Amorphis – Queen of Time (2018) – Review

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Aye! Guilty! The first listen of Queen of Time – Amorphis‘ 2018 concoction – originated from a relatively lo-fi streaming platform. And – unsurprisingly – this first glimpse left yours truly wondering where Amorphis was headed these days. Terrible visions of Amaranthe-esque disasters, misguided Power Metal et al. But the Finns usually have been a stable brand. At least until now. So, confusion reigned for a while at the RockmusicRaider offices.

Just think back to the outstanding ’96 album Elegy or the 2015 piece Under The Red Cloud, perhaps with the exception of Circle that earned fewer [...] Click to raid more!

Stortregn – Emptiness Fills The Void (2018) – Review

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Stortregn‘s 2016 record Singularity starts with this friggin’ solo. First one guitar, then the second chiming in. Very unusual for the genre they so avidly depict. But this … thing juicily draws you in, a magic metal pull. And down you go through the rabbit hole, where overheated amps shred a growling sound made for the true metalhead. Such stellar beginnings and the ensuing performance will be very difficult to beat on the next record. 

So, with some trepidation, the RockmusicRaider crew stood in waiting for this new offering from the metal hotheads of Stortregn. Will Emptiness Fills [...] Click to raid more!

Kanseil – Fulische (2018) – Review

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The gods of music like to test bands in more ways than one. The necessity to make money with their tune is one of them. And this one is not always easy in this day and age of galloping digitization and streaming madness. Not losing their creative streak, lest the fan base will evaporate quickly and light on juicier targets is the next challenge. Or navigating around that pitch-black, razor-sharp cliff that always appears for their sophomore album is the ultimate challenge. Many a band already wrecked their career on that particular rock, either because they ran out of ideas [...] Click to raid more!

Newsflash: Sound Of A Broken Heart by HDAW!

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Rarely and usually completely out of the blue, you get these refreshing blurbs of rock and metal that will make you keep your faith in modern music. True, there were no real breakthroughs anymore lately in terms of new styles. But then bands with promise continue to come along. Those who know how to string elements together just right and forge a blazing hot slab of rock. Slap Betty or Last Bullet were just two of them out of many that made it onto the RMR blog page for that very reason.

Now, the Finnish band Heroes Don’t Ask Why[...] Click to raid more!