Category Archives: Bands R

Rainbow – Down To Earth (1979) – Review

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Blasphemy, oh sweet blasphemy. After Rainbow‘s resounding successes Rising and Long Live Rock’n’Roll, the master decided to take a different route. Down to Earth took a much more commercial tack that sent the mainstream haters into flight mode.

In other words, Dio defected and landed in the bosom of Black Sabbath as a first step. One huge ego thrust into another bunch of huge egos, wow. But – quite predictably –  not for long, ’cause he then got out of dodge relatively quickly to settle in his own gig. So, things were pretty simple back then.

Right?

Well, … [...] Click to raid more!

Rainbow – Rising (1976) – Review

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It is funny how hindsight vision 20/20 is clear and precise. Back in time, Rainbow and their second full-length record Rising did – at first – not garner a lot of heightened attention. It really did not, apart from a tight circle of rock nerds perhaps. The sound was good, damn straight, but not stellar.

‘Yet Another Decent Hard Rock Record’ as we would say today.

It is also true that Rainbow was ever-present and blasting out of a multitude of loudspeakers. But so was Status Quo and many others. Yet still, Rising kind of had the nerve to stick itself … [...] Click to raid more!

Rotting Christ – Aealo (2010) – Review

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Two things hit home right away once you commence on Aealo. First, the record is intense, like dark, hotly spiced chocolate consumed with ruby red wine. And – second – it is not Black Metal. At least not in a proper sense. Okay, nothing new there, as even the powers that be officially called Rotting Christ Dark or Extreme Metal back in 2010.

And in truth, the Black Metal thing only (kind of) came back with the 2016 album Rituals. Even though the band hastened to state that this newest record would encompass all kinds of rituals. Weird ones … [...] Click to raid more!

Rotting Christ – Khronos (2000) – Review

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We write the year 2000. This was the time when the world awoke to the Y2K disaster that did not happen, even if it was widely hyped. Christ did not return to this mortal coil either, nor the devil for that matter. No earthquakes to speak of, the Earth did not break up and no major asteroids hit the blue planet. A non-event after all these predictions, Nostradamus be damned.

But the Black Metal universe – in contrast – spawned a felt gazillion of metal records. To cite just two of them: Immortal crab-walked themselves into Damned in Black and … [...] Click to raid more!