Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Metal Blade

Album Review: Six Feet Under – Killing For Revenge

Aside from a wheezing, heart attack inducing “Is this Geritol in my bongwater” run partway up Half-Ass Mountain with Undead (2012) and Unborn (2013), Ol’ Chrissy’s been faltering at best, flatlining at worst since 1995’s Haunted. Chris Barnes had no choice but to get Jack Owen on board, as roping/duping another member of the O.G. CANNIBAL CORPSE lineup was the only way SIX FEET UNDER could retain any level of credibility in death metal. And so, the hopeful did hope. And lo, did Nightmares Of The Decomposed flop harder than Nicolas Cage with T__ W_____ M__. We shouldn’t have been […]

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. […]

Blaze of Perdition: Polish Black Metal Outfit Releases ‘Przez rany’ Video / Single

Upharsin Nears April 19th Release On Metal Blade Records Watch BLAZE OF PERDITION’s ‘Przez Rany’ video ‘Przez Rany’ is the harrowing new single from long-running outfit BLAZE OF PERDITION. Having existed at the forefront of the Polish black metal movement, the band returns in 2024 with their sixth full-length, Upharsin, set for release on April 19th via Metal Blade Records. A step back from the somewhat unusual direction the band followed on their previous offering — 2020’s The Harrowing Of Hearts — Upharsin takes on a dark and pessimistic tone reflected by its appropriately oppressive music. Haunting and melancholic melodies […]

CATTLE DECAPITATION To Co-Headline Chaos & Carnage 2024 With Carnifex; Tickets On Sale Now

West Coast deathgrind icons CATTLE DECAPITATION will co-headline this year’s edition of the Chaos & Carnage Tour alongside Carnifex. The journey runs from April 30th through May 26th with additional support provided by the band’s Metal Blade labelmates, Rivers Of Nihil and The Zenith Passage, as well as Humanity’s Last Breath, Vitriol, and Face Yourself. Comments CATTLE DECAPITATION’s Travis Ryan, “Excited to be back out on the road in the good ol’ US of A, this time co-headlining the Chaos & Carnage Tour with our hometown homies Carnifex along with a slew of great bands making this one hell of […]

Týr Announces Battle Ballads North American Headlining Tour 2024

Faroe Islands-based folk metal collective TÝR will return to North American stages next Spring. The Battle Ballads headlining tour, named in honor of their upcoming new full-length of the same name, begins March 28th in Baltimore, Maryland and makes its way through over two dozen cities, coming to a close on April 26th in Greensboro, North Carolina. Support will be provided by Trollfest, Æther Realm, and The Dread Crew Of Oddwood. The tour marks TÝR’s first North American run since 2019. Comments the band, “It is with great joy that we announce our return to the US and Canada. It’s […]

GOST To Release Prophecy Full-Length March 8th, 2024 Via Metal Blade Records; New Video Now Playing + North American Tour Supporting Katatonia Underway

Slasherwave outfit and recent Metal Blade Records signees GOST will release the thundering thirteen-track full-length, Prophecy, on March 8th, 2024, revealing the record’s first video/single and preorders. GOST exists in the dark crack between black metal and the most shadowy end of electronic music. Since the release of the Radio Macabre EP at the start of 2013, and the remorseless digital nightmare of their Skull debut album six months later, Texas-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, and main-brain James Lollar has become an increasingly singular force in music. Far more aggressive and sinister than the synthwave he’s often grouped with, GOST is a […]

Album Review: Cirith Ungol – Dark Parade

Along with MANILLA ROAD, MANOWAR and BROCAS HELM, Ventura, California’s CIRITH UNGOL is one of the first bands that comes up (or should) in any discussion of American power/epic/heavy metal. With the passing of Mark Shelton of MANILLA ROAD any album released by the above becomes more important as not a teary-eyed trip through the “glory days”, but as confirmation of metal’s warrior spirit. After a triumphant return to record in 2020’s Forever Black, we join Dark Parade, the band’s sixth studio album. ‘Velocity (S.E.P.)’ bursts from shattered gates, a twin guitar attack and vocalist Tim Baker’s “Stretch your soul […]

CIRITH UNGOL: Cult Heavy Metal Icons Unveil ‘Looking Glass’ Single; Dark Parade Full-Length Nears Release On Metal Blade Records

Cult heavy metal icons CIRITH UNGOL today unveil their latest single, ‘Looking Glass’, with an accompanying lyric video. The monolithic new track comes by way of the band’s impending sixth full-length, Dark Parade, set for release on October 20th via Metal Blade Records. Few bands in the history of the heavy metal underground have a story as remarkable, improbable, or uplifting as that of CIRITH UNGOL. Formed in Ventura, California in the early 1970s, rather than passively channeling their influences, the band was driven to forge an altogether heavier, darker, more apocalyptic sound the world had never experienced before. It […]

PRIMORDIAL To Release How It Ends September 29th Via Metal Blade Records; New Video/Single Now Playing + Preorders Available

Long-running, Dublin, Ireland-based Pagan metallers PRIMORDIAL will release their tenth full-length, How It Ends, on September 29th via Metal Blade Records. Watch PRIMORDIAL’s ‘Victory Has 1000 Fathers, Defeat Is An Orphan’ video at THIS LOCATION PRIMORDIAL has nothing to prove. Having lasted thirty-two years and now returning with their devastating new studio offering, the Irish band has made it clear they are a primal force who consistently lay it all on the line. The follow-up to 2018’s critically lauded Exile Amongst The Ruins, How It Ends sees them delivering more of their seminal blend of Celtic and black metal, with […]

ARMORED SAINT: Second Leg Of North American Tour With W.A.S.P. Canceled

The eagerly anticipated second leg of ARMORED SAINT’s North American tour supporting W.A.S.P. has been canceled due to extensive back injuries suffered by W.A.S.P.’s Blackie Lawless during the European leg of the run. The tour will be canceled so Lawless can complete a full recovery. Tickets and VIP packages can be refunded at the point of purchase. ARMORED SAINT vocalist John Bush comments, “To say we are super bummed about the tour being canceled would be an understatement. We were all prepping hard, and I was looking forward to turning 60 years old in Wheeling, West Virginia. That being said, […]