Waldgeflüster – Knochengesänge (2025) – Review

Waldgeflüster - Knochengesänge Teil I & II - Album Cover

A double-tap, that’s what Waldgeflüster had in mind this time. Knochengesänge (bone chants), they called their newest piece of art. A tandem going for a whopping 109 minutes of airtime. That’s usually a no-go for this crew. But hey, the things we do for the Forest Metal gang. We just hope that they got a good compass; these are vast wooded wastes out there. And you surely wouldn’t want to get lost out there. Else, some evil witch, Bruder Hain1, or Rübezahl will get you just good. And you won’t get out of there anymore.


2021’s Dahoam2[...] Click to raid more!

Alukta – Merok (2025) – Review

Alukta - Merok - Album Cover

Ah, yes. French Black Metal is on the menu again. And frankly, the RMR crew has a sweet spot for these folks. Bands like Seth or Corpus Diavolis dazzled us to no end and garnered raving reviews with access to our latest Top 10 to boot. Looks like the French unconsecrated grounds are fertile soil for those devilish shenanigans.

Then, someone opined that Alukta here move down the ritualistic lane. And that stopped the old geezers of the review desk cold in their tracks. French Black Metal with a ritualistic twist? Something like the terrible Darkend? No, it’s something … [...] Click to raid more!

This Gift is a Curse – Heir (2025) – Review

Oh yeah, baby. Time to stop wobbling about strange soundscapes and back to burning off some mental fat. And that’s best done with unapologetic furious metal, stuff the usual classical music connoisseur would not touch with a ten-foot flagpole. Noisome metallic items that the RMR crew cannot really resist.

So, descend into This Gift is a Curse‘s unhealthy and wickedly heathen realm. An unwelcome apparition of a beast so vile it might make you decamp in a hellbent hurry. Meet the Heir, bow your head in submission, and be afraid. Very afraid.


Here is to one of these … [...] Click to raid more!

Officium Triste – Hortus Venenum (2024) – Review

Officium Triste - Hortus Venenum - Album Cover

Officium Triste‘s last record left a pretty hefty impression over at the Review Desk. In an abundance of weeping guitars, tear-drenched melodies, and relentless growls, the band delivered a mountainous relic of oldish doom. After all, the piece talked about The Death of Gaia, no less. Albeit that the record’s overbearing intensity and inherent repetitive nature finally got the better of us after a while.

So, here we’re entering the poisoned garden. Hortus Venenum the band called their newest creation. A new excursion into an ominous world of invisible dangers, potions, and deception? We would have liked a … [...] Click to raid more!