Dragonknight – Legions (2025) – Review

Dragonknight - Legions - Album Cover

Oh boy. We got ourselves yet another of them masked bands boasting all those forbidden delights Power Metal could possibly furnish. And all of them are Lords to boot. Dragonknight here, a – and I quote – “…new conceptual band…” delivers a slick brand of Power Metal.

Way too slick for some folks, who immediately sniffed the terrible stench of an AI production. Well, judging by the label promoting this album and the presence of one Mikael Salo (ex De Lirium’s Order et al), they indeed form part of Finland’s PM brethren. But – cheese on red-hot iron drips fast … [...] Click to raid more!

Newsflash: Until Our Tale is Told, by VallorcH!

RockmusicRaider Review - Vallorch - Until Our Tale is Told - Album Cover

Ah, the Cimbrian community in the Italian Veneto seems to be very active in metal. The RMR crew covered Kanseil’s piece Doin Erde earlier in 2015. Folk Metal with a quirk and a solid historical background.

Now, the Italian Folk Metal band VallorcH released their sophomore full-length album Until Our Tale Is Told back towards the end of that same year. And similar to the aforementioned medievally-tainted dudes, this act takes a pretty folksy, yet truly metallic approach to local themes. Mainly based on the cultural remnants of the highlands North of Venice. 

VallorcH came into existence in 2010 and released their first EP … [...] Click to raid more!

Mythbegotten – Tales From The Unseelie Court (2024) – Review

RockmusicRaider - Spotify Logo

Ah, what splendid news just crossed our hawse here? The Unseelie Court, the haven of the evil fey, seems to be in session again. The RMR crew is full of suckers for mystical realms and unsolved myths, so pretty much any record offering such riches may will get a shot over at the office.

Besides RMR didn’t sport a folk record this year, even if Mythbegotten‘s debut album is many more things than just pvre medieval musings high on nyckelharpa and weird pipes. But the fact that their brand-new record features a version of Twa Corbies really got

[...] Click to raid more!

Verikalpa – Tuomio (2024) – Review

Listen on Apple Music
RockmusicRaider - Spotify Logo
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!