Review by Michael on October 30, 2023.

With Under The Sign Of Rebellion the Brazilian deathers Rebaelliun just released their 4th full-length output. With it comes a huge tragedy because their long-time vocalist Lohy Fabiano died in summer 2022 and the bass and vocal lines on this album are his heritage for the band. Though Rebaelliun never were the biggest name under the Brazilian death metal sun and appeared to me always like the little rude and underrated brother of Krisiun, they always delivered very brutal, relentless high-speed blasting death metal without any compromises or following any trends. This is the way the guys have chosen to go on this album again and blast everything and everybody away that is looking for some tender melodies or soft tunes. They hack their way through their 11 songs with a sharp machete and really take no prisoners or just like our all beloved house elf Dobby would say: “Rebaelliun never meant to kill! Rebaelliun only meant to maim or seriously injure!”. Not lethal but risking grave injuries.

A little bit decreased tempo is to find here and there but this is not their main focus, most of the time they torment their instruments with really sick high-speed guitar leads and thundering blast beats. Some more diversity you can find for example in 'The Gods Manace' where even some more catchy parts are to find and also one of the best guitar solos on the album or in 'Insurgent Fire' where the guys throttle down the tempo in a very surprising moment to make the song a very interesting one with cool twists and turns. Apart from the usual high speed death metal the Brazilians also sometimes use some Slayer-like riffs to lighten up the whole thing a little bit and in some parts Morbid Angel during the Steve Tucker era might have been a little role model, too. 'Hostile Presence' is a good example here, because of its lava-like riffing and the slow and hateful vocals. But don't be afraid, Rebaelliun haven't really changed their typical style since their mind-blowing debut Burn The Promised Land back in 1999. Only the one-dimensional focus is gone.

Apart from the two already mentioned tracks there are only real strong, neck breaking death metal steamrollers on Under The Sign Of Rebellion. If you had to show an alien what death metal is, this might be one of the best actual candidates for such a quest. The only question that I do have is what is rebellious about their new album? I wouldn't be surprised if they got it into the charts in some obscure countries like…Germany. Or Finland. Under The Sign Of Rebellion became a really strong album after the 7-year break and there is only to hope that this won't be their swansong.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 pissed-off house elves