Firtan – Helios (2026) – Review

Posted on 3 November 2026 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

Helios, the old Greek sun god. The all-seeing ~~eye~~ spy in the sky from which you cannot hide. A sun-crowned raider of the infamous chariot, roaring through the ether with his horse-drawn contraption. That is the theme the German Black Metallers Firtan chose to cover in their newest 2026 album.

And I daresay, the RMR crew couldn’t imagine a better genre to pick for such a mighty storyline. Firtan have been orbiting around our little universe for a while. Peddled to us as a highly atmospheric and insanely immersive Black Metal act, this is their first appearance on our … [...] Click to raid more!

Dantalion – Dantalion (2026) – Review

Posted on 1 November 2026 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

It is true, you know. The RMR zine covered a ton of moody doom pieces in 2026. But real vile Black Metal and ferocious Extreme Metal disasters? None too many. Not that there weren’t any, of course. In This Hell graced our turntables lately, and it wasn’t necessarily bad fare. Thus, it’s time to reach yet again into the underground and grope around in the abject darkness down there. Ze Grand Masters of ze Okkvlt have been strangely silent these days. Or perhaps they missed our very own freight train, who knows?

So, luckily the Spaniards of Dantalion appeared on … [...] Click to raid more!

Avaland – Chemical Poetry (2026) – Review

Posted on 30 October 2026 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

Alright, the band boasting a perpetual metal opera is back in town. The RMR crew last looked at them in 2023, when The Legend of the Storyteller failed to pump up our juices enough to get us really excited.

Yup, Avaland are back from whatever rock they hid under for the last three years. Chemical Poetry is the newest sub-theme to the well-known operatic urges they’ve pursued for long years. Interestingly, Rockshots Records are gone from the equation, and the band’s very own vanity label Storytium SAS has taken over. I reckon, to ‘take back control’ or something. An argument … [...] Click to raid more!

Cirith Ungol – All The Shadows (2026) – Review

Posted on 29 October 2026 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

Cirith Ungol - All The Shadows - Album Cover

Well, hells bells, the RMR crew thought they were retired for good. Or at least retired enough to not throw yet another one of their records onto the Review Desk. Well, it looks like we were dead wrong in our misguided assumption that this was the case here. So, now we got that big pile of metal shards right in front of us. Well, look at the bright side, there will be monsters and daemons to vanquish. That’s at least something, right?

That said, the RMR crew had a lot of fun with 2023’s Dark Parade. But we truly … [...] Click to raid more!