Tag Archives: Epica

RMR’s 2025 Top 10 Records!

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RMR's Top 10 2025 - Skeleton on a rock with electric guitar with a clock in the background.

In 2024, RMR’s Top 10 was dark, ominous, and, at times, frankly distressing. Full of Satanik Panik, deep excursions into the terrible underground of Death and Black Metal, or – again – just frank, straightforward malevolence. There weren’t many rays of light, and one wondered what daemon visited the RMR Office Tower exactly to inflict such a brutal punishment on the esteemed audience. Even if the RMR crew just discovered some odd tidbits of ’24 that could have lightened the load. Could. But didn’t.

And perhaps this was a harbinger of doom for the year to come. With the worst … [...] Click to raid more!

Epica – Aspiral (2025) – Review

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Epica - Aspiral - Album Cover

Over time, a whopping six of Epica‘s extensive arsenal of full-length releases, plus a handful of clips and other shorties, made it onto the RMR zine. And as our internal pecking order goes, this puts them on par with big players such as Within Temptation1 and – behold – Rotting Christ, no less. Meaning, this band is at the top of the RMR food chain as albums covered go. And no wonder, Epica constantly churned out good to great albums over the years with only few disappointments.

Staying true on a carefully charted Symphonic Metal course while … [...] Click to raid more!

Video: Epica play the Arcana Card!

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Epica - Arcana - Video Cover

“Our very first single in two years…”, Simone Simons crooned some time ago. Not quite true, The Alchemy Project of 2022 came and went without much reverb out in the fan crowd. But I guess, she meant Epica-owned music following in the wake of the astonishing Omega. But one can never be quite sure.

So, lo and behold, a new video called Arcana appeared on our to-view list. The clip granting – to quote the label – “…a glimpse into the band’s future music, coming in 2025.” Fair enough. Aspiral beckons you, that kind of thing.

Epica… [...] Click to raid more!

Epica – Omega (2021) – Review

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RockmusicRaider - Epica - Omega - Album Cover

So, is Epica the last Symphonic Metal outfit standing? Apart from the newly coined Surma, perhaps. Nightwish has gone all wobbly on us with Marko Hietala now firmly away from the band.1 And now, this February 2021, Delain imploded and reverted into a solo project again. For all the good that this will do them.2 And what about Within Temptation? Well, let’s not go there.

So, with much trepidation we had our eyes turned towards Omega, Epica‘s newest album. Yet, the first thing that we see is this 70-minute runtime. Yet another specter of some … [...] Click to raid more!