It is high time for a new update of the latest state of affairs and exciting findings on the RMR website. Many months have elapsed since Tome IV came aboard and the 2016 Top 10 saw the light of day. The mighty post count now is way beyond the three hundred mark and a new logo was unleashed. RMR has just a few days ago gone fully secure on this virus infested internet, too. That is something the IT security officer was nagging us about for some time – and rightly so.
Last year however the RockmusicRaider deck crew experienced a massive slowdown of output to the trusted readers. Well – for now – the reasons for this outrageous gaffe shall remain mysterious and foggy for ye fans of the blog. This – sadly – led to a number of stellar 2016 releases – fodder for this here Tome V – that somehow got under the wheels of time. Just to be discovered anew. So, the first few months of this year really were all about catching up with the past and keeping track of the new material coming aboard this mighty ship.
Let the games begin with those who did not make it onto the 2016 Top 10, but 
should have been on this list. And one of those is Moonsorrow starring Jumalten Aika. I admit: The RMR officescape always somehow scoffed at the Black Metal masters from Finland. But as of this album, you will find only converts. This is an epic and mysterious piece of work that takes Symphonic Black Metal pieces to a whole new level. If only we had latched on to that record before the top ten was written. But alas, it was not to be. [...]
It is their number 10 in over thirty years, right? Well, fuck me running. This feels like yesterday, when we first started to listen to their sound. And Hardwired…To Self-Destruct – managed through Metallica‘s vanity label Blackened Recordings – comes along some 8 years after their last full length record. They are taking their time, don’t they? But then, they always have.