Athemon – Athemon (2021) – Review

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Every once in a while, the RMR deckhands like to pluck a totally unknown band and their newest concoction out of the ether. Not that plowing the underground will saddle us with a gazillion of new followers, their marketing skills and/or market power are often conspicuously absent. But the fresh sounds and tunes, untainted by the evil mainstream, are often irresistible.

Now, Athemon‘s current crew Tom MacLean, Adriano Ribeiro, and their guesting drummer and percussionist Gledson Gonçalves seem to have been around the block a few times. MacLean – for instance – formed part of Haken until … [...] Click to raid more!

Evanescence – Evanescence (2011) – Review

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Oh my! I am in mourning. Black clad, bound in leather, a painting of somber colors and polished silver.

What a total and sad downgrade from the heights of Fallen to this album, kind of unhappily named Evanescence. Only that the evanescence1 of this gig seems to have finally disappeared completely.

First signs for this to happen already appeared on their former record The Open Door. The record that suffered from a certain lack of direction and oomph in the lower parts of the tracklist. Yet, the latter contained a lot of good stuff to render it … [...] Click to raid more!

Stygian Crown – Stygian Crown (2020) – Review

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Aye. Proto-doom is yet again on the menu. And Pale Divine just set the pace with their kinda weirdly mystical piece – like it or not.

The RMR deck crew is quite pleased that we finally get some sturdier fare in all things doom metal. One that reaches back to the earlier facets of this hugely grown genre. It’s just about time that things move away from the Peaceville Three, back to the roots where this all came from.

True, we got excellent fare in the Doom Death Metal universe, but real clear voice doom of the olden days is … [...] Click to raid more!

Firelink – Firelink (2020) – Review

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RockmusicRaider - Firelink - Firelink - 2020

Black Metal and its bigger brother Extreme Metal are fertile grounds. Somehow everything that sounds wild or arcane kinda lands in the playground of Folk’s cousin. Because both till these fields of the mystical and often pagan wisdom. And the lore they choose can be both, imagined or rooted in history somewhere.

Now, here we move to fantasy land all over again. In other words, those bands that dabble in pseudo-history and wild imagination will be on the menu. Stories garnished with everything the creative and sometimes delirious mind can cook up is game. And often rightly so.

By Loki, … [...] Click to raid more!