Tag Archives: Marko Hietala

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!

Marko Hietala – Roses From The Deep (2025) – Review

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Marko Hietala - Roses From the Deep - Album Cover

Marko Hietala, one of the only artists out there holding the RMR crew’s unwavering respect. He – of course – will remain forever famous as one of Nightwish‘s main pillars. Until he chose to retire from the band back in early 2021, that is, done with a statement that made for somewhat grim reading.

Now, in the meantime, Hietala popped up here and there in a variety of venues and roles. Raskasta Joulua’s 2022 x-mas piece was – surprisingly – the first time he reappeared on our radar already. And this told us that he definitely would stay … [...] Click to raid more!

Nightwish – Yesterwynde (2024) – Review

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Nightwish - Yesterwynde - Album Cover

Nightwish came a long way since they started their endeavor in 1996. The band around Tuomas Holopainen truly was with the pioneers of what was to become Symphonic Metal. Their fulminant career didn’t come without their hiccups, though. First, the somewhat messy divorce from Tarja Turunen made headlines across the mainstream metal press. Anette Olzon didn’t fare much better after a couple of thunderous records or so. And that left the band – rightly or wrongly – with a bad rap.

Luckily, with the arrival of the spirited and somewhat carismatic Floor Jansen, some calm finally came to Nightwish… [...] Click to raid more!

Amorphis – Skyforger (2009) – Review

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RockmusicRaider Review - Amorphis - Skyforger - Album Cover

RMR just covered Amorphis‘ 2022 piece Halo. And contrary to a few croaks of imminent defeat out there, the band still shines as strongly as it did some 13 years earlier. They must be doing something right in this outfit. Or – perhaps – it is the Finnish fresh air, the pristine water, and frequent trips to the sauna. This band churns out one great record after the other. Consistently, reliably, and with minute attention to detail and quality.

So, as we are on a roll with this band, the time has finally come to reach way into … [...] Click to raid more!