Alien Realms, as imagined by Vortex!

Posted on 11 April 2025 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

Ah, so many vortices out there in the Metal Multiverse. It’s a fascinating choice for a band name, as you never know where you will end up once the vortex sucks you into its terrible embrace. And theories are legion out there, with the most likely outcome that you will simply die if the thing is lethal enough. No mystery there.

So, this here Vortex is the Canadian pendant from Quebec. A band born back in 1998 with a penchant for Melodic, Symphonic, and Blackened Death Metal and an urge to discover uncomfortable Alien Realms. And would there be … [...] Click to raid more!

Soliloquium – Famine (2025) – Review

Posted on 9 April 2025 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

The times are dire and the outlook into the future ain’t great. Crisis upon crisis, threats of war, power grabs, and an uncertain future courtesy of a few unhinged strongmen. A dystopian and widespread feeling of unease permeates the populace – and that doesn’t bode well. That is how the Year of the Dark Lord 2025 presents itself and we’re not very far into it yet. Sounds dark, dreary, and gray, doesn’t it? Well, it is, and it might well get worse quickly.

So, what better time to dig into the doom-filled depths of Soliloquium‘s newest piece Famine. … [...] Click to raid more!

Tower – Let There Be Dark (2025) – Review

Posted on 7 April 2025 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

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

Posted on 4 April 2025 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

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!