Archive for 2016

Sonata Arctica is a band I have a rather complicated relationship with. I love a lot of power metal bands, but all of them are the ones that somehow break the boundaries of this genre and also use symphonic or progressive elements. At the opposite poles are the artists that …

After not catching on quick enough that the first doom-themed festival in Bucharest will be sold out weeks before the show, this time we decided to buy tickets so far back that we weren’t even sure who was playing. We saw A dream of Poe there and it was enough. …

After two reviews full of superlatives for Heritage and Pale Communion, I guess it’s finally time to tone down a bit the Opeth fangirlism for Sorceress. It doesn’t mean that Sorceress is a bad album, Opeth could make better albums than 80% of the music that’s out there in their sleep, I think they’re incapable of …

Ah, they’re still fine! After an All is one that made me wonder if they aren’t placing their ambassadorial role above their musicians’ role and especially after the departure of Yossi, their main composer, I was starting to get a bit worried about Orphaned Land’s future. Fortunately, this new album is here …

“Just let us play the fucking song!” Ah, Warrel, such a treat! When he announced that he will play the full Dead heart in a dead world album, I expected emotion, angst and a heartbreaking burden. We got that alright, but we also got a very positive and jovial Warrel Dane. …

This summer was pretty disappointing in terms of new records and good shows, so I took a break because there was nothing I was interested in writing about. But it seems like autumn is starting in a promising way and just looking at the upcoming releases makes me twitch with …

Take charge and commaaaaaand!!! That would be Grand Magus in a nutshell.  A band with clear connections and respect towards the past, whether we’re talking about the Black Sabbath-like doom of their first few albums, or about the Iron Maiden-inspired heavy metal of their current albums, they are definitely a sight for …

Crematory’s new album Monument has been advertised by the band as a return to the roots, with a heavier and darker sound than on the last few albums. Now, I admit that I haven’t been paying much attention to their newer albums and the Crematory I’m familiar with is the older one, …

This Saturday was a good day to be a fan of Romanian rock and metal, as the „stars” of the genre gathered to Arenele Romane to entertain the fans and prove once again that Romanian rock is not dead (it’s cute that from time to time a group of artists …

Ah, Van Canto, never change, no matter what countless of random people on the Internet tell you. Signed- Random person on the Internet I’m starting to get tired of all the comments about how Van Canto should give up the voices-only gimmick and introduce instruments and how this style is …