Dimmu Borgir – Grand Serpent Rising (2026) – Review

Dimmu Borgir - Grand Serpent Rising - Album Cover

Dimmu Borgir truly is one of the veterans in the realm of Symphonic Black Metal and – for sure – Black Metal proper. As the lore goes, the band started operations in 1993, releasing records at a steady pace. Alas, the dispatch of records slowed to a trickle in the meantime, with the band taking some 8 years between major releases. Does this mean there’s an energy drop by the two faithful acolytes, Shagrath and Silenoz? Perhaps. But, remarkably, the two remaining founding members are still at it today.

Now, Eonian saw the light of day in 2018. So, … [...] Click to raid more!

Mystfall – Embers of a Dying World (2026) – Review

Mystfall - Embers of a Dying World - Album Cover

Greece’s Mystfall must have sailed straight past our outpost a few years ago. Their debut album, Celestial Vision, just didn’t register. But then, 2023 was a busy year, and the RMR crew is thus excused.

But now it’s time for some Symphonic and Power Metal fun of times long past. Yep, that genre again, one that’s hopelessly overcrowded with a felt 99% of wannabes and 1% of real stars of this very special slice of the metal multiverse.

I mean, we all still remember when this movement really took off in the early ’00s with the likes of Epica[...] Click to raid more!

Tardigrade Inferno – Hush (2026) – Review

Tardigrave Inferno - Hush - Album Cover

Alright, what pitch-black kettle of fish did we catch ourselves here? Out of the smoke-infested Northern reaches of the Baltics emerge some sickly circus sounds. That said, the circus theme in metal is nothing new, of course. It is, more often than not, all about the old tropes of the evil clown, which have been en vogue since Stephen King killed the market with his novel ‘IT’ decades ago. What better figure to scare the bejeesus out of you than a not-so benign paintface?

Now, here we’re faced with a whole gaggle of them. A noisy, beetlejuice-infested chaos troupe that’s … [...] Click to raid more!