecting, ‘A Throne Of Hollow Fire’ blends keys, blessedly lower-register vocals and sections that grasp mightily for the epic. It does seem the mix is a bit “all over the place”, and the keys have a tendency to bury the guitars when the latter isn’t in solo mode, but when Richens and Bodnarr do get […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Plague Weaver – Ascendant Blasphemy

PLAGUE WEAVER is an ambitious outfit that tries to unite lots of disparate styles of extreme metal, but is not quite able to pull off what they’re looking for. It’s a two man outfit that has an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to death and black metal. They have the playing ability for sure, but the songwriting is kind of erratic and results in songs that are good in some parts but rather tedious in others. The first song ‘Nothing Is Sacred’ has a kind of Greek black metal vibe in the style of ROTTING CHRIST and VARATHRON going […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Reaper – The Atonality Of Flesh

As much I love some good ol’ (or new) caustic D-beat, for maximum enjoyment, the album needs to be short of length – we’re talking half-hour, tops – and long on attitude. Anything over that magical 30 minutes, and my attention quickly wanes, largely because the band’s begun to recycle its own ideas, and – due to the limitations of the style, maybe – it’s all just monotonous. Not so with Sweden’s REAPER, the duo returning with 2021’s The Atonality Of Flesh, if anything more fierce and, yes, varied than the Unholy Nordic Noise debut of 2019. MIDNIGHT is a […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Holy Mother – Face This Burn

HOLY MOTHER and their charismatic singer, Mike Tirelli, have been cranking out the metal since the early ’90s. This is another one of those bands like VICIOUS RUMORS or LEATHERWOLF that has all the tools but just can’t crack the glass ceiling. I can’t give a “one size fits all” description of the kind of metal HOLY MOTHER plays because they can almost play it all. Face This Burn has got elements of PRIEST/DIO/MAIDEN classic metal, QUEENSRYCHE progression, the heavier side of hair metal and even touches of grunge and nu-metal if you dig hard enough. The common denominator of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Necropanther – In Depths We Sleep [EP]

As a songwriter (term used loosely…very, very loosely), that Colorado’s NECROPANTHER has managed to craft three albums that each stay within the framework of metal, but to embrace the melody inherent in the genre, and add shades to the colors of an established palette is impressive. It’s harder than you think, I assure you. Between albums, the quartet has this quirky habit of releasing EPs/Singles written entirely by a single member, with the remainder of the band contributing to the recording. Worry not, this is no KISS solo album papier-mâché pastiche of creativity, and this time around the honor/work fell […]

Music News

DORDEDUH release video single ‘Desferecat’, and reveal details of stunning new album, Har

DORDEDUH have released a spectacular video for the track ‘Desferecat’ (“Unchained”), which is the first single taken from their sensational forthcoming album Har (“Gifted”), which has been scheduled for release on May 14, 2021. The Romanian metal pioneers have based the imagery of their clip on the arcana XII ‘Le pendue (The Hangman)’ of the famous Tarot de Marseille. The video ‘Desferecat’ is now available at THIS LOCATION Pre-Order HERE On further news, DORDEDUH have also revealed the cover art, tracklist, and more details of their sophomore full-length. DORDEDUH comment: “The title of our first single translates from the Romanian […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Skeleton – Ordainment Of Divinity [EP]

After a bucketful of EPs, compilations, a live album and a full length debut (2020’s Skeleton, natch), the Austin, TX hardcore-cum-black-cum-thrash trio (also SKELETON) unleashes a peepshow booth’s-worth of grime in the less than 15 minutes of Ordainment Of Divinity. I suppose one could refer to ‘Skeleton – Opening Rites’ as an intro, but, as it’s the second-longest track on the damned EP, it seems rather cheapening. Granted, what we’re given is marching, and also granted, I normally loathe the fuck out of me an intro, but the mental image this rhythmic tread gave me is of films such as […]

Music News

French Epic Metallers HERZEL Releasing Le Dernier Rempart March 19 on Gates of Hell Records

Quimper (FR) – Epic, unique prog metal from the Brittany region of France, HERZEL will release full-length debut album Le Dernier Rempart March 19 on Gates of Hell Records. The album’s first single, ‘Maîtres de l’océan’, is streaming now at THIS LOCATION On their long-awaited debut album, Le Dernier Rempart, French epic metallers HERZEL not only champion vocals that are sung in their native tongue but they unleash a concept born straight from their native region of Brittany! The Breton language is commonly used in the Brittany region of France. While in decline since the 1950s, Breton still holds sway […]

Music News

BONGZILLA: new single ‘Sundae Driver’ + album preorder available on HPS Records

Midwest sludge behemoths and all-time weed metal pioneers BONGZILLA unleash their brand new single ‘Sundae Driver’ exclusively on Decibel Magazine. The song is taken from their forthcoming fifth album Weedsconsin, due out April 20th and available to preorder now through Heavy Psych Sounds. Featuring a three-piece lineup of all original members—bassist/vocalist Muleboy, guitarist Spanky and drummer Magma, ‘Sundae Driver’ delivers the kind of hazy, heavy-as-hell doom that BONGZILLA earned their reputation peddling. The riffs on ‘Sundae Driver’ are low and slow, sounding like they originate in a smoke-filled room; paired with a flattening rhythm section, the instruments create the ideal […]

Music News

Witchtit release video for ‘Crimson Tide’

Doom metal band WITCHTIT have teamed up with Ghost Cult to release their new video for ‘Crimson Tide’. The song is from their upcoming album Intoxicating Lethargy, which will be released in March 2021. Watch the video for ‘Crimson Tide’ Pre-order HERE “That is what I fear most, that I become so caught up in the pursuit of the pleasures of life that I am never truly alive.” That is the power of Intoxicating Lethargy, which is also the title of WITCHTIT’s début album. The crushing five-piece doom metal outfit from Raleigh, North Carolina are releasing the follow-up after testing […]

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