hardly do I ever find a point where I’m actually absorbed like water forming into ice. They’re a second-rate The Chasm, except poorer riffs and much less enthusiastic music. The bass support in this respect doesn’t help out too much, since everything sounds so flat and bland. I bet on my iPod I could make out it’s lines, but that’s hardly worth the effort since the music is very uneventful and drags on without interesting me one bit.

[...]

[The vocals] are so low that they go under the radar without any of it meaning anything to me. When I hear vocals, I intend to understand the music more – this isn’t the case with this album. Very rarely are there moments that mean anything to me here [...] Most of the time it’s very fast tremolo picking, but you can’t expect to pull that off for a full album without building up to anything!

Noktorn's review of Relinquish is a total failure in that regard (comes off as him not wanting to admit to enjoying it that much)

C'mon man, don't worry about the rating that much. Having read over it again, I think it does warrant a score around the range I gave it. I don't like the music, so what's so hard to understand about the score?

And yet, despite these qualities, something seems to be... missing.

Perhaps it's just me.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Alestorm/Back_Through_Time/302666/Verd

Apparently the album has no highlights.

Either you have a different rating scale or failed to express in words your disdain for the music. I accept your opinion. Sometimes I just can't understanding such ratings.

For one, the production is shit awful; no it’s not like putrid where the fuzz overwhelms everything, but it’s more the along the lines of just boring

The atmosphere is neither cold nor epic like you’d expect from the name, album cover, lyric titles, etc. The only chilly thing that I can consider is how thin the guitar tone is: very tiny, razor-like, and rather timid. It keeps flopping away with different rhythm changes and patterns overlapping, but hardly do I ever find a point where I’m actually absorbed like water forming into ice. They’re a second-rate The Chasm, except poorer riffs and much less enthusiastic music. The bass support in this respect doesn’t help out too much, since everything sounds so flat and bland.

Drumming to me is relentless and is both louder and clearer than the riffs and vocals. The double bass is hardly offensive – it sounds like pillows are in the way or the kick and the bass drum; either that or he’s drumming with q-tips. The pace is always fast, but it hardly makes up for the lack of effort on the part of the rest of the instruments. Everything else about the kit (aside from the cymbals) is subpar in quality; they all sound flat, even though the drumming is motivated enough.

They’re pure raspy screams (yes, raspy screams) that are very low in the mix, and that means under the loud drums and under the seemingly quiet guitars / bass. They’re so low that they go under the radar without any of it meaning anything to me. When I hear vocals, I intend to understand the music more – this isn’t the case with this album. Very rarely are there moments that mean anything to me here, and all the songs sounding similar don’t help the cause, either.

hile I will say that the latter half of the album is better than the first half (beginning with “For Your Comprehension,” so not really latter half), the album is still a piece of shit. Uninspired, poorly produced music with ballistic drumming isn’t going to save this one from the recycling bin.

Sarcasm? Because it WAS mentioned on the last page.

It's not exactly backlash, and I meant for the fact that I gave it such a low score, not the actual quality of the review.

How does any of this fail to express my disdain for the album? I have no idea how you can't understand that after reading it.

I'm surprised I didn't get any noticeable backlash from my Obscura review.

Disappointed?

It's terrible that people are discussing divergent views on metal with calm rationality rather than brash emotionalism...

I'm surprised I didn't get any noticeable backlash from my Obscura review.

Oh, shit. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it.

I'm sure this was brought up when it happened, but I was wondering what happened to Noktorn's Catasexual Urge Motivation review?

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Gris/Il_%C3%89tait_une_For%C3%AAt.../165412/Zodijackyl

I get that not everyone will connect with the emotional drive of these songs, so whatever. But the production is fantastic on this record! The dynamics are excellent between the fuzzy guitars and synths, the acoustic instruments, pianos and reverby leads- it all fits to create a huge and wonderful sonic space. To say it’s indecipherable noise suggest serious hearing damage.

Anyway, this review is crazy talk. Il Etait Une Foret is an incredible record.

Sure, there are depressing moments, akward singing and somewhat one dimensional lyrical production, but no one can argue if Ozzy didnt this time deliver a solid studio album once again. I wont listen to the other comments about this masterpiece, because music isn't rational: its all about emotion. And if you arent a sensitive person who likes to talk about feelings, dont listen to Ozzy! Because Ozzy is all about emotion. Ozzy clamped up a solid metal album and is now the ruling prince in the metal industry. Not Ozzy only in his solo career defined classic rock, he also made a truly groundbreaking revelations with the Scream- album. Scream album is an original release, which defines modern heavy metal music.

Wow... just wow. Also, I love it when people use things an artist has done in the past to justify praising a recent album by said artist. As if that makes the music on the newer album better.