Dust Prophet – One Last Look Upon the Sky (2023) – Review

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Dust Prophet - One Last Look Upon the Sky - Album Cover

Why is it that pretty much all deserts on album covers are orange? The mighty influence of the sands of Arizona or virtual visits to the worms of Dune, perhaps. Or again, a subconscious submission to all those Hollywoodian fantasy shenanigans that happened to crawl across our screens over the years. Or is orange the color of the grim reaper? We got three of them right here on the artwork after all. I guess we’ll never know for sure.

What we do know, however, is that Dust Prophet not only chose their dystopian album cover well, but also their style … [...] Click to raid more!

Katatonia – Sky Void of Stars (2023) – Review

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Katatonia - Sky void of Stars - Album Cover

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Many bands of renown never made it onto the famed RMR review pipe. One reason might be that we tend to favor the underground. Those vile creatures of the mucky metal Middle Earth, slithering around in the oily dark corners of our crusty pipeline. Just to be pulled out screaming into the light to sometimes spectacular effects.

In other words, the RMR Review Committee usually shuns the mainstream. And many of those big outfits kinda placed themselves in their most commercially viable channels. And there’s – after all – nothing wrong with this approach. Gotta buy … [...] Click to raid more!

Negative Vortex – Tomb Absolute (2022) – Review

Negative Vortex - Tomb Absolute - Album Cover

I always wondered what I liked better. Brutal, harsh Death Metal, or just vile and terrible Black Metal. And the answer is, it depends. After all, both genres hunt in the same or similar corners of metal’s smelly underbelly. Yet, quite often, Death Metal gives a songwriter much better traction for all sorts of debaucheries. And whilst the blackened folks are steeped in tradition and self-inflicted rules,1 the deathly ones can let loose any which way they choose. Yet again, some of them forgot that just brutalizing the audience like some abominable monstrosity may not necessarily lead to great … [...] Click to raid more!

Crom – The Era of Darkness (2023) – Review

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Crome - The Era of Darkness - Album Cover

2022 brought us a pretty outstanding crop of snazzy Heavy Metal records. And two of them, the ones from Saxon and Splintered Throne, landed square on one of our funkiest annual top 10 lists so far. What’s more, the wider selection of that decidedly powerful selection contained some of the best Power Metal cuts we had the pleasure to review on this ‘zine.

And this sets the bar at lofty heights for those who wish to grab some of the stardom that this worn-out genre still has to offer in 2023. So, will Crom deliver a lesson in mind-blowing … [...] Click to raid more!