Amorphis – Borderland (2025) – Review

Amorphis - Borderland - Album Cover

Halo still ranked pretty well over at the RMR Review Desk, despite pretty severe reservations from some crewmembers over here. In a way, Amorphis‘ (in)famous trilogy seemed to suffer from overreach at the end. A form of fatigue brought about by too much mandated playtime and not enough good ideas to fill the void with real mana.

And who can blame them, really? The sturdy roughy Under The Red Cloud and the feisty piece Queen of Time must have sucked the oxygen out of the songsmithing atelier. So, I reckon, the last one of the trio had trouble really … [...] Click to raid more!

Helloween – Giants & Monsters (2025) – Review

Helloween - Giants & Monsters - Album Cover

It happened at last. Helloween‘s newest concoction, Giants & Monsters, successfully made it onto our review pipe after all those years. The grandads of the Metal o’ The Light finally obtained lamestream n00b status over at the RMR Review Desk. Meaning, despite their verified existence since 1983 and their undisputed influence on the shaping of Ze Art ov Power Metal in general, the band never officially landed a review over at the office tower. The culprit holding us back usually was those slippery, pinkish, sugar-laden surfaces slathered in molten cheese that got in the way. But things changed, and

[...] Click to raid more!

Opeth – The Last Will and Testament (2024) – Review

Opeth - The Last Will and Testament - Album Cover

Okay. We already screwed up with a prog piece in 2023. And this was Haken’s Fauna. For some reason, the album got lost in translation and was only rediscovered in early 2024. To our chagrin, this album turned out to be a pretty snazzy masterpiece that would have made it onto the Top 10 list. Would. Could. Should. Right?

So, to avoid the failures of the past, the RMR crew finally decided to tackle Opeth‘s latest piece The Last Will and Testament. The fact that the band decided to reinstate growls after a very long wait did … [...] Click to raid more!

Orden Ogan – The Order of Fear (2024) – Review

Orden Ogan - The Order of Fear - Album Cover

Alright. We gotta further the cause of Power Metal some more. Veonity just aired a few days ago. And that makes – together with Hammerfall – all but two PM records on RMR for 2024. So, why not kick it up a notch or two and have a go at another one? After all, Orden Ogan and their new piece The Order of Fear waited patiently on the sidelines for a few months now.

A band with more active years under their belt than most readers can count as their own. Or let me put it that way: In 1996, … [...] Click to raid more!