I never knew diving into metal at large would make one appreciate classical music more than you’d ever imagined. Haunting themes straight from the opera stage, ferociously shredded to fit the metal narrative. Unspeakable creations that you didn’t expect until you met their terrible fury. But all those classically trained ladies fronting many a band truly take the darkly metallic cake. Somehow the sugar-sweet high-pitched female offering goes well with all those Neanderthal musings Extreme Metal is full of. Fleshgod Apocalypse‘s Veronica Bordacchini is one of them. Well actually, no, not q ..read more

Ha! Yet another candidate for the RMR n00bs section. Never too old to be one, you know. Dark Tranquility is yet another of these old metal warhorses that never made it onto the RMR review pipe. Thus, for us, they’re firstcomers despite the band’s undeniable contribution to the holy books of The Lore ov Metal. After all, they’ve been in business since 1991 – and continually so. And again, we shall look at Endtime Signals without regard to what came before. It comes as no surprise that Dark Tranquility is insanely popular with grizzly metalheads and adepts of metal o’ … [...] Click to raid ..read more

Core, the bane of RMR? Not quite, just a bunch of styles that don’t sit too well over at the RMR Review Desk. Albeit some hybrids found pretty feisty praise in 2024. So, good fare will find recognition after all. Tyraels Ascension‘s debut record Hell Walker dwelled in our review pipe for a while – and got forcefully displaced by some metallic extremes that will air shortly on RMR. Hence our being comfortably late all over again. And – perhaps – the need for core-ish brutality wasn’t all that prevalent for a while. Sometimes the urge for caustic screams … [...] Click to raid more! The post ..read more

Sometimes I wonder why a record selected for review suddenly doesn’t sound right anymore. Okay, the selection process is swift and brutal – but more often than not right on point. One should get the gist of any piece in a few minutes after all. And yet. Some of them suddenly won’t fit anymore. It’s a bit like some rough wine, still too young to easily slide down yer gullet. And that happened to Verikalpa‘s Tuomio. Once we fired it up back in April, it just got stuck somewhere in the meandering canals of the review pipe. Not … [...] Click to raid more! The post Verikalpa – Tuomio (2024 ..read more

Cyprus is on the menu again and extreme metallers Blynd are on the prowl and back from hibernation. It took them a while to return from the undead since their 2015 piece Liber Sum aired. Their last record already packed a mighty punch. Now, let’s see what they were up to for the last 9 years or so. Judging by the daemonic artwork, this is gonna be harsh and straight down into the blackened pit. Blynd‘s lineup – surprisingly – survived the almost decade-long waiting loop. Only Andreas Hadjipandeli newly joined the band in 2022 on guitars. And that … [...] Click to raid more! The post Blynd ..read more

For some time, the RMR crew wanted to expand on Opeth. The Swedish prog band of some (a lot of) notoriety captured our attention last with their 2019 piece In Cauda Venenum. A record that didn’t have us all enamored almost five years ago. The poisoned tail was indeed one of those love/hate pieces that will have the hardcore fanboi wallow in the highest praise. Whereas more critical spirits might beg to differ somewhat. So, not that long ago, RMR covered The Moor‘s latest full-length record, an Italian (wannabe) prog band gone Modern Metal. Some feedback about … [...] Click to raid more! T ..read more

The RMR upper echelons maintain a List ov Laggards. Record promos that were accepted with grace but – somehow – escaped through the cracks in the woodwork later. And sometimes one of those albums falls victim to a random pick, wrestled kicking and screaming from its comfortable sumpy resting place into the harsh merciless spotlight of the review desk. And today, The Moor‘s Ombra fell prey to the burly blind guardians of our dark and mysterious review pipe. But – is this going to be that cathartic experience embedded in a riot of Progressive Death Metal or will this … [...] Click to raid m ..read more

RMR covered Rotting Christ for a few years already. They’re one of the feistiest established Extreme Metal bands still standing in the metal multiverse. But they’re also a band that doesn’t give a damn what others might think and just do their thing, blackened as it may be. So, over time, the Greeks around Sakis Tolis delivered a variety of flavors. From virulent black, to death, and gothic doom ‘n’ gloom, they got everything in their baggage. But around the middle of the last decade, a shift in style occurred. With Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού (Katá ton Daímona Eautoú)1… [...] Click to raid m ..read more

The share of South American bands on the RMR beat has been relatively limited over time. And Chaska is only the 2nd outfit from Peru to appear on the zine. Their newest EP Rites of June immediately usurped our attention and wouldn’t let go, though. And that’s always a good sign. The band saw the light of day in 2002 but only released one full-length record, a few singles, and a smattering of EPs. So, unsurprisingly, this band flew under our radar for many a year. Even if the promo dude insists that this band became – and I quote … [...] Click to raid more! The post Chaska embark on the Ri ..read more

Cyprus is on the menu again and extreme metallers Blynd are on the prowl and back from hibernation. It took them a while to return from the undead since their 2015 piece Liber Sum aired. Their last record already packed a mighty punch. Now, let’s see what they were up to for the last 9 years or so. Judging by the daemonic artwork, this is gonna be harsh and straight down into the blackened pit. Blynd‘s lineup – surprisingly – survived the almost decade-long waiting loop. Only Andreas Hadjipandeli newly joined the band in 2022 on guitars. And that … [...] Click to raid more! The post Blynd ..read more