Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

robert atkinson

Album Reviews

Album Review: Annihilator – Ballistic, Sadistic

When a band hits something like their seventeenth album, I feel like too much time can be spent comparing it to their older material while not focusing on what is being currently presented. So, I decided to challenge myself and handle this album as a standalone experience as possible. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on ANNIHILATOR’s Ballistic, Sadistic. Jeff Waters really knows how to crank one out in many ways, whether it be quips, riffs, solos, or innuendos (I’m looking at you ‘Lip Service”). This album has so much of that fun, tongue-in-cheek thrash metal attitude that makes […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: T.O.M.B. – Thin The Veil

T.O.M.B., aka Total Occultic Mechanical Blasphemy, adds to their expansive discography with their sixth full-length release, Thin The Veil. They are labeled as avant-garde black metal that includes a mix of styles including noise, industrial and doom. This album oozes atmosphere like blood from a freshly opened wound, and it cements T.O.M.B. even more as a top innovator in modern day black metal. The album rips open with ‘No Return’. It is really a wall of sound that grabs your attention, but it is very much a very straightforward black metal track. The only notable thing for that track is […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Blot & Blod – Ormekongens Argelist

The three-piece, black metal band BLOT & BOD bring a raw, energetic, primal but all too-familiar sound to their sophomore release, Ormekongens Argelist. This album does very little to waste your time, clocking just under thirty minutes, and I intend to do the same. First and foremost, this album is a raw black metal assault filled with tremolo picking, blast beats, and witchy vocals all wrapped up in a lo-fi package that will make any Yule celebration kvlt and trve. Now, with that out of the way, what sets this album apart from the countless others like it? Sadly, not […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Infidel Reich – Reichenstein

INFIDEL REICH is a four-piece death metal outfit from Columbus, Ohio, featuring ACHERON founder Vincent Crowley on vocals, early ASPHYX guitarist Tony Brookhuis, prolific drummer Bob Bagchus (ex-ASPHYX, SOULBURN, GRAND SUPREME BLOOD COURT etc), and one McNasty on bass. They created a buzz with their first self-titled EP back in 2017, now culminating in their first full length album, Reichenstein, released in November of 2019. This album is an odd one to be sure. Musically, I find this album enjoyable, for the most part. A lot of mid-paced romps that would grab anyone who’s a fan of BOLT THROWER, VENOM, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Kirk Windstein – Dream In Motion

“Heaviness” is a term used in extreme music for a long time to describe how dark, deep, or even how loud a song can be. Heaviness usually also has an individual mean to each person. For me, heaviness can be the tone, but it is also conveyed in the message the music is trying to get across lyrically. When it comes to KIRK WINDSTEIN’s debut solo album Dream In Motion, it has heaviness in spades. The first thing that is noticeable about this album is how it subtly sets itself apart from other projects KIRK WINDSTEIN has been in. Kirk […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mindless Sinner – Poltergeist

MINDLESS SINNER is a 5-piece, classic heavy metal outfit from Sweden, and they are bringing waves of catchy riffs and choruses in their newest album Poltergeist. This is their follow up to their 2015 comeback album The New Messiah. Poltergeist is a time capsule filled with leather, Vikings, stock explosion audio clips, dual guitars, and just a hint of cheese that made the speed/power metal of the ’80s so much fun, and so memorable. The voice work by Christer Göransson is definitely the highlight of the album for me. His voice reminds me of a mix between Bruce Dickinson and […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: THE OLD DEAD TREE – The End

Saying goodbye can be a difficult thing, but I believe goodbyes on good terms are much better than memories fading into nothingness. THE OLD DEAD TREE releases their final EP, The End, as a final chapter to celebrate a twenty plus year career, and it is definitely a satisfying but concise ending. This EP contains 5 tracks, all written around 1999, and all these tracks fit right in with their library of dark, beautiful and melancholic brand of progressive metal. The EP kicks off with ’Sorry’. A lite piano intro shifts into a very percussive riff, and then, breaks away […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: FEN – The Dead Light

Melancholic, mournful, furious and hopeful are all words that circled me in listening through FEN’s 2019 release, The Dead Light. This is the sixth full length album released by this atmospheric black metal war horse since their inception in 2006, and this is their most formidable album to date. Unlike previous releases, The Dead Light brings more prog elements to the table. This mixes well with the more typical soundscapes and blackened fury FEN is known for. The album opens with ‘Witness’ which really introduces you to what you should expect for the rest of the album. It starts with […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: LACERATION – Remnants

Bay Area death-thrashers LACERATION deliver crushing, no frills, no bullshit death/thrash on their compilation Remnants. The album features LACERATION’s earliest recordings; an EP, a demo and tracks from the band’s 2013 split with TINNITUS. Remnants also features 2009’s Consuming Reality and the acclaimed Realms Of The Unconscious EP. This brings all the work Laceration has done over the years in a tight package. Remnants brings me back to the days of getting my first taste of extreme metal such as OBITUARY’s Cause of Death and SODOM’s Witching Metal demo, and this is a nostalgia trip from whence I hope never […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: JUDICIARY – Surface Noise

JUDICIARY, a 5-piece metallic hardcore band from Lubbock, Texas, brings the breakdowns on their debut full length album Surface Noise. The album rips open immediately with ‘Social Crusade’. It is a defiant call to violence and action. The riffing has the definite chug and bounce you would expect from any hardcore outfit, but I feel the meat of this album is more the words and message it is trying to convey. The message is defiance, violence, and burning down the old guard to make way for revolution. I can already feel the march of anarchist and slam dancers flocking to […]

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