Rebel Extravaganza

Heavy Metal And Other Occasional Musics And Cultures

Napalm Records

Album Reviews

Album Review: Dragonforce – Warp Speed Warriors

‘Astro Warrior Anthem’ begins satisfyingly enough, Marc Hudson seeming for all the world like a rather bored Klaus Meine, but it all goes to pot less than a minute in when the noodle factory opens for business, Li and Totman clocking in for some true tweedly-dee runs that should be jaw-dropping but don’t even sound as if they were created by humans. Sure, I get it, “fastest band in the world”, blah blah blah. But there’s exactly zero emotion conjured in the entire song, a carbon copy of 95% of what DRAGONFORCE has done up until now. ‘Power Of The […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Plaguemace – Reptilian Warlords

In case you just woke up after being asleep for 10 years, death metal is a big deal again. Really. We are in the second great age of the gnarly subgenre and it is arguably producing more material than the first wave in the early ’90s. With this windfall, though, there are obviously good bands….and just as obviously bands that are bandwagon jumpers and also-rans. PLAGUEMACE is part of this second wave. Where do they fall on the spectrum of worthless to godlike? Well, it’s somewhere in the middle part….the lower middle part. This bunch hails for Denmark, which is […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: SHYLMAGOGHNAR – Convergence

I first noticed SHYLMAGOGHNAR a couple of years ago, but never looked any further than their bizarre name. I thought it was silly at the time and figured they wouldn’t be worth my time. Curiosity finally compelled me to look further into this one-man outfit from Holland and I must confess, I was unfair to the band. This is quite a sonic adventure and an amazing achievement considering it was all done by one guy using a home studio. Convergence is really a perfect name for what SHYLMAGOGHNAR have come up with here. This record covers so many styles of […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Nanowar Of Steel – Dislike To False Metal

First things, first, let’s be clear; while yours truly most assuredly sees the humor and sheer ridiculousness of a good many trappings of heavy metal, the one thing you’ll never read in these pages, hear from my lips is a lack of seriousness about the music. And I think that’s what puts me off about bands like NANOWAR OF STEEL most of all – the sheer grade school level banality from the start. And don’t even get me going on Metalocalypse, a show that could’ve been endearing but ended up doing more damage than any chuckles were worth by playing […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Ahab – The Coral Tombs

After an 8 year layoff, AHAB rises again from the briny deep, this time to celebrate Jules Verne’s undersea classic 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. AHAB has always been a unique band, practicing what they call “nautik doom”. Their slow motion mix of crushing heaviness and melancholy melody really does seem oceanic. It seems calm and languorous even in the heavy moments and reminds you of one of the ocean’s leviathans gliding majestically through black and gloomy waters. Alas, The Coral Tombs seems to me to be a little bit too relaxing this time around. There’s a lot more emphasis […]

Album Reviews

Album Review: Stormruler – Sacred Rites & Black Magick

These guys are from ST. LOUIS?! After listening to the utter blackened majesty of STORMRULER, I would have picked Sweden or Finland as their stomping grounds. Or even more likely, the realm of Gondor, or perhaps the frozen North of Tad Williams’ fantasy tales of Osten Ard. At any rate, these two warriors have conjured up a feast of gloriously over the top melodic black metal that embraces the epic. Yes, this is maximalism, not minimalism. And it works. The two major touchstones of STORMRULER’s sound would have to be DISSECTION and IMMORTAL. They draw upon the former’s freezing cold […]

Music News

Atmospheric Black Metal Duo IMPERIUM DEKADENZ Announce New Album, Into Sorrow Evermore

Lords of black metal, IMPERIUM DEKADENZ, raise darkness from the depths of southwestern Germany’s Black Forest once more and proudly announce their new album, Into Sorrow Evermore, to be unleashed on January 20, 2023, via Napalm Records. Immersed in the void, they approach themes of depression, death and desperation, luring the listener into their sorrowful reality of existence. True to the beginnings of the genre, IMPERIUM DEKADENZ stick to their roots and leave their own haunting mark on the genre, claiming their rightful place in the upper echelons of black metal. The first single ‘Memories…A Raging River’ is released along […]

Music News

CONAN To Kick Off Canadian Tour Run This Month – New Album Evidence Of Immortality Out Now

England’s doom metal masters CONAN are ready to descend upon Canada following the release of their latest full-length studio effort, Evidence Of Immortality, which came out this summer on Napalm Records. The band will kick off a nine-city trek through the country, beginning October 27 in Montreal at Foufounes Electriques. See below for the complete list of dates! Evidence Of Immortality was produced by Chris Fielding and mastered by James Plotkin. The album also sees former band member Dave Perry perform on the track ‘Grief Sequence’. The album’s artwork was provided by the skilled hand and mind of Tony Roberts, […]

Music News

Viking Metal Legends EINHERJER Release Live Version of ‘Far Far North’

Norse metal legends EINHERJER have released a second single, the live version of ‘Far Far North’, cut from their upcoming live album, Norse And Dangerous (Live… From The Land Of Legends), out August 5, 2022 via Napalm Records. The album is available in vinyl (strictly limited to 300 copies) and digital formats! Norse And Dangerous (Live… From The Land Of Legends) not only includes songs from North Star (2021), but beautifully sums up EINHERJER’s discography. Far Far North was originally released in 1997, and in its dark, gritty live form, shines in a new light – digging deep down into […]

Music News

Swedish Melancholic Masters KATATONIA Sign Worldwide Record Deal with Napalm Records

Napalm Records is beyond proud to announce the worldwide signing of legendary Swedish masters of melancholy KATATONIA. The band has inked a worldwide record deal with the leading Austrian rock and metal label. Piercing through the core in 1991 when KATATONIA was brought to life by the inimitable Jonas Renkse (now vocalist) and renowned guitarist Anders Nyström, the unit has taken a fascinating journey from their heavy atmospheric extreme metal beginnings in the early 90s underground metal scene to their current status as a unique, free-spirited progressive rock amalgamation that stretches beyond the boundaries of standard music. Each stunning work […]

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