Thorondir – Wächter des Waldes (2025) – Review

Thorondir - Wächter des Waldes - Album Cover

Forest Metal is on the menu again. I don’t know what it is with the Bavarian and Austrian wooded areas. They seem to inspire a ton of Extreme Metal bands that bemoan their majestic landscapes and mystical origins. And I reckon that the album art again covers the essence of where this is going pretty well already. The pagan lore still seems to be firmly entrenched in the local populace over there. And that, even if the Holy Catholic Church tried to align the region to the cranky whims of the nailed god for too many centuries. Just look at … [...] Click to raid more!

Terra Atlantica – Oceans (2025) – Review

Terra Atlantica - Oceans - Album Cover

The album cover talked to us first. Poseidon, are you calling again? Late in 2024, we had you on a banger of a record. Full trident power on stark display. So, here the Olympian Gawd ov The Sea (and other mischief) reemerges from the North Sea. Or something.

Terra Atlantica are on the prowl again. To our chagrin, steampunk seems to be out the door, and Oceans are their theme with a penchant for pirate lore. A fact we kinda guessed when looking at the cover.

But with moving things into the Pirate Metal realm comes big responsibility. Legion … [...] Click to raid more!

Overt Enemy – Insurrection (2025) – Review

Overt Enemy - Insurrection - Album Cover

There’s some headscratching going on over at the Review Desk. The powers that be of the metal interweb threw American thrashers Overt Enemy into our lap, wordily touting its wares in often flowery language. An act from Mission, Texas,1 who had – and I quote “…carved a name for itself in the global metal scene…” happily riding into the sunset on all that newfound global fame. Or something.

And that sounds great, except that their 2025 tour happens all around the Lone Star State. And the only live location abroad that we could find was the UK. Back in

[...] Click to raid more!

Vintersorg – Vattenkrafternas Spel (2025) – Review

Vintersorg - Vattenkrafternas Spel - Album Cover

I reckon we’ll need a lamestream n00b list for 2025 as well. Vintersorg, the band around one Andreas Hedlund, has been active since 1996. That’s not quite a lifetime ago, unlike other bands out there. But it is a whopping three decades of faithful service to further the mighty metal lore. And they had an undeniable influence on Northern atmospherics in metal, no contest.

The band sometimes showed its colors at the RMR office tower, straight out of the Northern lights at the outer edges of our aural range. But they never quite made it onto the review … [...] Click to raid more!