Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Hells Headbangers

Album Reviews

Album Review: Pharmacist – Flourishing Extremities On Unspoiled Mental Grounds

Where on Earth do I start with this one? How about this…record of the year? The band CARCASS has inspired a ton of other metal bands over the years. There used to be quite a flourishing scene of bands imitating the gruesome grind of their first two albums. And you can say that arguably the entire melodic death metal scene was kickstarted by Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious and its followup Heartwork. I will be honest. Necroticism is in my opinion the greatest death metal album ever recorded. Now we have PHARMACIST and what this band has done is almost beyond […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Fluids – Not Dark Yet

MORBID ANGEL in their classic period had a signature tune called ‘Where The Slime Live’. Well, now we know where the slime lives…covered in FLUIDS! This is one sick, disgusting display of uber-primitive death metal devolution, making overhyped stuff like SANGUISUGABOGG sound about as dangerous as ATREYU. This band is working the same general territory as MORTICIAN, which is not a type of death metal you encounter a lot these days. FLUIDS makes no secret of their love of Hacked Up For Barbecue vintage MORTICIAN. Not Dark Yet oozes with rotten slow and mid-paced riffs that are down-tuned and bass-heavy […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Mongrel’s Cross – Arcana, Scrying And Revelation

Now, on its all-important third album, the almighty Proscriptor McGovern (ex-EQUIMANTHORN, ex-MELECHESH, ex-a-little-band-you-might-have-heard-of-called-ABSU) joins the advancing force of Brisbane’s MONGREL’S CROSS, a coup for any band. But the inclusion of such a “name” player with such a respected history doesn’t mean crap if the output now isn’t quality, does it? Majestickally leading off with ‘Suffer The Witch To Live’, the beast transforms from militant march to blurred bestial bile flung about the innards of the listener’s cranium, the aforementioned vocalist in as fine a form as ever, but that’s not even the most impressive thing. What’s truly of note is […]

Music News

HEGEMONY set release date for HELLS HEADBANGERS debut

Hells Headbangers sets April 24th as the international release date for the striking debut album of America’s HEGEMONY, Enthroned By Persecution, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Hailing from Alabama, the four members of HEGEMONY – drummer Ruination Wielder, bassist Primordial Dominator, guitarist Barbaric Progenitor, and vocalist Fanatical Deathtitan – formed in 2015 and released their first demo a year later. Although a then-brand-new entity, the members of HEGEMONY possess a wealth of experience in other Southern US bands, and that experience for sure showed on Demo MMXVI: a foul explosion of filth, bestial metal savagery executed with exacting cruelty. […]

Music News

EXPUNGED set release date for HELLS HEADBANGERS debut mini-album

Hells Headbangers sets April 24th as the international release date for EXPUNGED’s highly anticipated debut mini-album, Expunged, on 12″ vinyl format. EXPUNGED is the brainchild of death metal master W.D., who’s previously handled the axe in Dead Soul Alliance and Evolution Fail stretching as far back as the mid ’90s. W.D. is the songwriter and K.F. drums (from old-school death metallers Töteblut), while J.S. (AKA Jo “Steel” Capitalicide from Ice War) is on vocal and lyrical duties as well as handling the bass, with the latter showing how versatile his singing abilities can somehow be. Formed in the spring of […]

Music News

Reborn ÆVANGELIST reveal first track from new HELLS HEADBANGERS album – also cover and tracklisting

Today, the reborn ÆVANGELIST reveal the nearly-18-minute new track ‘The Origin And End Of All: Pain Of The Fallen’. The track hails from the band’s forthcoming rebirth album, Nightmarecatcher, which will be released by Hells Headbangers during the first quarter of 2020 on CD format. Hear ÆVANGELIST’s ‘The Origin And End Of All: Pain Of The Fallen’ in its massive entirety HERE at Hells Headbangers’ official YouTube channel. Now residing in Finland, ÆVANGELIST has been in existence since 2010 and was created/authored by Matron Thorn. Joining Thorn on Nightmarecatcher is ex-Anorexia Nervosa vocalist Stéphane Gerbaud. As such, this is to […]

Music News

CIANIDE set release date for new HELLS HEADBANGERS mini-album

Hells Headbangers announces December 27th as the international release date for CIANIDE’s highly anticipated new mini-album, Unhumanized, on CD, 12″ vinyl, and cassette tape formats. One of the cultest names in American death metal, CIANIDE have stuck to their guns for over 30 years now, patiently building a canon that’s unrivaled in its consistency and trend-free philosophy. Theirs is a Metal of Death that’s simple, straightforward, and effectively primitive: blunt-force trauma informed by Hellhammer and Chicago forebears DeathStrike, but with a sewer-dredging atmosphere all its own. CIANIDE’s rich discography reads like a study in unselfconsciousness: one could say the power-trio […]

Music News

MONGREL’S CROSS announce ABSU’s Proscriptor as new vocalist

Aussie metal vanguard MONGREL’S CROSS have announced Absu’s Proscriptor as their vocalist. A statement from the band reads: “It is with great pleasure to announce the entire vocal performance for our upcoming full-length, Arcana, Scrying And Revelation, will be handled by none other than Proscriptor McGovern of Absu fame. Proscriptor has been a huge influence on us, and to have him bless our work is beyond humbling. Over the past few months, we have been conversing with the warrior of Ulster, and his dedication to metal and magic(k) is truly inspiring. You can expect nothing short of perfection with such […]

Music News

VAULTWRAITH set release date for new HELLS HEADBANGERS album

Hells Headbangers sets October 31st as the international release date for VAULTWRAITH’s highly anticipated second album, Light The Candle In Honour Of Devils, on CD format. Light The Candle In Honour Of Devils is a 12-song epic of pure Devilcraft Metal: VAULTWRAITH’s own morbid mix of heavy ’80s-inspired speed/thrash metal, combined with demonic death/black metal riffs/vocals, atmospheric horror-inspired keyboards, and a King Diamond/Candlemass-influenced vibe of evil and doom. VAULTWRAITH’s debut album for Hells Headbangers, 2017’s Death Is Proof Of Satan’s Power, was a surprising and original success with lethal critical praise from the horror and metal underground, including England’s Metal […]

Music News

FÖRGJORD set release date for new WEREWOLF album, reveal first track

Today, Werewolf Records, in conspiracy with Hells Headbangers, sets April 19th as the international release date for the highly anticipated fourth album of FORGJORD, Ilmestykset, on CD format. Hailing from the forever-thriving Finnish black metal underground, FORGJORD is one of that scene’s stranger and more unique entities. Existing since the mid ’90s, the trio have largely shied away from the spotlight – even when that spotlight is blacklit and dim – and patiently parcel out their releases, with a sparse-yet-solid discography to date. Uhripuu – their third album, released to critical acclaim in 2017 by Werewolf Records – crystalized the […]