Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Dr. Abner Mality

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 […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Orange Goblin – Science, Not Fiction

On its tenth album, ORANGE GOBLIN remains the same as they’ve always been; fun and entertaining to listen to in the short run, but lacking the extra ingredient necessary to get them over the hump into the next level. Bands and albums like this are always the hardest to review, as they are not bad by any stretch, but just not really memorable. The GOBLIN sound remains true to itself here, a greasy kind of riff rock like MOTÖRHEAD meets MONSTER MAGNET. I will say this – they really make the attempt to give every song its own personality here. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Skelethal – Within Corrosive Continuums

Here’s the third album from one of France’s best death metal bands, SKELETHAL. Starting out as pretty much a tribute to classic Swedish death, they shifted their sound somewhat with their second go around, Unveiling The Threshold, adding more technicality and a bit of the Floridian DM vibe. Within Corrosive Continuums emerges in a time of an overstuffed death metal scene, so it needs to be a definitive statement. And it just might be. This time around, SKELETHAL remain resolutely morbid and brutal yet they show more different influences than ever before. This is an album that benefits from a […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: New Horizon – Conquerors

Conquerors starts with such an incredible barrage of quality that I really thought this might be the best power metal album I’ve ever heard. Well, things do start to slip by the middle of the album, but even with that “slippage”, this is still one Hell of an awesome melodic metal album. When God was handing out voices, he loaded Nils Molin up with more talent than just about any other human being I’ve heard. Good…God…Almighty! What a golden set of pipes Nils has! This is a singer for the ages, right up there with the late Ray Gillen, early […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Castle Rat – Into The Realm

There’s getting to be so many cosplay metal bands around now that it’s almost a rarity to see a band with no image. CASTLE RAT goes all-in on the dress-up aspect, but in a pretty low rent way, with very home-made looking get-ups good for a quick trip to the RenFaire. Almost all of this band’s interest is going to center around the statuesque Red Sonja-looking frontwoman the Rat Queen aka Riley Pinkerton. With chain mail brassiere, thigh high boots and an enormous mas of red curls, she cuts a striking figure without a doubt. Is the music any good […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ufomammut – Hidden

If you’re looking to take a chemical vacation, there’s no better band than Italy’s UFOMAMMUT to provide a soundtrack for your trip. Some might consider that statement frivolous, but I stand by it. These guys have a groove so heavy that even GOD would be spacing out to it. 2024 marks 25 years for this mega-heavy band and Hidden is a fitting landmark. Holy Timothy Leary, but this thing is THICK! I’ve heard dirty bass sounds in my time, but this takes the ever-lovin’ cake. Even in comparison with UFOMAMMUT’s prior work, this is totally abyssal. It almost doesn’t need […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Belushi Speed Ball – Stellkira

It was my sometimes drinking buddy Johnny Vomit who first made me aware of these guys. Goofy ass crossover thrashers from Louisville, KY armed with a wild stage show, numbskull lyrics and…best of all…sizzling thrash riffs to turn your spine to jelly! Having never seen them live, I can’t speak to that part of their repertoire, but when I saw song titles like ‘Garth, Let My Family Go’, ‘My Favorite Color Is Pizza’ and ‘Tater Tot Eyes’, I got some uneasy flashbacks to the metalcore of the early 2000s, which wrote the book on idiotic “ironic” song titles. Well, BELUSHI […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Heavy Temple – Garden Of Heathens

Philly’s HEAVY TEMPLE are listed as “heavy psychedelic doom” and there is truth in that. But on Garden Of Heathens, it’s also true to say that they are an ass-kicking heavy metal band. This record has the ability to reach beyond its simple description and venture into other realms of heaviness. This is a revelation all the way around. Opening salvo ‘Extreme Indifference To Life’ is thick and sludgy doom all around, kind of like WINDHAND but not quite as fuzzed out. That even extends to the mournful vocals of High Priestess Nighthawk. But she’s no mere Dorthea Cottrell knockoff, […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Vulture – Sentinels

Holding the flag high for German thrash we have VULTURE, who have emerged as solid journeymen in their chosen field. The ’80s thrash revival hasn’t quite hit the same level of success as the recent comeback of old school death metal…can VULTURE turn the tide? I don’t know if Sentinels will be the record to do it. It’s a fun record combining straight EXODUS worship with heaping helpings of yelping Kraut-thrash, but it’s no threat to join the company of thrash immortals. The yippy vocals (like Zetro Sousa trying to do early Schmier from DESTRUCTION) are overdone and sometimes cringeable. […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ischemic – Condemned To The Breaking Wheel

This Canadian band definitely has the potential to make some noise in the burgeoning death-doom scene. They’ve added a couple of members since their last effort and now exist as a 5-piece. I’m glad to see they still have Necro-Nurse Isabelle grumbling and rasping for them. She’s one of the heaviest female vocalists in the scene. ISCHEMIC have matured a lot since their self-titled LP. The sound here is cleaner and more varied…not as sludgy yet still extremely heavy. You sure won’t feel like partying and cruising for chicks after hearing this mournful monolith of sound. Four lengthy tracks are […]

Older Posts