Tag Archives: Pop Metal

Carmeria – Tragédie D’amour (2024) – Review

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Listen on Apple Music
RockmusicRaider - Spotify Logo
Carmeria - Tragédie D'amour - Album Cover

The RMR crew still scratches its mutual heads why on earth the Metal Archives refuse to admit Amaranthe into its Holy Halls of Fame. It’s not that RMR himself suddenly found some red-hot love for that particular band, far from it. And we’re confused. Because, Elize Ryd1 prominently resides in the Encyclopaedia Metallum but not her main band. And that led to even more heavy head-scratching over at the office tower.

The reason? She allegedly partakes in a band called ‘Raskasta Joulua’ (Heavy Christmas in Finnish, no less). Rocky X-Mas carols and old Nightwish songs, that kind of thing. … [...] Click to raid more!

A Dark Halo – Omnibus One (2023) – Review

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Listen on Apple Music
RockmusicRaider - Spotify Logo
A Dark Halo - Omnibus One - Album Cover

Ah, the woes of Pop Metal out there in the alloy-infested wild. Some of it is good, and most of it is bad. But they all are energetic to a point, somewhere up there with the Power Metal folks. Only that the majority of those records feels like a maniacal Barbie Cheesefest for grownups with a metal twist. And that netted some big bands like Amaranthe the might of our terrible banhammer. Theirs is just too much of a money grab with overdone tropes1 that we all heard a gazillion times before.

So, the RMR review desk’s loath to … [...] Click to raid more!

GLDN draw First Blood!

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Listen on Apple Music
RockmusicRaider - Spotify Logo
GLDN - First Blood - EP Cover

Music is emotion, right? A visceral thing that’s not easily explained. It can be a true feel-good experience, or then again, something scary. Now, the RMR crew unearthed some truly dark and evil artists during our tenure. Psychopaths, like the ones that would kill people, had they not started to make music that greedily feeds their blackened and charred souls. And, in truth, some1 won’t ever make it onto the ‘zine – even if we have their files and numbers on record.

There are others, of course. But still, no creatures of the light, mind you. Bands that create … [...] Click to raid more!

Rage of Light – Redemption (2021) – Review

Posted on by — Leave a reply
Listen on Apple Music
RockmusicRaider - Spotify Logo
RockmusicRaider - Rage of Light - Redemption - Album Cover

One of the main challenges a metal band has in this ever-growing mass of often mediocre material is to stand out and shine. Many genres have been beaten to death so many times that any use of them will resemble that proverbial dead horse. It’s a conundrum of sorts that some manage well – and others less so.

And you basically get two factions. The first is the party of the diehard traditionalists. They will doggedly stick to the basics of any given subgenre, and no matter what. And thus, they will most likely find themselves lodged in that dreaded … [...] Click to raid more!