Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

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Album Reviews

Album Review: Serpents Of Secrecy – Ave Vindicta

Formed by members current and past of the mighty SIXTY WATT SHAMAN, KING GIANT and more, Baltimore’s SERPENTS OF SECRECY has Maryland Doom in its rattling bones from the start, the fuzzed out bass of dear, departed bassist Rev. Jim Forrester leading the slow and low charge in the title track. Fluid yet fang’ed, elements of bands as varied as SOLACE and FOGHAT (who were actually a pretty heavy live band) show up in ‘Heel Turn’, which carries on through the syrupy sludge of ‘Time Crushes All’, the early Cornell tinting to vocalist Mark Lorenzo’s delivery dripping over the tune […]

Music News

WEDGE: new song ‘Across The Water’ available for streaming

Berlin-based classic rock specialists WEDGE have recently announced the release of their third studio album, Like No Tomorrow, on Heavy Psych Sounds. To follow with roaring first single, ‘Computer’, the trio reveals a second single with ‘Across The Water’. “Although the new album is packed with straight-forward rock songs like our first single ‘Computer’, there are also a few somewhat mellower tunes with a psychedelic touch. ‘Across The Water’ is one of them. An electric piano played through a rotating Leslie cabinet, harmonized vocals, tremolo and fuzzy tape-delayed backwards guitars are building the dreamy soundscape of this song.” says the […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mortiferum / Hyperdontia – Split 7″

I use the phrase “short, sharp shock” a fair amount. I try not to, but I’ll admit to it popping up more than I’d like. Besides, it doesn’t really fit this release. Two bands, two songs. Get in, get rabid, get out. Back in the day, those Maxell or TDK 60-90 minute cassettes we’d get in the mail from writing addresses in the back of metal magazines to trade bands and hear music were treasure troves. Yeah, of course there were some clunkers, but more often than not, you’d come away with at least a handful of new (to you) […]

Music News

SAVIORSKIN sign to Horror Pain Gore Death Productions; Omnipotence Of The Absolute set for release on December 18th

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions have signed Houston Texas’ industrialized Gothic Doom/Death Metal act SAVIORSKIN. The new album Omnipotence Of The Absolute is up now for pre-order and will be released December 18th on CD and Digital formats, along with merchandise and bundles. Omnipotence Of The Absolute features guest appearances by Kam Lee (Massacre / Death) and Rogga Johansson (Paganizer / Ribspreader / Ghoulhouse). SAVIORSKIN return to HPGD with the new album Omnipotence Of The Absolute! Hailing from Houston Texas, SAVIORSKIN formed in 2018 and perform Industrialized Gothic Doom/Death Metal. Omnipotence Of The Absolute showcases eight morose hymns, each one […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Starcrazy – Played For Suckers [EP]

Sydney, Australia’s STARCRAZY make their play for the spotlight early next year with this EP, Played For Suckers but, what with the promo sheet espousing such legendary influences as HANOI ROCKS, BOWIE and MOTHER LOVE BONE, I felt we were setting the bar a bit high, perhaps. The just shy of 2-minutes opener, ‘Rise’, wasn’t that great of an idea as a lead-off, as it’s basically an instrumental build to what would, in other times, have been that moment when the backlit stage bathes ‘n’ blinds legions of die-hard fans, the band kicking off their show in grand style. As […]

Music News

Louisiana Blackened Doom Unit KAVYK Announce Debut Album Radiant Abyss + Stream First Single ‘Civilized’

Louisiana blackened doom four-piece KAVYK has risen from the swamp to unveil its long-awaited debut album, Radiant Abyss, Dec. 18 via Caustic Hollow. LISTEN TO THE HYPNOTIC STRAINS OF ‘CIVILIZED’ HERE Recorded and mixed by James Whitten (Thou, High On Fire) and mastered by Brad Boatright (Gatecreeper, Full Of Hell), Radiant Abyss is over 40 minutes of blackened sludge and pitiless death-doom, complete with excruciating tremolo, blast beats, and an ominous atmosphere. Guitarist/vocalist Troy Bennett says, “The point of Radiant Abyss was to be non-yielding to specific genres and just write heavy, experimental music. Each song is meant to contain […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mors Principium Est – Seven

I’ve always had a soft spot for melodic death metal, especially that of the Scandinavian/Teutonic variety, so Finland’s MORS PRINCIPIUM EST fit easily into my listening choices when NIGHT IN GALES took a hiatus for the ‘10s, when we didn’t know if AT THE GATES was going to be a thing anymore, and when IN FLAMES disappeared up its own ass starting with 1999’s Colony, incidentally the year of MPE’s founding. Now on its appropriately-titled 7th album, the duo has largely been reliable, not having released an outright clunker during its two decades. Certainly, there are some standouts as well […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Hatebreed – Weight Of The False Self

I just can’t get behind Jamey Jasta & co. One could make the case that HATEBREED’s frontman/heart and soul of the band has done much for hardcore, as far as bringing it into the spotlight. Whoever said that’s where hardcore wanted to be is my thought. Anyway, the band’s never impressed me, but I can’t seem to help giving each new album a listen. Not sure exactly what I’m hoping for, but I know I haven’t found it yet. And so it remains with Weight Of The False Self, HATEBREED’s eighth. I couldn’t help but wince at the rhyme of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Zebadiah Crowe – The Cloven Hand [EP]

Remember when bands like DIE KRUPPS, the mighty GODFLESH and PITCH SHIFTER used to take on remixes of straightforward metal bands and mangle the songs, turning them inside out, so that what came forth from your speakers was nothing whatsoever like the original? It was liberating to hear, at least to these ears. But when those aforementioned would allow the scalpel to be taken to their own tracks, all bets were off, and what often happened was no less than a dissection and a piecing back together, an electronic Frankenstein’s monster with a result no less bleak than Shelley’s doomed […]

Music News

KATLA release sophomore album, Allt þetta helvítis myrkur

KATLA release their sophomore full-length Allt þetta helvítis myrkur. The album is now streaming in full at the links below: Bandcamp Youtube Order HERE KATLA comment: “We are stoked to tell you that Allt þetta helvítis myrkur finally hits the shop after long period of hard work”, says drummer Guðmundsson Óli Pálmason. “Our sophomore album is a labour of love. We have crafted and desiged every aspect of this release, from music and lyrics via recording and production, mixing and mastering, layout and visual art, down to the handwriting and even the colour of the vinyls. Nothing has been left […]

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