REBAELLIUN – Under The Sign Of Rebellion
September 20, 2023, a year ago
(Agonia)
“Brazilian death metal” are three words that, when put together, will always make me cock an eyebrow and lend an ear, and so it goes with Rebaelliun's first record in seven years (fourth overall).
Under The Sign Of Rebellion starts off extremely strong with “All Hail The Regicide”, a fantastic piece of blinders-on DM that looks to Krisiun but also to some slightly blacker places for influence, although the riffing on songs like, well, any of them, but let's say the killer “Fear The Infidel” bring to mind the mighty Karl Sanders of Nile, the guitar work just relentless, a definite highlight of this band's sound. But the drumming is nothing to dismiss either, the whole band just steamrolling, steamrolling, steamrolling.
Then there's “Insurgent Fire”, which has a riff to remember, not really a word that comes up too often with this level of extremity, but this is Kirk Windstein-level earworm, which is impressive. The band can throw out mid-tempo death with skill too, as on “Hostile Presence”, which doesn't quite go to the caves, or the sewers, but gets a bit subterranean in its speed before the blasting begins again.
Man, I love this band's dedication to extremity but also love the virtuosity, Rebaelliun getting everything right on this wholly enjoyable platter of DM, which sits right below an 8.5, a slight lack of personality being the only thing really preventing it from getting to that next level of DM royalty.
