Wintersun – Time II (2024) – Review

Posted on 3 September 2024 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

Whenever one of Nuclear Blast’s tired mainstream warriors gets RMR to come out of the woodwork, Wintersun‘s siren call may well be the culprit that made us do it. Everyone has been waiting forever and a day for Jari Mäenpää to finally make his move. Unending delays, false promises, and grift, after grift passed us by but Time II still wouldn’t appear. Until such time that the RMR Review Desk finally stopped looking for it.

Now, after a friggin’ 12 years of waiting and a lot of ridicule, the band finally delivered – something. If you remember, RMR himself … [...] Click to raid more!

Fleshgod Apocalypse – Opera (2024) – Review

Posted on 1 September 2024 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Opera - Album Cover

I never knew diving into metal at large would make one appreciate classical music more than you’d ever imagined. Haunting themes straight from the opera stage, ferociously shredded to fit the metal narrative. Unspeakable creations that you didn’t expect until you met their terrible fury. But all those classically trained ladies fronting many a band truly take the darkly metallic cake. Somehow the sugar-sweet high-pitched female offering goes well with all those Neanderthal musings Extreme Metal is full of.

Fleshgod Apocalypse‘s Veronica Bordacchini is one of them. Well actually, no, not quite. She acted more as some permanent session … [...] Click to raid more!

Ellende – Todbringerin (2024) – Review

Posted on 30 August 2024 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

Remakes only sparsely grace our review pipe. There must be a couple at best, and that’s for good reason. Usually, the RMR crew prefers the raw material, the stuff that came before, the real thing. And not some crazy-ass remix with – Loki forbid – some atrocious synth-pop elements added for fun. You get all kinds, y’know, and not everything is pretty.

But – as always – exceptions do apply and Ellende is one of them. Since the 2022 piece Ellenbogengesellschaft hit our turntables, the RMR crew holds this artist in the highest esteem. Thus, Todbringerin will get a shot … [...] Click to raid more!

Weltenbrandt – Transzendenz Schatten Romantik (2024) – Review

Posted on 25 August 2024 by RockmusicRaider — Leave a reply

Weltenbrandt - Transzendenz Schatten Romantik - Album Cover

Ellende is on our minds a lot these days. Todbringerin is their newest record and it’s ear-catching. And to no-one’s surprise, it messed up our turntables for way too long. A style we have trouble resisting, even if the doom ‘n’ gloom can weigh heavily on one’s soul.

And speaking about which. Lo and behold, out of nowhere Weltenbrandt loudly made its presence known. Yet another band wallowing in the murky depths of an almost gothic sadboi melancholy that roars forth in some established blackened splendor. An underground band that only the initiated will recognize. But then, mainstream fame never … [...] Click to raid more!