i already had a word document with albums which hadnt been reviewed yet listed (before even knowing these contests existed). too bad i just completely detroyed that document along with everything my entire laptop. still, i should be able to submit a handful....

I suppose I'm up for this. Haven't written anything since Feb, but this may help break me out of my slump.

Locked and loaded. Count me in.

I'm in. Only submitted two reviews last time, so I'll be aiming to at least double that. Great timing too, right after my semester ends.

Oh, it's that time of year again huh? Awesome.

I haven't reviewed anything in a long while as well. Simply haven't had the drive, nor heard an album that's jumped out at me that didn't already have over a dozen reviews to begin with.

I think I'll review at maximum 2 albums a day because I just got the mornings free and two hours in the evening before dinner. However, at least one a day is assured.

Ah, damn.

Should've saved my new review for the contest. :/

Well, I'm finally motivated to do my part in this, but I'll have a lot to do in the following weeks, but I'll try to get in as many as I can.

I've got a few maidenheads to crush ^^

You write them during the week and not some weeks before the competition starts.

My first review will be of Jag Panzer's The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald. And it is very very good.

autothrall covered two reviews I wanted to do for the challenge ... Bastard.

FOR FUCK SAKE! Now marktheviktor has done the same thing. I planned on writing a review for Shining's debut. Cock.

I might do a couple. I'll follow up my Timeghoul review with another for the second demo for sure. Maybe a few other unrecognized and forgotten bands, too.

Same here. My list of unreviewed material is dwindling fairly rapidly.

Christ, it's #8 already? Shows how often I come here anymore... There's a slim chance I may squeeze out a few obscure reviews, but don't hold your breath.

The easier thing to do, seemingly, is stick to obscure demos and whatnot. I prefer to write about full-lengths, since that's usually all I collect.

My first and only review during the challenge (and possibly ever, for that matter) will be Dead Shape Figure's The Grand Karoshi. And if anybody takes it, I will destroy mankind.

Ah, damn.

Should've forgotten to review that thing until the time of the contest.

I'm quite happy, I've come across many unreviewed albums recently.. hopefully with all the free time that I have, I'll be able to put out a good amount.

Just a few points before I'm vanishing again (I'll be away the whole week, but I'll be back for the Challenge) concerning the posts above:

- (to newcomers especially) It's forbidden to stockpile reviews for the challenge, however there's always been a small tolerance especially for the weekend immediately preceding it (some people don't have much time on their hands during the week). There's nothing to win, and we won't put a cop behind each contestant. Just don't write 50 reviews the three weeks before to post them all on the Monday. That's downright stupid.

- The new rules (from Challenge #7 on) now stipulate several reviewers can review the same release - provided it's a virgin at the beginning of the Challenge of course. So no need to rush to be the first

I'm in but I think I won't be able to review as many releases as I did last time for the simple reason that the number of unreviewed releases left in my collection isn't sufficient to allow me to break my own record.

I guess I should find myself some obscure stuff by bands I like.

Honestly, apart from one Pyrexia release and couple of Imagika albums I don't think I have any virgins to do anyway. But I like that new rule on it just being unreviewed at the start of the challenge.

I do too, often I'll end up reviewing something that someone else had their hearts set on and they'll end up with little or nothing left to review. I like the idea of wide participation as well as trying to beat my own scores.

I can do a few.

We're not allowed to review box sets consisting of multiple albums are we? Since none of the box sets of that type seem to have reviews.

I really don't see the point of reviewing box sets. At all.

Probably just because nobody cares about them.

The only point I would see for it is if the albums in question were remastered or remixed and there was a significant difference in the sound quality. Such a review would probably be pretty short, but could be helpful for someone who is thinking of updating their collection and has the extra money to spend.

You guys are missing an excellent chance of discussing a band's career in an essay-ish form by dismissing box sets. Just sayin'.

Well, since I'm always looking to get a higher review score on these challenges and I did use that one Helloween singles box set for a previous challenge, I might look into a couple of them. However, the problem is that I don't usually buy box sets unless it's of bands that I don't have any albums for and I'm reasonably sure that I'm going to like what I hear.

In that case, I have a couple of box sets that I might review. It should be an interesting experience to be able to evaluate a band's performance and evolution over several albums.

ha! boxsets what the point? evaluating the packaging?

anyway, ive been cross-referencing bands and compiling a document on virgin releases to review, looking forward to it. is there any way to know how much points you get for a review? i dont understand?

anyway, hopefully no-one snakes my selected albums right on the cusp of review week. lol.

Sadly, no, thats one problem for these challenges. If you're just adding one album every week or so, you can compare your previous score to your new one, but you can't find out when you submit like 12. Just hope that they're all 5 pointers, it'd suck getting an 8 and not knowing which one got it.

yeah, good call. possibly, it should be suggested to mods that we are informed as to what scores we get for reviews? (in general, not just for the contest, though that would be a start). this might help the general public write better reviews and act as a rudimentary form of feedback? yes/no?

I'd be really interested to try this out. I don't know too many virgins (and i just reviewed one of the few i do...whoops) but i can still think of one or two more and it'd be quite entertaining.

Cool, this should be a good opportunity to crank out more information on Gargoyle. I'll probably write a good deal of Senmuth reviews too, seeing as I've had lots of experience with most of his material. I've also got a good chunk of industrial black metal bands no one's heard of to review, so you people back off my precious virgin robots.

I've scouted out a bunch of releases I could do for this. The challenge is in listening to enough of them to form an opinion. However, a lot of them are not very good or to my liking so I think I'll have to go with what I can get. There's a surprising amount of Finnish stuff out there, even actual albums released on (fairly) proper label, without any reviews.

Back from Italy, with a shitload of virgin stuff to listen to before the 17th...

About this boxed set thing:

The only question is: should these sets only consisting in several albums put together be allowed on the site in the first place?

I mean, the rules are quite clear for re-releases, which are allowed only if they drastically differ from the initial version. In most cases, a mention in the additional notes is enough. Couldn't we have a similar rules for boxed sets? Like:
- if there's some previously unreleased material: add as a new release
- if it's only albums X, Y and Z re-released together: a simple mention in the additional notes of X "has been re-released in 2009 alongside "Y" and "Z"", and the same in the additional notes of Y and Z.

Well, to answer your question, many of these box sets consist of remixed or remastered albums. It may serve the reader well if differences between versions can be articulated, and this usually consists of a separate review on other websites.

Yeah, this is what I was thinking. A review for a box set is essentially a review for the band's career as a whole, in which you can discuss shifts in style, lineup, etc. at length.

Even though this is my first post I quite fancy getting in on this. Some of you might recognise me from Metal Crypyt, I review under my real name there (Christopher Foley). I've noticed a few virgin albums kicking around that I can do, however 2 of these I have already wrote.

Do we have to write these in the specific time period?