Author Archives: RockmusicRaider

Faun – Hex (2025) – Review

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Faun has been a frequent ‘guest’ of this zine over the years. The RMR crew got to know them once Von Den Elben took some more mainstream undercurrents by storm. The record was a revelation, unlike the forced Wardruna copycat feel that their previous pieces always induced. This drew a total shitstorm of ire from their hardcore fans and led the band to start pulling back from their newfound freedom after a while. Fast forward to Pagan of 2022, Faun‘s fare started to center yet again in the more esoteric form of Pagan Folk. It was interesting to see

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Panopticon – Laurentian Blue (2025) – Review

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Panopticon - Laurentian Blue - Album Cover

There’s a fine line between Black Metal and proper folk. Examples abound, but the most telling one probably is Wardruna with its founding member Kvitrafn1 (White Raven), who famously hopped to the other side from Gorgoroth together with the infamous Gaahl. The latter returned to his roots in the meantime, whereas Selvik and his sidekick, Lindy-Fay Hella, stayed in pagan land.

But I digress. Panopticon just hit our review pipe. A band steeped in blackened forgery but freely dispensing folksy tunes, too. A one-man show run by one Austin L. Lunn, excelling in a steady flow of Folk and … [...] Click to raid more!

Novarupta – Astral Sands (2025) – Review

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Novarupta Astral Sands Album Cover

Alright. It looks like Novarupta‘s latest concoction, Astral Sands, is the last partition of a four-piece journey into fantasyland, meaning the infamous four elements. Yes, the ones used by pagan religions of the past and present to great effect all over the world.

And the RMR crew missed that particular boat completely. And quite unsurprisingly so. Their latest piece, Carrion Movements, turned out to be an instrumental concoction and was thus brutally ignored. Rulez are to be obeyed after all!

This time around, Novarupta covers the earth element, so we are told, with Astral Sands featuring music … [...] Click to raid more!

Helloween – Giants & Monsters (2025) – Review

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Helloween - Giants & Monsters - Album Cover

It happened at last. Helloween‘s newest concoction, Giants & Monsters, successfully made it onto our review pipe after all those years. The grandads of the Metal o’ The Light finally obtained lamestream n00b status over at the RMR Review Desk. Meaning, despite their verified existence since 1983 and their undisputed influence on the shaping of Ze Art ov Power Metal in general, the band never officially landed a review over at the office tower. The culprit holding us back usually was those slippery, pinkish, sugar-laden surfaces slathered in molten cheese that got in the way. But things changed, and

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