Eluveitie – Ànv (2025) – Review

Eluveitie - Anv - Album Cover

Once upon a time, Chrigel Glanzmann had a great idea. And that was to merge Pagan Folk with Death Metal. Not many expected this to work, but after a fair amount of trial and error, he succeeded, and Eluveitie was the end product that stuck with the audience.

Since the zine’s inception, the RMR crew covered a whopping six full-length records of this band. Out of which Everything Remains (as it never was) and – strangely – Evocation II – Pantheon fared best. Let’s be clear, lavish coverage such as this for one band is pretty unusual @ RMR. And … [...] Click to raid more!

Ancient Bards – Artifex (2025) – Review

Ancient Bards - Artifex - Album Cover

Italy. An astonishing haven for all sorts of metal shenanigans found up and down the famous boot-shaped peninsula. The RMR crew found a full-blown panoply of metal delights, out of which Power and Symphonic Metal grab themselves an important chunk.

Around 15% of all Italian records covered since the zine’s inception wander about these two genres. Put differently, Power Metal has become one of the main staples of Italy’s cheesiest metal soundscapes. And RMR stepped right into it. Gunk or geekery? We might need some Artifex to pull ourselves out of this.


Ancient Bards‘ 2019 piece Origine didn’t quite … [...] Click to raid more!

Epica – Aspiral (2025) – Review

Epica - Aspiral - Album Cover

Over time, a whopping six of Epica‘s extensive arsenal of full-length releases, plus a handful of clips and other shorties, made it onto the RMR zine. And as our internal pecking order goes, this puts them on par with big players such as Within Temptation1 and – behold – Rotting Christ, no less. Meaning, this band is at the top of the RMR food chain as albums covered go. And no wonder, Epica constantly churned out good to great albums over the years with only few disappointments.

Staying true on a carefully charted Symphonic Metal course while … [...] Click to raid more!

Tribunal – In Penitence and Ruin (2025) – Review

Tribunal - Of Penitence and Ruin - Album Cover

The last time, the guardian of the review pipe screwed up and the RMR crew finally covered Tribunal‘s 2023 debut with some delay the following year. A ‘faux pas’ that won’t bear repeating yet again. The RMR crew found the Quality ov Doom to be pretty outstanding and compelling for a simple starter package. Material that would have landed on the top 10 with a fair degree of certainty.

So, luckily, the band’s somewhat unwieldily named new piece In Penitence and Ruin reaches our dark shores somewhat early in 2025. Time enough to let its desperate deliberations sink in … [...] Click to raid more!