Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

signal rex

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ginnungagap – Heliacal Arising

The yawning maw of Signal Rex opens wider, near-unhinging, and from this void springs forth Heliacal Arising, the first full, intentional movement of Portuguese cult GINNUNGAGAP. Four years it did take to form what now travels ‘neath the ‘Majestic Throne Of The Sky’, wrapped in a layered cloak of guitars and keys, organ-like in tone, and lending a vital air of the mystic to this excursion, a throat laid open and scraped raw and bleeding over gravel declares our path. Arising heliacal, the title track indeed shimmers distant, ever fettered to the Solar King, despite desire, for Nature is immovable […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Nathr / Ordo Cultum Serpentis – Shadows Crawl

Of NATHR, bell-toll, windswept soundscape beckons, chiming, an almost harpsichord tone to herald ‘The Burial’. Lie back on the satin, fold arms, and let the tide take you. Six minutes elapse before the guitar becomes consciously noticeable, embroidered and woven slow, steady, patient and undeniable as the Norns, keys flipping tumblers in the lock as the gate to eternal repose opens. At 10:24, when the lid closes and the soil begins to pile, though resigned and longing, comes hysteria, a panicked, futile clawing. Futile, as the darkness takes on weight, takes you in. Black liturgy here, and no benevolent forced […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Moon Oracle – Muse Of The Nightside

Well, what have we here? Something original and different, instead of another retread of ’80s or ’90s black metal? Yes indeed, and it’s about time. MOON ORACLE is from the “freaked out” branch of the black metal tree. In the end, my interest in Muse Of The Nightside kind of fades away, but I sure give the band credit for trying to rock the boat here. You know the typical complaint where bass guitar seems to get short-changed in black metal? Well, MOON ORACLE comes pretty close to overcompensating for this. The bass is the overwhelming be-all and end-all of […]

Music News

FUNERAL HARVEST set release date for SIGNAL REX debut EP, reveal first track

Signal Rex announces October 30th as the international release date for FUNERAL HARVEST’s highly anticipated debut EP, self-titled Funeral Harvest, on 10″ vinyl format. A pan-international quartet featuring members from Norway and Italy, FUNERAL HARVEST formed in 2016 and unleashed their first public recording the very next year. Tellingly titled Bunker Ritual Rehearsal, this first strike was auspicious to say the very least, and quickly built a name for FUNERAL HARVEST in the underground. Their raw ‘n’ robust black metal sound was rooted in the ancient ways but never regressive – in fact, its ghoulish hostility was perversely refreshing. An […]

Music News

OLKOTH set release date for special SIGNAL REX compilation

Today, Signal Rex sets August 1st as the international release date for a special collection from OLKOTH, The Immortal Depths & Treasures Of Necromancy, on vinyl LP format. An otherwise-unknown entity hailing from the United States, OLKOTH nevertheless have made waves in the black metal underground with those seek among the genre’s most mesmeric and mystical depths. To date, they’ve released two demos, The Immortal Depths in 2016 and Treasures Of Necromancy in 2017, with only the latter making its way onto super-limited cassette format. So ensorcelled by OLKOTH’s sonic alchemy, Signal Rex now endeavors to unleash this black magick […]