Tower – Let There Be Dark (2025) – Review

Tower - Let There Be Dark - Album Cover

You gotta celebrate them. ‘Young’ bands worshipping the well-trodden grounds of good ol’ speedy Heavy Metal. Sounds that harken back to times when the only genre pretty much was that very same one. These were the times when fledgling Hard Rock bands tried themselves at that new devil’s music many old farts of that era took exception with.

Of course, it would not take long until the new metal world branched out into a gazillion sub-genres and blossomed into that ill-fated Yggdrasil ov Metal we know today. But until that happened, things were easy and spawned some of the greatest … [...] Click to raid more!

Bloody Valkyria – In Our Home, Across The Fog (2025) – Review

Bloody Valkyria - In Our Home, Across The Fog - Album Cover

Early 2025 seems to turn into the year of the Valkyries. The RMR crew already had some earlier. A flamboyant platter of moods and flavors served with an underlying vampiric Victorian flair. But here, things are moving seriously North. To the places where the sun either gets stuck in the sky for months or won’t shine at all. But it is also to places where true metal excellence happens more often than not.

So, the question here is: Will Bloody Valkyria and their somewhat unwieldingly structured piece In Our Home, Across the Fog really cut the dense Scandinavian mustard? There’s … [...] Click to raid more!

Frogg – Eclipse (2025) – Review

Frogg - Eclipse - Album Cover

Croak! Ah, this is going to be a difficult one. The RMR crew already covered swampy gurgles in the past, emanating from slimy creatures dwelling in the rotting muck. Such pieces can get far with us. And besides, the RMR crew often fancies leaning into the slimy primordial soup of deathly prog.

But then, there are the highly technical bands as well. Acts run by nerds putting the term avant-garde to shame. Cases when prog guys get sick of prog1 and kick it a few miles up the proverbial ladder. And we just found one, but we’re equally unsure … [...] Click to raid more!

Newsflash: Lauren Babic has Too Much and Never Enough!

Lauren Babic - Too Much and Never Enough - Album Cover

Those who have followed the RMR zine for a while, probably discovered that we like the unexpected and the weird. Genre-benders that go out on a limb to stand out and shine. But only if the stuff they strut is well done and has some valor attached.

Meet Lauren Babic and her EP Too Much and Never Enough. She mixes synth-pop songs with some beatz and metallic musings. Something like Taylor Swift on speed from a dark and dystopian universe. First, you’ll get some poppy tunes thrown at ye. But those morph quickly into some caustic Punk attack. … [...] Click to raid more!