Wintersun – Time II (2024) – Review

Wintersun - Time II - Album Cover

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 by1 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 … [...] Click to raid more!

Weltenbrandt – Transzendenz Schatten Romantik (2024) – Review

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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!

Tyraels Ascension – Hell Walker (2024) – Review

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Core, the bane of RMR? Not quite, just a bunch of styles that don’t sit too well over at the RMR Review Desk. Albeit some hybrids found pretty feisty praise in 2024. So, good fare will find recognition after all.

Tyraels Ascension‘s debut record Hell Walker dwelled in our review pipe for a while – and got forcefully displaced by some metallic extremes that will air shortly on RMR. Hence our being comfortably late all over again. And – perhaps – the need for core-ish brutality wasn’t all that prevalent for a while. Sometimes the urge for caustic screams … [...] Click to raid more!

Verikalpa – Tuomio (2024) – Review

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Verikalpa - Tumio - Album Cover

Sometimes I wonder why a record selected for review suddenly doesn’t sound right anymore. Okay, the selection process is swift and brutal – but more often than not right on point. One should get the gist of any piece in a few minutes after all.

And yet. Some of them suddenly won’t fit anymore. It’s a bit like some rough wine, still too young to easily slide down yer gullet. And that happened to Verikalpa‘s Tuomio. Once we fired it up back in April, it just got stuck somewhere in the meandering canals of the review pipe. Not … [...] Click to raid more!