Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives

Message board

* FAQ    * Register   * Login 



Reply to topic
Author Message Previous topic | Next topic
korguell
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:43 pm
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:09 pm 
 

Hm, I tried to post the review again, perhaps this time it will be taken? Formatting is OK, rest too I think. Let's see what happens.

Top
 Profile  
korguell
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:43 pm
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:16 pm 
 

Ha...! It worked!

Top
 Profile  
yentass
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:28 am
Posts: 927
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:27 am 
 

Please advise on this one (was rejected for bad formatting):

I am not familiar with Negative Reaction's history, nor many of you it seems, but the impressions I've got from outside opinion were mostly favorable, something that seems pretty logical, since no band could have made to their second anniversary together without incent.
Satisfied with that I've decided to check out their latest effort, "Tales from the Insomniac", and here I share my findings with you, which are sadly not so many - "Tales..." has a very solid base but multiple let-downs, showcasing a band that possibly was great once and certainly way past their peak.

Musically speaking, this album relays exclusively on a very primal and brooding sludge/stoner groove, something very reminiscent of Electric Wizard's "Let us Prey", and does it in a very efficient and headbangable manner.
In fact, professionalism and efficiency are all over this release, something I couldn't expect less from a band with such a vast experience behind their backs.
That being said, it is also apparent that this band has given up ahead on upbringing something new to this genre, thus ending up just on the better side of stoner doom generics: the listening of this album is thoroughly enjoyable (something that partially owed to the excellent production), but upon it's end you would find your self remembering very few shining and memorable moments.

That's of course, if you'll make it to the end, before the vocals WILL get you. The guy's throat has evidently passed many hardbingers through time and now sounds frightenly sore and worn out, just as if he was recording off a hangman's noose. Seriously, you could almost hear his vocal cords pop out one at a time on this album, and it does sound horrible, especially when he tries to add some "melodic" notes to them.

As if that wasn't enough, his lyrical "talent" might intelligently appeal to 12-year-olds and mostly sounding like something Anal Cunt have discarded for being not funny and too stupid. Couldn't he just stick to the guitars and shut up?

Overall: Basically, "Tales..." for Negative Reaction is just like "Bananas" for Deep Purple - it is good, but I won't unplug them off dialysis for this one, and the final call would be, in boxing terms, "win by split decision" - there's a very solid base on "Tales..." that works despite it's defects, and if you're a fan of stoner/sludge doom and you've already bought it - it is very unlikely you'll regret it.

That being said, if you didn't buy it yet - I could think of about a hundred releases that top this one, starting with the aforementioned "Let us Prey".

[Favorite bits: When they're gone]
_________________
Voidal, Doom/Death Metulz.
kingnuuuur wrote:
DoomMetalAlchemist wrote:
I know nothing of hair care, so bare with me.

Metal dudes, assemble in the shower!

Top
 Profile  
Reborn_Satanist
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2008 10:58 am
Posts: 44
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:41 am 
 

yentass wrote:
REVIEW


I'm no expert, but it looks to me like the problem was that you have moved to the next line after every completed sentence, when in fact it should just continue as a flow along the line.

For instance, where you've written:
'...headbangable manner.
In fact, professionalism...'
it should just read:
'...headbangable manner. In fact, professionalism...'

This mistake is repeated throughout, and it's the only one that I personally can see. However, the spacing between paragraphs is correct.

Top
 Profile  
Bolth_Mannn
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2009 6:19 am
Posts: 965
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:44 pm 
 

so he's gets answered immediately and mine stills sitting back on the last page for over 5 days.

Top
 Profile  
yentass
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:28 am
Posts: 927
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:58 pm 
 

Don't get too touchy about it, it is still better for a mod to answer than a regular (though reborn_satanist had probably nailed it; thanks!), so I am also still waiting.

As of your review, I think the problem is that you've hit the enter button too much, it's better to have two or three paragraphs than numerous two liners.
_________________
Voidal, Doom/Death Metulz.
kingnuuuur wrote:
DoomMetalAlchemist wrote:
I know nothing of hair care, so bare with me.

Metal dudes, assemble in the shower!

Top
 Profile  
Mother_of_God
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:22 pm
Posts: 119
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:01 pm 
 

Submitted this review for Wolfchant's Bloody Tales of Disgraced Lands-it got rejected, so I rewrote a lot of it and it got rejected again. Both times they said the content was acceptable, but it wasn't properly formatted.

Folk/Viking metal combines two genres that go together like bread and butter. It's a type of metal that has a sound completely its own, due to the use of instruments like accordions, violins, pagan flutes, lyrics about Viking folklore and battle stories, and the way they dress during shows. When folk metal is done properly, it can be one of the best, most original, and most entertaining metal genres. Wolfchant manages to execute every single one of those aspects of folk metal perfectly. It is their greatest strength in this album, but is also inevitably their downfall.

The album begins with an instrumental track that sets the tone for the music to follow. It can only be described as “epic”. It makes a good first impression on me and has me eager to hear the rest of the album.

By the second track, the vocals have kicked in. They are very raspy growls, strongly reminiscent of black metal rasps but at the same time having their own distinctive sound. They don’t really do anything much different throughout the album, but they don’t really have to either. They fit the music well and do not get monotonous or boring in any way.
The lyrics are what you’d expect from Viking metal bands-lyrics about battle and war. In fact, this album is actually a concept album about the war of the Clan of Cross. I’ve never heard of said war, but the lyrics are decent nevertheless.

After a few songs, you realize you’ve been listening to pretty much the same thing (battle themed guitar playing and lyrics with some pagan instruments every now and then) and you begin to wonder to yourself, “Will they play exactly like this throughout the whole album?”

Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Wolfchant know how to play folk metal quite well, but they bring absolutely nothing new into the genre. After a few tracks, the novelty wears off and you begin to get tired of hearing the same style of riffs, melodies, etc. again and again. Not only does the album begin to bore you, but its flaws become more evident.

One thing that is definitely lacking is the use of the pagan instruments. They seem like more of a gimmick to pique the listener’s curiosity, as opposed to a regular instrument. A little flute passage or acoustic guitar riff might pop up at the beginning of the song, and maybe appear again to back up a chorus, but otherwise, they’re nonexistent.

Another bad thing about this album is the production. The guitars and drums are quite scratchy, and the bass is almost not even there. It sounds like they could have been aiming for a rougher, black metal-like production, (because there are definitely black metal influences on this album) but it sounds out of place and the album loses some of its appeal because of it.

Despite all its imperfections, this album still manages to hold my interest till the end because the guitar work is well done and quite catchy; however, due to the repetitiveness of the music, it’s not a very memorable album. After listening to all the songs several times, I still can’t name any of the songs when I hear them.

This is folk metal by the numbers. Wolfchant do what they do very well, but there isn’t anything on here folk metal fans haven’t heard before. Still, if you’ve got a permanent stiffy for folk metal, then there’s a 99.9% chance you’ll enjoy this album. If you’re not a fan of the genre, best you stay away from this.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Top
 Profile  
yentass
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:28 am
Posts: 927
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 2:14 pm 
 

I think it's because you broke it into too many paragraphs. A better idea would be:

Mother_of_God wrote:

Folk/Viking metal combines two genres that go together like bread and butter. It's a type of metal that has a sound completely its own, due to the use of instruments like accordions, violins, pagan flutes, lyrics about Viking folklore and battle stories, and the way they dress during shows. When folk metal is done properly, it can be one of the best, most original, and most entertaining metal genres. Wolfchant manages to execute every single one of those aspects of folk metal perfectly. It is their greatest strength in this album, but is also inevitably their downfall.

The album begins with an instrumental track that sets the tone for the music to follow. It can only be described as “epic”. It makes a good first impression on me and has me eager to hear the rest of the album. By the second track, the vocals have kicked in. They are very raspy growls, strongly reminiscent of black metal rasps but at the same time having their own distinctive sound. They don’t really do anything much different throughout the album, but they don’t really have to either. They fit the music well and do not get monotonous or boring in any way. The lyrics are what you’d expect from Viking metal bands-lyrics about battle and war. In fact, this album is actually a concept album about the war of the Clan of Cross. I’ve never heard of said war, but the lyrics are decent nevertheless.

After a few songs, you realize you’ve been listening to pretty much the same thing (battle themed guitar playing and lyrics with some pagan instruments every now and then) and you begin to wonder to yourself, “Will they play exactly like this throughout the whole album"? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Wolfchant know how to play folk metal quite well, but they bring absolutely nothing new into the genre. After a few tracks, the novelty wears off and you begin to get tired of hearing the same style of riffs, melodies, etc. again and again. Not only does the album begin to bore you, but its flaws become more evident.

One thing that is definitely lacking is the use of the pagan instruments. They seem like more of a gimmick to pique the listener’s curiosity, as opposed to a regular instrument. A little flute passage or acoustic guitar riff might pop up at the beginning of the song, and maybe appear again to back up a chorus, but otherwise, they’re nonexistent. Another bad thing about this album is the production. The guitars and drums are quite scratchy, and the bass is almost not even there. It sounds like they could have been aiming for a rougher, black metal-like production, (because there are definitely black metal influences on this album) but it sounds out of place and the album loses some of its appeal because of it.

Despite all its imperfections, this album still manages to hold my interest till the end because the guitar work is well done and quite catchy; however, due to the repetitiveness of the music, it’s not a very memorable album. After listening to all the songs several times, I still can’t name any of the songs when I hear them.

This is folk metal by the numbers. Wolfchant do what they do very well, but there isn’t anything on here folk metal fans haven’t heard before. Still, if you’ve got a permanent stiffy for folk metal, then there’s a 99.9% chance you’ll enjoy this album. If you’re not a fan of the genre, best you stay away from this.
_________________
Voidal, Doom/Death Metulz.
kingnuuuur wrote:
DoomMetalAlchemist wrote:
I know nothing of hair care, so bare with me.

Metal dudes, assemble in the shower!

Top
 Profile  
MissEntropy
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:58 pm
Posts: 23
Location: France
PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 6:50 pm 
 

HELL-o there!

It's been a while since I wrote something last time. This review is for Valar (Fin) Magic and Wyrmfire.
As usual I thank any english native that will take the time to read and correct syntax.
It also seems to me the information is too much scattered and would require some reorganisation, but I can't make it better looking than it already is.


It is curious how different people, with nothing in common but the same source of inspiration, can end up with similar creations, only different in interpretation.

The first name you’ll think of when listening to this album is Summoning. The basis is indeed common: programmed drums evoking medieval percussions, ambiental parts made out of keyboards and lyrics from or inspired by Tolkien.

“Drumming” consists of imitations of habitual elements of a drum set and classical folk percussions like the tambourine. Its composition is close to mid-paste black/folk metal patterns. Expect “double pedal” and “snare” for the fast parts in the songs Wanderlust, Storm Over Krynn and Tale of the King Under the Mountain. Otherwise you will find regular slow drum patterns or timpani rolls, without many variations.

Vocals also bear the mark of the famous austrians. Their presence is imposed by chorus rather than volume. Other effects are used so the voice appears more solemn than if it was standard human grunts. The few spoken passage also bring out that impression with a percussive, baritone work.

Guitars are undermixed when present and may seem evicted for an untrained ear. Yet their contributions are important to the general sound; they are the only “heavy metal” elements of the album, apart from the fast drumming and the voice. Guitarwalk consists of simple chords or continuous notes that support the global musical structure. On the whole, it can be remarked that guitars replace bass, since usual guitar lines are dealed with via keyboards.

Synths are proeminent throughout the album. They are exploited with various timbre. You will find parts where it’s used as an organ, a harpsichord, a piano or close to flutes or bells. The keyboards are fundamental because their interplay create the musical lines you can recognize as riffs, so synths’ contribution are both rhythmic and melodic. All the subtleties of this album lie in the arrangements of the various keyboard parts around the basic structure of the drums and guitars.

Nargath’s quality songwriting skills can be better understood in the three instrumental tracks of this album. Those only contain keyboards tightly working together to create intimate emotions. “Crown of Dirmanesti” is an ingenious insertion of a dark, mournful passage between a crystal spakling melody. No one cannot think about the coming of a dark evil force (remember that Pan, although playing the flute that wear his name, was a naughty). “Xar-Tsaroth” is an opposite version as it introduces menace with the strength of organs, then ends with a soft flute. “At the Silent Shores” demonstrates great talent on piano, for it reminds the emotional work of Richard Brunelle on “Desolate Ways”.

Before anybody freaks out without advisory, Rivendell 2001 is a techno track with some kind of clean vocals and elven harps; seems more like a wargame soundtrack than anything. It changes the ambiance in a negative way, since it’s placed before the emotional piano solo of the album’s end. A nice experiment but a deceiving result, encouraging the listener to program the CD player to skip the song.

The overall impression given by this full-length is nostagia of glorious moments, with all its majesty and darkness. It evokes a dragon grandfather counting to his descendants the splendid times when they carried the Naz’Gul and the courageous campaigns their race led against any form of power. Landscapes and mysteries are also strongly imagined, as evocated by the booklet’s artwork.

Luckily this album characterizes itself more by its differences rather than its similarities to any more known production. If you’re allergic to MIDI sounds you might want to pass along. Otherwise this work will enable you to travel to a part of middle earth a new-zealander director or an austrian traveling company may not take you.

And if those songs do not allow you to think about anything, it’s time to read some fantasy novels.


:np:

Top
 Profile  
KyleShepard
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:00 pm
Posts: 97
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:47 pm 
 

So I decided to actually write a review which I have been planning on doing for quite some time, so if I could just get some tips and pointers it's be appreciated :)

Skeltonwitch - Beyond the Permafrost

88%

Beyond the Permafrost was probably the best impulsive buy I've made in recent memory. The only thing that lead me to get it was the pretty cool cover art and the fact that Skeletonwitch is probably the coolest name for a band ever. Lucky for me, it kicks ass! Skeletonwitch play an interesting blend of blackened thrash with a heavy emphasis on melody.

The most prominent factor of Beyond the Permafrost is the song writing and song structuring. Seems like a really redundant thing to say, but here it couldn't be more true. Every song is a little over 3 minutes and are filled to the brim with balls-out thrash riffs and melodies, and despite being so short, almost all of the songs progress quite nicely without mindless riff repetition. Cast Into the Open Sea is a great example of this. It begins as a fast thrasher and ends as an extremely melodic note, and does this without any ridiculous shifts in tempo. It just flows really well, as do all of the songs. The problem with this formula regardless of how well it works is that it makes the songs run together. Even after listening to this album for 6 months I still have trouble recognizing one song from another, which doesn't really matter that much since they're all pretty damn good.

The vocals deserve a mention here, as Chance Garnett mainly uses blackened shrieks and growls, and often switches back and fourth between the two in a single song. Lyrically, there are about three main themes present, ranging from begging for mercy, gore, and coldness, or a combination of the three. Obviously the lyrics aren't meant to be taken very seriously, and are actually pretty laughable at how ridiculous they are. Not that you should expect epic poetry from a band named Skeletonwitch, but it does add to the "fun factor" of it all.

The production here fits quite nicely . The guitars do have a pretty great, bitey tone, and they still manage a nice crunching sound whenever the music slows down. The bass is pretty much indecipherable, and probably only exists for the sake of heaviness, so not really much to talk about there. Surprisingly, you can actually interpret what is being screeched or growled quite coherently, which is always a plus. The drumming is good I suppose. It's usually a constant wall of double bass of blasting, but it slows down when necessary, and doesn't do anything distracting, but also nothing really worth mentioning. Skeletonwitch doesn't fall victim to overproduction here either. The sound is very natural and believable.

Overall, Beyond the Permafrost is a great thirty minutes of fun thrashing. It's not meant to be taken to be taken too seriously, but it's not necessarily a joke either, as they are obviously capable of writing great music. I can't really suggest individual tracks, because they are all pretty much the same, but I would recommend Beyond the Permafrost to anyone interested in having a good subzero thrashing.

Top
 Profile  
yentass
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:28 am
Posts: 927
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:32 am 
 

@MissEntropy: Here are some things I've come up with just off the top of my head:

Quote:
The basis is indeed common: programmed drums evoking medieval percussions, ambiental parts made out of keyboards...
- there should be a comma before "evoking", and also there's no such word as "ambiental", only "ambient".

Quote:
"Drumming" consists...
- a bit to scattered indeed, I'd suggest the following:
The drumming consists of synthesised samples of the usual drum set along with several folk percussion instruments like the tambourine. Its composition is close to mid-paste black/folk metal patterns, relying mostly on slow drum patterns or timpany rolls with limited variation to them, although faster, double pedal ridden parts do appear in the songs Wanderlust yadda yadda.

Quote:
Vocals also...
- I didn't quite get the point in this passage, what does "imposed by chorus rather than volume" mean? And what do you mean by saying "percussive" in reference to spoken vocals? "Rhythmic" maybe?

Quote:
Guitars...
- a better idea would be:
On the contrary, the guitars are undermixed, when at all present, and may seem evicted for the untrained ear, yet their contribution still remains important to the general sound. The guitar work consists of either simple chords or continuous notes that support the global musical structure, and are basically playing the role usually reserved for the bass guitar, since the leading role of the guitars was overtaken by keyboards on this release. (Didn't think of a good way to stick the "guitars are among the only "metal" elements" idea)

I didn't start with "on the contrary" by accident, since it would be better for the synth paragraph to come prior, so these two could be merged into a single idea, interlinked with contradiction.

Quote:
Synths...
- The synths and keyboards are the prominent part in this album, spanning a wide range of timbres used, starting with organ, through harpsichord and piano and ending with something close to flutes or bells. The keyboards pose as the "spine" in this album, since they are those who were given the leading lines - the equivalent of "riffs" if you like, and their contribution is both rhythmic and melodic. All the subtleties in this release lie in the arrangements of the various keyboard parts around the basic structure of the drums and the guitars.

Quote:
Nagrath's quality...
-
Nagrath's quality songwriting skills can be evaluated at best in the three instrumental tracks of this album, which contain only keyboards and have a very emotional feel to them. "Crown..." is a genious insertion of a dark, mournful passage right in the middle of a crystal sparkling melody in quite a surprising way, as if a squadron of evil forces came out of nowhere. "Xar..." paints quite the opposite picture, as it introduces menace with strong organ melodies yet ending with a soft flute. "At the..." demonstrates great talent on piano and reminds the emotional work of Richard Brunelle on "Desolate Ways".

Quote:
Before...
- Now, this would be the perfect place to come up with a warning - "Rivendell 2001" is a techno track with some kind of clean vocals and elven harps in it, that sounds *and not seems, seems = something visual* more like a wargame track than anything else. It changes the ambience in a negative way. especially since it's placed before the emotional piano solo that concludes the album. It is a nice experiment with an awful *and not deceiving, which means "untruthful/misleading"* result, something you'd rather skip on a permanent basis.

Quote:
The overall...
- The overall impression made by this full-length is a nostalgic one, full of glorious, majestic and dark moments. It evokes an image of a grandfather telling his descendants tales of past lore, when they were carried by the Nazgul on courageous campaigns, led against any form of power. The mysterious landscapes it all happened in could also be easily pictured, as they're depicted in the booklet's artwork. Luckily, this album characterizes itself more by its differences rather than similarities to other known releases. That being said, if you're allergic to MIDI sounds you might want to pass along, otherwise this work will offer you a journey to a part of middle earth no film director from New-Zealand or an austrian travelling company would dare to take you.

And if these songs don't make you to image anything, it's time to read some fantasy novels.



Just some additional notes regarding the review - the initial shape you've posted it would most likely get rejected, since it has way too many paragraphs. I could understand why you'd prefer to give every instument an independent stage, it's quite cool actually, but it is still possible to merge all the musical references, starting with "the first name you'll think of" and ending with "basic structure of the drums and the guitars", into a single paragraph, or two - tops. It'd better have logical transitions between the parts as well, like those I've suggested above.

But it's a good review nontheless, kinda made me want to check it out.
_________________
Voidal, Doom/Death Metulz.
kingnuuuur wrote:
DoomMetalAlchemist wrote:
I know nothing of hair care, so bare with me.

Metal dudes, assemble in the shower!

Top
 Profile  
MissEntropy
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:58 pm
Posts: 23
Location: France
PostPosted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:04 am 
 

Hails yentass.

Thanks a lot. :hail:

yentass wrote:
Quote:
Vocals also...
- I didn't quite get the point in this passage, what does "imposed by chorus rather than volume" mean? And what do you mean by saying "percussive" in reference to spoken vocals? "Rhythmic" maybe?
:scratch:

Well, yes that needed some improvements. I tried to explicite better what I had in mind. If it still is too esoteric, suggestions are welcome.

yentass wrote:
(Didn't think of a good way to stick the "guitars are among the only "metal" elements" idea)
:drool:

I've added some explanations on that, so it could be understood without actually writing that; I think that this is an important aspect that has to be specifically pointed at somehow. Here again, if not clear this time, modifications are open.

Having considered all your other remarks, here is the modified review. I rechanged some sentences because it ended meaning something i hadn't in mind. Hope I didn't screw it more than you aranched before... The formating is visibly improved too.:hyper:

It is curious how different people, with nothing in common but the same source of inspiration, can end up with similar creations, only different in interpretation.

The first name you’ll think of when listening to this album is Summoning. The basis is indeed common: programmed drums, evoking medieval percussions, ambient parts made out of keyboards and lyrics from or inspired by Tolkien.

The “drumming” consists of synthesised samples of the usual drum set along with several folk percussion instruments like the tambourine. Its composition is close to mid-paste black/folk metal patterns, relying mostly on slow drum patterns or timpani rolls with limited variation to them. Double pedal ridden parts and fast snare hits do appear in the songs Wanderlust, Storm Over Krynn and Tale of the King Under the Mountain. Vocals also bear the mark of the famous austrians. Their presence is set by the use of a lot of chorus effects rather than raising the volume up. Other effects are used so the voice appears more solemn than if it was standard human grunts. The few spoken passage also bring out that impression with a baritone voice articulating clearly.

The synths and keyboards are the prominent part in this album, spanning a wide range of timbres used, starting with organ, through harpsichord and piano and also flutes or bells. The keyboards are fundamental because their interplay create the musical lines you can recognize as riffs; they pose as the "spine" in this album, since they are those who were given the leading lines with contributions both rhythmic and melodic. All the subtleties of this album lie in the arrangements of various keyboard parts around the basic structure of the other instruments. On the contrary, the guitars are undermixed and may seem evicted for the untrained ear, yet their contribution still remains important to the general sound. They are the only saturated instruments (unless you consider the voice as an instrument) and therefore bring the thickness and aggression that would otherwise be lacking. The guitar work consists of either simple chords or continuous notes that support the global musical structure, and is basically playing the role usually reserved for the bass guitar, since the leading role of the guitars was overtaken by keyboards on this release.

Nargath’s quality songwriting skills can be evaluated at best in the three instrumental tracks of this album, which contain only keyboards and have a very emotional feel to them. “Crown of Dirmanesti” is an ingenious insertion of a dark, mournful passage right in the middle of a crystal spakling melody in quite a surprising way. “Xar-Tsaroth” paints the opposite picture, as it introduces menace with strong organ melodies yet ending with a soft flute. “At the Silent Shores” demonstrates great talent on piano and reminds the emotional work of Richard Brunelle on “Desolate Ways”.

Now, this would be the perfect place to come up with a warning: "Rivendell 2001" is a techno track with some kind of clean vocals and elven harps in it, that sounds more like a wargame track than anything else. It breaks the auditive cohesion and changes the ambience in a negative way, especially since it's placed before the emotional piano solo that concludes the album. It is a nice experiment with an awful result, something you'd rather skip on a permanent basis.

The overall impression made by this full-length is a nostalgic one, full of glorious, majestic and dark moments. It evokes an image of a creature telling his descendants tales of past lore, evoking courageous campaigns, led against any form of power. The mysterious landscapes it all happened in could also be easily pictured, as they're suggested in the booklet's artwork. Luckily, this album characterizes itself more by its differences rather than similarities to other known releases. That being said, if you're allergic to MIDI sounds you might want to pass along, otherwise this work will offer you a journey to a part of middle earth no film director from New-Zealand or an austrian travelling company would dare to take you.

And if these songs don't make you to image anything, it's time to read some fantasy novels.


:beer:

Top
 Profile  
yentass
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:28 am
Posts: 927
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:38 am 
 

That's much better, though there are two flaws I'd consider fixing:

1. I'd still rather stick the "the first name you'll think of" section and "the "drumming" consists" paragraph together, pleasing the eye much more.

2. The review still has some "abrupt" passages, broken into too many sentences while it's better to have a single long but fluid sentence than two. Note for example:
Quote:
Its composition is close to mid-paste black/folk metal patterns, relying mostly on slow drum patterns or timpani rolls with limited variation to them. Double pedal ridden parts and fast snare hits do appear in the songs...

As opposed to:
Quote:
Its composition is close to mid-paste black/folk metal patterns, relying mostly on slow drum patterns or timpany rolls with limited variation to them, although faster, double pedal ridden parts do appear in the songs

that I've suggested earlier.

Another suggestion I'd make, if we're already at it, would be:

Their presence is set by the use of a lot of chorus effects rather than raising the volume up, with several other effects being used as well, so the voice gets a more solemn tone to it than if there were only the standard human grunts. The few spoken passages also bring out that impression of a clearly articulated baritone voice.

Instead of:
Quote:
Their presence is set by the use of a lot of chorus effects rather than raising the volume up. Other effects are used so the voice appears more solemn than if it was standard human grunts. The few spoken passage also bring out that impression with a baritone voice articulating clearly

[By the way, if you mean an echo-like effect - that's reverb, not chorus]

And that's about it, I think. Some of the syntax/spelling mistakes were fixed already in the suggested paragraphs, but there's something I've missed in my first post: it is quite incorrect to say "ambient parts made out of keyboards". "Ambient parts PROVIDED by the keyboards", or even better - "ambient parts, centered around the keyboards".



EDIT: KyleShepard, it's well written, don't think it would be rejected as is.
_________________
Voidal, Doom/Death Metulz.
kingnuuuur wrote:
DoomMetalAlchemist wrote:
I know nothing of hair care, so bare with me.

Metal dudes, assemble in the shower!

Top
 Profile  
MissEntropy
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:58 pm
Posts: 23
Location: France
PostPosted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 12:09 pm 
 

yentass wrote:
1. I'd still rather stick the "the first name you'll think of" section and "the "drumming" consists" paragraph together, pleasing the eye much more.

2. The review still has some "abrupt" passages, broken into too many sentences while it's better to have a single long but fluid sentence than two. Note for example:


Fixed :thumbsup:
I usually do not make too long sentences myself, since they usually end up more ununderstandable than fluid... Progress is a long and hard way.

yentass wrote:
By the way, if you mean an echo-like effect - that's reverb, not chorus


Good guess of yours. Silly me... :boo:

I'll submit it to face the :evil: mods :p
I'll tell you about it in time.

Uh, and sorry about those bad colors, I just found out about the preview button...
:metal:

Top
 Profile  
EntilZha
Retired

Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:22 pm
Posts: 2115
PostPosted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:28 pm 
 

Bear in mind that you take advice from yentass at your own risk.
_________________
Join my awesome last.fm groups: -1- / -2- / -3-

Top
 Profile  
MissEntropy
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:58 pm
Posts: 23
Location: France
PostPosted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:07 pm 
 

EntilZha wrote:
Bear in mind that you take advice from yentass at your own risk.

:confused::confused::confused:

Honorable leader of the Anlashok would you develop your point of view?
I kinda feel the tone of personnal grudge in your remark...

A lot yentass pointed out was true. I don't understand what I risk in taking his advice, beyond having the review refused, which would have occured anyway if I hadn't gone by this thread.

Any help is welcome. If you have some sugestions to make about my review go ahead, I am waiting for them with breathless anticipation.

Top
 Profile  
Oberst_Orlok_SS
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:09 am
Posts: 416
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:45 am 
 

Englische language is very funny. I learned that 'shameless' and 'shameful' mean the same thing. So does the terms 'a slim chance' and 'fat chance' also are the same meaning.

Top
 Profile  
MetalDave42
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2009 8:07 pm
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:53 am 
 

I know this is long, but I received an e-mail saying it was rejected on the grounds that it did not properly follow the guidelines? So yeah, that could mean several things and it was edited afterward and this is the revised version. I believe it is more acceptable now, but again, I am just guessing because their was no specific reason given as to why it was rejected in the first place. Thanks and any feedback appreciated. This is for the Woe of Tyrants - Kingdom of Might album.

Never have I come back to an album so much as is the case with Woe of Tyrants' sophomore album, "Kingdom of Might". I can kind of understand why, it is a great slab of respectably technical, thrashing death metal, but to put it in perspective, I have about 3300 songs in my library. And even over greats like Suffocation, Psycroptic, Aborted, and Dark Tranquillity (well established bands), I will probably choose to listen to this band. This band may not be as technical as those bands, but damn, this band writes some of the catchiest songs that have ever graced (or pummeled if you prefer) my ears. "Break the Fangs of the Wicked" has well over 50 listens in my library and they are not the only band I listen too! The point however is this; this band will have you completely enthralled and the reason lies in the catchy songwriting.

For anyone who has complained about a certain death/thrash metal album that lacks riffs and original ones at that, you will be more than satisfied with this monster of an album. Holy shit does this album have riffs! On average, I would say each song has at least 12-13 riffs per song (not including all the leads and solos) and all of great quality, but don't quote me on that. The tempo shifts in each song on here are fantastically frequent and adds a certain flair to each song to keep it interesting and on the edge of your seat. The guitar playing consists of typical power chords played at break-neck speeds, savage triplet chugging, melodious and majestic lead work, and even nods to "southern-styled metal" all fused together to create some fast as fuck melodic deaththrash. However, the highlight in the guitarist department is most definitely the solos. Nick and Matt sound like they have been playing for 15 years! The solos are in abundance on this album and are comprised of arpeggios, sweep picking, lightning-fast tapping sections, and composed to perfection thus inducing the tears welling up in your eyes due to both the exuberant guitar playing you just experienced and the fact that you will never be able to replicate their technicality. They are not as mind blowing as Wintersun or Symphony X solos, but in a few more years, I would not doubt their prowess to be at the same level of Romeo and Maenpaa in all honesty.

Not being a drummer, I do not know all the terms to properly describe the techniques, so bear with me. I met Johnny Roberts on their tour with Augury and Abigail Williams at the Detroit show, and this guy is amazing. Not only does he know the drumming for each song, but he was prepared to fill in for one of the guitarists of their band that night who was not coming, up until the last minute they later discovered however. He is not only a beastly drummer, but would be able to fill in on guitar on that short notice. He seems to be a laid back guy who loves what he is doing and has an immense commitment to WoT. Johnny incorporates great fills into his drumming and his playing is extremely "tight" as another reviewer had stated. There is a great abundance of double bass in his drumming too, but it never borderlines excessive. He blasts away only when necessary and the tempos are quite varied showing how versatile of a drummer he is.

Chris Catanzaro is the vocalist and he is quite proficient concerning the lyrical aspect of the band. Before I get into the lyrics though, it should be noted that he demonstrates a surprisingly unique and articulated deeper growl in which an accurate comparison could not be drawn to any other death metal vocalist I have heard. The growling is accompanied by variations into an ironically demonic-sounding mid to high-range scream which is demonstrated early on in “Kingdom of Might (The Eclipse)”. An intensely powerful growl however is the most prominent vocal style throughout. Having seen this band three times now, you can feel the emotion the man incorporates in his vocals. He gives a very passionate performance every time. His lyrics may be off-putting for some because of their overtly Christian themes, but despite their content, they are written in positive and convincing manner which is never a bad thing. You may have already had preconceived ideas pertaining to the lyrical subjects of the songs from the get-go if you looked at the titles such as "Like Jasper and Carnelian" "Soli Deo Gloria" etc. However, despite your beliefs, they do not appear to be written as an aid to aggressively convert you to Christianity, but serve more as biblical imagery with a great use of metaphors and convey a comforting, positive atmosphere. For me, it is a breath of fresh air that a young band decides to put some thought into creating interesting lyrics rather than run-the-mill shock lyrics. Disgusting lyrics have been written to death and these positive lyrics are a welcome change despite the overtly Christian theme.

The bassist unfortunately is about as existent in the album as this few sentence paragraph is in the review. As with most metal albums of this nature, the bass has more or less been mixed out. I would like to believe that he is technically accomplished as well though because of level at which the other musicians (vocalist included) perform.

Despite the fact that the lyrics are unquestionably positive, the brutality is in no way lacking here and each song faultlessly flows into the next. While writing this review, I just now realized that I can attribute much of my enjoyment of their music to the way in which they naturally shift from a glorious, uplifting lead to an undeniably sinister and brooding riff (and vice-versa) where all hell seemingly breaks loose. Not many bands can pull compose such a contrast and actually make it work. This statement is demonstrated a ridiculous amount of times in the crushing "Pearls Before Swine" where the tempo changes are in full swing. Ultimately, you must here this album in full to really grasp the intense and amazingly captivating aspects that make Woe of Tyrants a force to be reckoned with. If they continue producing masterpieces (albums and songs alike) such as this and receive well deserved promotion, I have no doubt they will rise in ranks in terms of fairly mainstream success next to the likes of Dark Tranquillity, Suffocation, Testament, Immortal, and Symphony X. Yes, they are that good.

Top
 Profile  
Sean16
Moody Tabulator of Torn Hymens

Joined: Sat May 07, 2005 11:03 am
Posts: 394
Location: France
PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:59 pm 
 

Let's have a try.

Quote:
Never have I come back to an album so much as is the case with Woe of Tyrants' sophomore album, "Kingdom of Might". I can kind of understand why, it is a great slab of respectably technical, thrashing death metal, but to put it in perspective, I have about 3300 songs in my library. And even over greats like Suffocation, Psycroptic, Aborted, and Dark Tranquillity (well established bands), I will probably choose to listen to this band. This band may not be as technical as those bands, but damn, this band writes some of the catchiest songs that have ever graced (or pummeled if you prefer) my ears. "Break the Fangs of the Wicked" has well over 50 listens in my library and they are not the only band I listen too! The point however is this; this band will have you completely enthralled and the reason lies in the catchy songwriting.


I personnally don't like those intros with too much personal details. I mean, a few are alright as a way to make your review more lively (I use the trick as well), but here you should cut it a bit.

Quote:
For anyone who has complained about a certain death/thrash metal album that lacks riffs and original ones at that, you will be more than satisfied with this monster of an album. Holy shit does this album have riffs! On average, I would say each song has at least 12-13 riffs per song (not including all the leads and solos) and all of great quality, but don't quote me on that. The tempo shifts in each song on here are fantastically frequent and adds a certain flair to each song to keep it interesting and on the edge of your seat. The guitar playing consists of typical power chords played at break-neck speeds, savage triplet chugging, melodious and majestic lead work, and even nods to "southern-styled metal" all fused together to create some fast as fuck melodic deaththrash. However, the highlight in the guitarist department is most definitely the solos. Nick and Matt sound like they have been playing for 15 years! The solos are in abundance on this album and are comprised of arpeggios, sweep picking, lightning-fast tapping sections, and composed to perfection thus inducing the tears welling up in your eyes due to both the exuberant guitar playing you just experienced and the fact that you will never be able to replicate their technicality. They are not as mind blowing as Wintersun or Symphony X solos, but in a few more years, I would not doubt their prowess to be at the same level of Romeo and Maenpaa in all honesty.


Not my favourite writing style, but I definitely get an idea of how the stuff sounds like. Beware of not sounding too hyperbolic, though, this looks a bit too fanboyistic at times. Also, mind the repetitions e.g. each song has at least 12-13 riffs per song - very clumsy!

Quote:
Not being a drummer, I do not know all the terms to properly describe the techniques, so bear with me. I met Johnny Roberts on their tour with Augury and Abigail Williams at the Detroit show, and this guy is amazing. Not only does he know the drumming for each song, but he was prepared to fill in for one of the guitarists of their band that night who was not coming, up until the last minute they later discovered however. He is not only a beastly drummer, but would be able to fill in on guitar on that short notice. He seems to be a laid back guy who loves what he is doing and has an immense commitment to WoT. Johnny incorporates great fills into his drumming and his playing is extremely "tight" as another reviewer had stated. There is a great abundance of double bass in his drumming too, but it never borderlines excessive. He blasts away only when necessary and the tempos are quite varied showing how versatile of a drummer he is.


Same as above, too much personal details. This could be easily reduced to half length without losing any accuracy.

Quote:
Chris Catanzaro is the vocalist and he is quite proficient concerning the lyrical aspect of the band. Before I get into the lyrics though, it should be noted that he demonstrates a surprisingly unique and articulated deeper growl in which an accurate comparison could not be drawn to any other death metal vocalist I have heard. The growling is accompanied by variations into an ironically demonic-sounding mid to high-range scream which is demonstrated early on in “Kingdom of Might (The Eclipse)”. An intensely powerful growl however is the most prominent vocal style throughout. Having seen this band three times now, you can feel the emotion the man incorporates in his vocals. He gives a very passionate performance every time. His lyrics may be off-putting for some because of their overtly Christian themes, but despite their content, they are written in positive and convincing manner which is never a bad thing. You may have already had preconceived ideas pertaining to the lyrical subjects of the songs from the get-go if you looked at the titles such as "Like Jasper and Carnelian" "Soli Deo Gloria" etc. However, despite your beliefs, they do not appear to be written as an aid to aggressively convert you to Christianity, but serve more as biblical imagery with a great use of metaphors and convey a comforting, positive atmosphere. For me, it is a breath of fresh air that a young band decides to put some thought into creating interesting lyrics rather than run-the-mill shock lyrics. Disgusting lyrics have been written to death and these positive lyrics are a welcome change despite the overtly Christian theme.


Sounds alright to me. Could be more elegantly said, but there's no need to be picky :)

Quote:
The bassist unfortunately is about as existent in the album as this few sentence paragraph is in the review. As with most metal albums of this nature, the bass has more or less been mixed out. I would like to believe that he is technically accomplished as well though because of level at which the other musicians (vocalist included) perform.


The last sentence sounds a tad... childish. As there's little to say here probably you should include only one sentence at the end of the paragraph about guitars e.g. As for the bass unfortunately, it's buried too deep in the mix or something along these lines.

Quote:
Despite the fact that the lyrics are unquestionably positive, the brutality is in no way lacking here and each song faultlessly flows into the next. While writing this review, I just now realized that I can attribute much of my enjoyment of their music to the way in which they naturally shift from a glorious, uplifting lead to an undeniably sinister and brooding riff (and vice-versa) where all hell seemingly breaks loose. Not many bands can pull compose such a contrast and actually make it work. This statement is demonstrated a ridiculous amount of times in the crushing "Pearls Before Swine" where the tempo changes are in full swing. Ultimately, you must here this album in full to really grasp the intense and amazingly captivating aspects that make Woe of Tyrants a force to be reckoned with. If they continue producing masterpieces (albums and songs alike) such as this and receive well deserved promotion, I have no doubt they will rise in ranks in terms of fairly mainstream success next to the likes of Dark Tranquillity, Suffocation, Testament, Immortal, and Symphony X. Yes, they are that good.


If this band is "melodic death/thrash" I might see what DT, Suffocation or Testament have to do with it but seriously... Immortal? Symphony X? I know you only want to list a bunch of famous bands, but it looks pretty awkward. Beware of typos as well (here/hear).

To sum up as I've seen there are only two reviews for this album so far so it should be acceptable. I can see where the criticism is coming from though - probably too much personal details, a bit too verbose at times, some "fanboyistic" expressions, but that's all things which can be improved by writing further reviews. Also you may say a word about the production, it's always nice.

Hope this will help :)
_________________
Some grotesque Italian band wrote:
MEGALOMETAL HAS BROKEN OFF CHAINS

Top
 Profile  
MetalDave42
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2009 8:07 pm
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 3:48 pm 
 

thanks for your critiques and I changed it up a bit accordingly. Would you mind skimming it this time to see if the changes appear more relevant and concise. Let me know and i'll post it shortly if you have the time.

Top
 Profile  
kimiwind
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:45 am
Posts: 490
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:42 am 
 

i wrote a review and i wanna your opinion ( the mistakes can be pointed out and also the formatting ) it was rejected cause formatting problem , dont know if there is grammar mistakes but if you notice pick them please , i want to send it in a better way so it can be accepted !! though i thought its good enough to be accepted , but however this is the review :

- In the last decade, metal music art have been strongly influenced by the female presence and even we find them in extreme genres such as (black metal, death metal , ect .. ), but unfortunately many times this presence got to be focused in there attractive appearance and commercial purposes more than the performance, Andem certainly is labeled under the female fronted bands category but wonderfully the female presence here adds an original solid performance and gives this release a wings to fly among the most masterful power metal albums ever.

Andem is a talented Russian band raised in Moscow and play a strong speed power metal with gothic influences, stands out with there second headline Doch' Lunnogo Sveta (daughter of moonlight).

In terms of productions, the album is professionally produced, mixed and mastered, the sound is so clean and everything around set to be clear and neat, the artwork is either interesting and gives an attractive sight to the release.

Instrumentally the song writing on this album is very good, each instrument plays a role and no one got to be dumped by the other, the music is fast, fronted by great guitar riffs and awarded by beautiful solos supported by a nice keyboards melodies in the background, brings an awesome atmosphere, the drums mainly are quite fast and aggressive as the sound is , the basss work is solid and blends well with the guitars.

Jumping now to the most effective gun in this masterpiece, the vocals are incredibly perfect, Yuliana Savchenko got one of the most talented and beautiful voices around, she offer a magnifistic emotional singing throughout the songs, she sings with heart, diligently and leaves an awesome impact on the listener, the harsh vocals still can be heard occasionally and it does not ruin the process of the songs as much it adds a good variation in the sound.

Lyrically this is very interesting, the themes are about tales, legends, Goths and got influenced by the legendary writer Mikhail Bulgakov in the song Master and Margarita.

All in all , Andem has improved there way in there second effort, and showed how the eastern power metal is coming up over the German and western European, if your lucky enough and got a chance to get this release just go ahead and you wont never regret the bucks your going to spend on it.

looking forward for a helpful response and thanks so much , best regards

Top
 Profile  
MacMoney
Man of the Cloth

Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2002 10:17 pm
Posts: 2331
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:04 pm 
 

Well, your description of the music itself leaves something to be desired. I really have no idea what this sounds like. Speed power metal with gothic overtones with female vocals and supposedly great riffs? That's pretty much all I gleaned from it and that's frankly not enough. I suppose it might go through if there are no other reviews for it.

Top
 Profile  
kimiwind
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:45 am
Posts: 490
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:23 pm 
 

MacMoney wrote:
Well, your description of the music itself leaves something to be desired. I really have no idea what this sounds like. Speed power metal with gothic overtones with female vocals and supposedly great riffs? That's pretty much all I gleaned from it and that's frankly not enough. I suppose it might go through if there are no other reviews for it.

speed power metal and u expecting no riffs ?? hmm ...
well the album contain riffs , solos ect ...
its been rejected coz the formating and not the content , ( the content was acceptable ) im seeking someone could make for me an idea how to formate it the better way !! i dont think there is grammar or typos problems , dont u agree ?

Top
 Profile  
MetalDave42
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2009 8:07 pm
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:32 pm 
 

do you mind if I ask where you're from? No offense, but your understanding of the English language and the way the words should be phrased is lacking.

Another glaring problem is the formatting, where you have "paragraphs" that are only one or two sentences long. Paragraphs should be at least 4-5 sentences (many can even be much longer ex. 10 sentences). You can not elaborate on a particular aspect of the album in one or two sentences. Paragraphs are used to break up well supported thoughts and ideas.

There are many spelling errors like "basss" which is supposed to be spelled "bass" and "magnifistic" which is not a word. I believe you meant to say "magnificent".

Double negative errors such as "won't never" in the last paragraph, which can be more simply phrased as "you will never regret the buying this cd"

There several places with either unnecessary commas or missing commas, which is why I recommend you further your understanding of the English language and how you correctly write sentences if you plan to continue writing reviews in English.

Then again, someone may feel I am being too harsh. Your review is open to interpretation concerning the changes that should be applied to it. Maybe, it does only needs a few tweaks to be MA acceptable. In other words, wait for a second opinion, but my critiques are still valid nonetheless.

Top
 Profile  
MacMoney
Man of the Cloth

Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2002 10:17 pm
Posts: 2331
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:56 pm 
 

Quote:
Quote:
Well, your description of the music itself leaves something to be desired. I really have no idea what this sounds like. Speed power metal with gothic overtones with female vocals and supposedly great riffs? That's pretty much all I gleaned from it and that's frankly not enough. I suppose it might go through if there are no other reviews for it.

speed power metal and u expecting no riffs ?? hmm ...
well the album contain riffs , solos ect ...
its been rejected coz the formating and not the content , ( the content was acceptable ) im seeking someone could make for me an idea how to formate it the better way !! i dont think there is grammar or typos problems , dont u agree ?


As MetalDave pointed out, your grasp of the English language leaves something to be desired. Supposedly good riffs means that there are riffs which are supposedly good, because you alleged that they are that. Of course there are riffs there, but you didn't describe the riffs themselves, except with, the very subjective and equally non-descriptive (of the sound itself), great.

Top
 Profile  
kimiwind
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:45 am
Posts: 490
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:58 pm 
 

MetalDave42 wrote:
do you mind if I ask where you're from? No offense, but your understanding of the English language and the way the words should be phrased is lacking.
Then again, someone may feel I am being too harsh. Your review is open to interpretation concerning the changes that should be applied to it. Maybe, it does only needs a few tweaks to be MA acceptable. In other words, wait for a second opinion, but my critiques are still valid nonetheless.


well im from russia , but to be honeste saying my english is not good , i might say your the first one , though ive always been considered that i have a fluent english , speaking mainly and also had good marks in school in writings but however i respect your opinion and also thanks so much for ur help , i can see now many things to change , but still looking forward for any other suggestions.
cheers

Top
 Profile  
FugitHora
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:38 pm
Posts: 32
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:33 pm 
 

Oberst_Orlok_SS wrote:
Englische language is very funny. I learned that 'shameless' and 'shameful' mean the same thing. So does the terms 'a slim chance' and 'fat chance' also are the same meaning.


Although English speakers often use these words interchangeably, shameful and shameless are opposite in meaning. See these dictionary entries for the contrasting definitions:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/SHAMEFUL
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shameless

The confusing part about the words is perception, I suppose. People sometimes use the word "shameless" to describe an act where someone should have shame, but is not seen as having it.

In terms of fat chance/slim chance, I've always thought that they are technically opposite in meaning i.e. little chance/big chance. The thing is, the term "fat chance" is always used sarcastically, to the point where it is understood to mean "slim chance" by default. If you hear an English speaker say "fat chance", you'll generally hear the sarcastic tone of voice.
Almost no one uses it non-sarcastically, in my experience.

The English language is still pretty funny :)
_________________
Beneath my goody two-shoes lie some very dark socks.

Top
 Profile  
MacMoney
Man of the Cloth

Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2002 10:17 pm
Posts: 2331
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:46 pm 
 

kimiwind wrote:
In the last decade, metal music art 1.have been strongly influenced by the female presence and 2.even we find them in extreme genres such as (black metal, death metal , ect .. )3., but unfortunately many times this presence got to be focused in there attractive appearance and commercial purposes more than the performance,4. Andem certainly is labeled under the female fronted bands category but wonderfully the female presence here adds an original solid performance and gives this release a wings to fly among the most masterful power metal albums ever.


1.Has been, not have been. 2. We find them even in extreme genres. No reason to mention examples there. 3.Unfortunately often women in bands are used as attractive fronts to achieve commercial sucess rather than to actually improve the band. 4.Andem is a band fronted by a woman, but in their case her performance gives this album the distinctive flair to rise among the best power metal albums ever.

If you really want to, I can go through the rest as well and give suggestions on how to do them. But the problem lies in you using rather convoluted structures and big words and often wrong. Use shorter sentences and more dots, rather than commas. Also some of your paragraphs are really short. You should combine them together. For example all of the introduction into one paragraph and the description of the instruments into another, maybe go more indepth on the vocals and give them a paragraph alone, but you need to describe them more.

Top
 Profile  
kimiwind
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:45 am
Posts: 490
PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 3:40 pm 
 

MacMoney wrote:
kimiwind wrote:
If you really want to, I can go through the rest as well and give suggestions on how to do them. But the problem lies in you using rather convoluted structures and big words and often wrong. Use shorter sentences and more dots, rather than commas. Also some of your paragraphs are really short. You should combine them together. For example all of the introduction into one paragraph and the description of the instruments into another, maybe go more indepth on the vocals and give them a paragraph alone, but you need to describe them more.


Well you can if you like , i would like to send it in perfect way hopefully ,and thanks aloot i like the edition for the first paragraph , just make sure to do not change the main ideas so at least the review keeps my thatch and the style of my writing !!
cheers

Top
 Profile  
Oberst_Orlok_SS
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:09 am
Posts: 416
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:21 am 
 

Quote:
The English language is still pretty funny :)


Why do noses run and feet smell? Makes no kinda sense!

Top
 Profile  
flexodus
Metalhead

Joined: Sun May 10, 2009 4:16 am
Posts: 2369
PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:03 pm 
 

So, I have finally embarked on my first attempt at analytical writing. I have been meaning to do this for a long time, because I automatically listen to music in an analytical fashion, so I'm excited to finally start reviewing. Now, I feel it necessary to point out that I do not intend to submit this review to the Archives right away. I have written this review as a part of a school project, and would simply like to have an idea of its quality before I further continue working. Of course, I will submit the review sometime soon, because not doing so would simply be taking advantage of other reviewers for my unrelated gains. And yes, I do realize how lengthy and rambling this review may seem at times, just remember that the standards of MA may be a bit different than that of my school project. ;)

Thanks in advance to anyone who would care to help me guide my reviewing future!

Fates Warning – “Awaken the Guardian” – 97%

Like a stormy rainbow hovering above an oasis in a desert, or the sudden event of ball lighting crossing over dreary, waving fields of grain, Fates Warning’s third studio effort is a beautiful, awe-inspiring natural phenomenon. It captures the wildest corners of human imagination, and achieves a level of mystical wonder so ethereal, you attempt to convince yourself that it just can’t possibly be real. Awaken the Guardian is amongst the purest, most potent strains of heavy metal I have ever heard, and, simply put, it deserves a rightful place as one of the greatest collections of music to have ever been written, recorded and performed by man.

EDIT: I've been considering removing this following paragraph altogether. After all, I wrote it stoned.

But now that I think about it, the idea of mere mortals writing music of such an otherworldly caliber is simply illogical. No, for I have come to the conclusion that, much like the pyramids of Egypt and the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, Awaken the Guardian was really constructed by beings from another galaxy. This album’s perfect pacing, transitioning and general cohesion between its separate parts are like nothing that had been heard in any past metal albums, and few since its release has come close (A Social Grace by Psychotic Waltz is a notable one). The album’s musical tablature was presumably placed in the deepest caverns of Hartford, Connecticut: presumably a most magically wondrous place, filled with the wizards, dragons and frost giants that the album’s lyrics are replete with. And here is where five young men would be destined to form Fates Warning, who are not so much of a musical group, but rather a vehicle manipulated by higher powers to subtly deliver aural rapture in the form of a 47 minute and 57 second long progressive power metal album.

The meat of the Awaken the Guardian’s strength lie in three core features: songwriting, execution and aesthetics. The actual songs themselves are of the highest expected quality, and remain so until their final notes. Take the opening track, “The Sorceress,” as an example. Beginning with a short, moody acoustic piece, it wastes no time transitioning into the first riff of the album: a bouncy, stomping riff that intrigues the listener’s ear. Afterwards, the verses will surely confuse anyone new to John Arch’s vocals, as the man’s signature style is to create completely alternate melodies to what guitarists Jim Matheos and Frank Aresti play, yet his vocal lines always weave in and out throughout the music. Then follows the chorus, which is quite unique sounding, moving forward swiftly with Matheos’ riffage burning forward like only heavy metal can, all while Steve Zimmerman’s pounding drums provide a steady rhythm for John Arch to wail, shriek, and croon over. “The dead of night parts the sky!” Here the song begins to slow down and focus more on crushing guitar work, and Aresti and Matheos showcase their tight, unified guitar sound. At about 3:23 the band unexpectedly plays a thrash break, and once again Fates Warning demonstrates their ability to span multiple genres, all in one cohesive musical piece. After a few minutes of guitar solos, through which band founder Jim Matheos proves his excellent skill all while maintaining control and restraint, and some more verses, the song ends. “The Sorceress” is almost six minutes long, but by the time it ends, it feels like it was only three.

And this is the key to Awaken the Guardian’s musical success. Each song goes through a range of separate parts, using strengths such as Arch’s catchy, layered vocal lines and Joe Debiase’s steady basslines to construct powerful songs such as “Valley of the Dolls” and “Fata Morgana.” And when the song ends, it has led you through many twists and turns in the song structure, over many a peak and nary a valley: forming the base for Fates Warning’s progressive nature. Whilst the term “progressive” today usually means “play really, really long, slow songs with as many changes in dynamics and musical time signatures as possible,”, songs like “The Sorceress,” “Guardian,” and “Prelude to Ruin” have had all of their musical fat trimmed off. There is not one second wasted with extravagant solo noodling to showcase the guitarist’s ego, nor are there any random acoustic breaks performed because somebody wanted to add an extra 3 minutes to a song, a la Opeth. But the best part is, there are acoustic parts on the album, but they are performed with meaning, dripping with the emotion that the musicians clearly feel for their creation, and are absolutely integral to the song’s structure. I could not imagine the unbelievable album closer, “Exodus,” without its show-stopping acoustic bridge, just as much as I couldn’t imagine “Exodus” without its lengthy, lofty chorus, or the speed metal insanity that continues the bridge, or its dreary, bleak outro that perfectly leads the listener from the rapturous glory of the album back into the mortal world.

However tempting it is to gush over every single moment, I will limit any further analysis musical analysis to select, particularly notable songs. After the excellent speed metal burner “Valley of the Dolls” (check out that brilliant intro riff: Heavy Metal 101 right there) and the luscious landscape painted by “Fata Morgana,” we arrive at “Guardian.” This title track in spirit opens with an acoustic intro, with Matheos’ truly beautiful leads continuing Awaken the Guardian’s penchant for complimenting the album cover and lyrics to a tee. Indeed, the lyrics to this album (and the previous one, The Spectre Within, which may even be overall superior to its successor) are without a doubt, the most impressive I have ever read, and “Guardian” demonstrates why. This ballad-esque track lyrically revolves around disabled and handicapped children, particularly those who will never know what it is like to be able to see, hear, walk, etc, but the words use symbolism and figurative language so well, that you wouldn’t realize the subject matter until you’ve listened to the song many times. “Karen's been asleep forever, I know she hears me/She has so much to say/The machine sparks her eggshell mind/A tear streams from her face, Into my hand, to my heart.” Other high points of the album include the heaviest song and my personal favorite, “Prelude to Ruin,” which makes use of several thrash breaks, as well as John Arch’s ghostly melodies all throughout the song. Jim Archambault’s talents are well-evidenced by another lengthy chorus, the gorgeous acoustic section after the bridge/solo (“Time, Time, Time, an imaginary line…”), as well as Arch’s little sing-along section in the beginning and end; it’s safe to say no other singer can make lyrics consisting only of “na na’s” and “oh ohhahh” work any better.

I have spent a great deal dissecting the musical content of Awaken the Guardian, yet I am aware that this is a great injustice to it. Because this is not an album, but an experience, and such things are meant to be only heard in its original true form. This is an album that you need to get. Either you will understand the album’s ethereal beauty at some point in your musical endeavors, or its meaning will always elude you. When you listen to “Giant’s Lore (Heart of Winter),” you may simply hear the excellent, tension-laced passages beginning 3:17, or it will click with the synapses of your mind, and you will realize the true value of the album. Awaken the Guardian is an album that represents the deepest understanding of both human and esoteric purposes, it is an album born of mental revelations stemming from spirituality or LSD trips. It is truly the best album of its kind, and a perfect testament to heavy metal as a whole. Will the wandering melodies of Jim Archambault escape you? Will the meaning of “Time Long Past,” constructed from the passions of Jim Matheos and Frank Aresti, be one that resides within you forever? Maybe, just maybe.

“Arcana awaits you…”
_________________
Varth wrote:
I am getting pissed thinking about all the dumbass fake punk my sister made me listen to
LawrenceStillman wrote:
my sister does nothing but forcing me to listen to Gothenburg/melodic metalcore albums all day while refusing to listen to regular death metal

Top
 Profile  
Metallideath
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:01 pm
Posts: 96
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:05 pm 
 

I know this review of mine was previously rejected, but I'd like to see what things need to be fixed or improved:

A Line of Deathless Kings - My Dying Bride:

Non-hesitant A+
99%

My Dying Bride, now that's a great underground doom metal band. This is my favorite album by My Dying Bride. This like Elis can really show emotion in the songs on the album. I certainly would like to pick this one up when I get the chance but dammit those stores sure know how to hide their underground music pretty well. Well, I guess it's time for Amazon.

When doom metal comes to mind, I'd say most people think My Dying Bride, they happen to be like the Metallica of heavy metal, or the Cannibal Corpse of death metal, or the Arch Enemy of melodic death metal, or the Slayer of thrash metal, and so on.

The big hits on the album were likely Deeper Down, To Remain Tombless, Thy Raven Wings, and I Cannot Be Loved. These songs are all of my favorites for this album.

Deeper Down is my favorite song by My Dying Bride and on the album obviously. But what qualities does it have to make it a great song. Well, the emotion that Aaron uses to make it sound like desperation and doom when he sings, and the heavy, low tuned guitars and drumming were nailed just as well as the vocals were on the song. Overall, I'd give the song a 10/10. I liked the music video, it was done well and the theme matched the song.

To Remain Tombless was a great song to start the album with, if I would rate it, I'd give it a 9.4/10. Another good emotion and good mood swing type of song. The vocals were probably done the best out of all the parts. Everyone did great here, but the vocals were above and beyond. Nice lyrics, they give a nice dark and desperate feeling along with the way Aaron sings. So yeah, 9.4/10.

Thy Raven Wings, now that's the second song that got me into My Dying Bride, along with Deeper Down. The keyboard intro was a nice different thing but the guitars were probably executed the best. From what I heard, they seemed to have moved from low tune to high tune, which just shows how well the guitarists did. The video was great, definitely makes a good mood swing. Besides keyboards and guitars, everyone else nailed their parts, while the keyboards and guitars were above and beyond. 9.8/10.

I Cannot Be Loved, truly showed some nice guitar part execution that was brought past the limit, nice dark and heavy guitars. The guitars were executed the best, then vocals. I tell you Aaron is one hell of a vocalist, I don't know if he's the songwriter for these songs or not, but if so, I worship you. Everyone nailed their parts and guitars were that one part brought beyond the limits. 9.2/10.

So yeah, that's my thoughts on the four best songs on the album, if you ask me of course. And I might not like doom metal so much I'd worship it, unlike death metal, thrash metal, or melodic death metal, it certainly is worth being a top 10 favorite metal sub-genres.

And for another review that was rejected for not following the guidelines, I'd like to know what I didn't do when I edited it.

Lullabies of a Dormant Mind - The Agonist
Great Metalcore
100%

I know that I might not be a whole lot into metalcore, I do like it but not as much as melodeath or thrash, or black, or heavy, or death, etc. but I will say that The Agonist is one of two metalcore bands that I like, along with Straight Line Stitch, and I don't like them just because Alissa is hot or just because Alexis is hot or because they had one, two, or three good songs. I could definitely say that metalcore is much better than deathcore, deathcore just really sounds like pigs getting raped. This is what is good metalcore is, has lyrics that can be understood at least somewhat, which is a good part of this album.

There were six songs that were the main stand-out songs from this album, and my personal favorites, they would be: ...And Their Eulogies Sang Me to Sleep, Thank You, Pain, Birds Elope with the Sun, Martyr Art, Globus Hystericus, and The Sentient.

And Their Eulogies Sang Me to Sleep: Personally my favorite song by The Agonist. I loved the vocals and definitely had a dark and evil sound, which might not be what it's supposed to sound like, but I think it sounds evil, and I like that part of it. I'd say Alissa did her screaming parts perfectly and executed her growls just as good. The guitars/drums might not have been brought out as much as the vocals, but were noticeable and were done just fine. Overall, a non-hesitant 10/10.

Thank You, Pain: I like the combo of screaming and growling at the same time, and a high scream with a growl in there too. The vocals like most of these songs on this album were the main focus and were done nicely. And I like that it wasn't screaming more than half the time, it had a nice wide variety of vocals and at least it had a solo, like all metal songs should have at least one of. Everything excluding vocals was done good. The video was a satisfactory, didn't rock, but it certainly didn't suck. 9.5/10.

Birds Elope with the Sun: The nice thing about this song is that it started with a guitar intro and not a vocal intro. I don't mind vocal intros but it was something different which is important in music. I personally hate it when people mistake this for screamo, as much as I like screamo, it isn't my type that I'd love to listen to, metal does. Anyways, in this song, everything was done excellently, nothing sucked or was mediocre, but, nothing except the vocals were pushed beyond the limit. 9.7/10.

Martyr Art: The song was overall great, certainly nothing like anything else and nothing sucked here. Typical, the vocals were the one part that was pushed beyond the limit. Everything else, good, but the vocals were the best here. Too bad there's no video for this, it would make a great one personally. 9.6./10.

Those are really the only songs that I will give my thoughts on. I loved the album, sure it could be better, but early releases from bands aren't always the best unless your Metallica or Iron Maiden, or Slayer. But actually, the mid to early stuff is generally the best, but that's just me.

Top
 Profile  
Peter31095Metalhead
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:03 am
Posts: 221
Location: Brazil
PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:29 pm 
 

Metallideath wrote:
Reviews.


Maybe because they are track-by-track reviews?

Top
 Profile  
DeathRiderDoom
Pro Sports Warder

Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:17 pm
Posts: 3873
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:27 am 
 

right, i've been thinknig about this for a while, but havent got round to posting anything about it.

anyone who knows me on here knows i write a fair bit of reviews. i dont really plan them intricately, besides having a word document called "To Review" which i list stuff that i have disocvered to be previously unreviewed. i mostly just look at that, or start listening to an album, and review it in promptu.

But lately ive been thinknig i would like to do more 8 pt reviews, yet i want to keep production numbers up - and dont want to have to do heaps of planning out of what i'm going to say, or whatever - i mean, hell - it's just a silly hobby, it's not like writing an essay for political science, or honors in history, that's what schools for.

I've only written a couple of 8 point reviews, mine are always 5 pointers, though i want to start getting 8 points more often - just as a challenge (hey, i'm writing the review, i may as well try get full marks for it) so what i want to know is how i could modify my reviewing style or whatever to get full marks. i'm not much of a creative writing type, something i owe to my passion for non-fiction books, over fictional works, so i cant really dish out the apt metaphors and whatever, like Gutterscream et al. Also, much of bands i write about are fairly obscure, with little to no web sources, or books to consult regARDING THE BANDS HISOTRY (oops) or background or whatever, which can lead to more in-depth reviews and possibly higher marks.

Is length a primary criterion for the issuing of 8 scores? i like to feel my reviews are generally at a good length - i dont want to make them too long as i worry people will not read long ones. also i only do long ones if there's a lot of very important points to make. also, i feel my description of the music in a decent number of my reviews is about as in-depth as it needs to be? is it? i dunno. Plus, i think my grasp on English is at least passable?

basically, i would like some feedback from either mods, or those familiar with my writing, on what i could do to start getting more 8's. Will it inevitably involve greater length and hence more points made/discussed? Will it have to involve planning/considerably more time taken? Is it essential that i have well-developed creative writing skills, or is my bland, straightforward style of writing suffice?

any help with this would be great. thanks.
_________________
Razorwyre:
promo track track from 'Another Dimension' LP
"The best speed metal album of the year"

Top
 Profile  
sushiman
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:41 pm
Posts: 921
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 5:47 am 
 

@DeathRiderDoom, I'm liking your mid-era Saxon reviews (them boys deserve the same love and attention hells_unicorn showed to Sabbath's singles). Wasn't their strongest time but there are loads of gems to be found on those albums. I must also thank you for reminding me about 'Hold On', can't stop listening to it now.
Looking forward to more of the same mate if you are planning to do it.

Top
 Profile  
MUSIC666
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:21 pm
Posts: 2
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 1:46 pm 
 

Hail all, Iam a new review writer here, I wrote about 5 reviews and they were accepted, but there is a review I wrote for a week for the band "Forgive Me" for the album "Last Drop Of Life", It has been rejected once, then I edited it and re-submitted it again, its the fifth day maybe and still there is no notification about it, it hasnt been accepted yet, and it hasnt been rejected too, I really wanna know your ideas about it, because maybe its a bad review, here is it :

46 minutes of total depression !!
99%

Hailing from Jordan, (Last Drop Of Life) must be one of my favorite depressive black metal releases, with just eight tracks clocking in at just over 40 minutes, you really need to sit down and submerge your ears in it to truly appreciate its greatness for what it is.

You will get drowned in this album. Each track is of a gratifying length, and separated by calm parts (which I will speak about shortly). The straight lead guitars sounds painted the lines of this madness, each riff depressively is repeating itself over and over, building up, until the track will unexpectedly change direction, but you will get even more drowned in, the heavy riffs and the catchy drums will slave your mind, the hellish drum-beats and the deep crispy vocals will create a small piece of hell around your stereo, you really have to taste it to believe it. Amidst all this you get the agonized screaming vocals, which is usually mournful screams but sometimes cried. Wonderfully, it fits and doesn’t sound too disturbing or take away from anything. The more general black metal vocals that fill the larger part of this album are despair-filled shrieks of grief and fit perfectly.

The enveloping distortion of the guitars dominates all the environment, the vocals are so deep, the whispers that mix with acoustic parts inspire you to imagine a scene of a dying man. Now, onto the calm parts, they are really special, amazing droning keyboards and acoustic guitar sounds, with whispering vocals and spoken words, the calm parts are really amazing, It do nothing but adding a very great depressive atmosphere. Last Drop Of Life is just absolutely depressive and all the better for it. The whispered screams and eerie chanting clean vocals are an amazing touch.

" I'll drop my branch
I'll release the weight
I'll meet you there,
with no shame."

Lozmodial's vocals are totally indecipherable, his raspy screech losing most of it's human being, leaving just a bare agonized wail. A nice balancing touch is a clearer melodic voice underlining some of the vocal lines, which presented unexpected strokes to the mix.

Overall, the songwriting is amazing, with the riffs flowing into each other and the songs being memorable and atmospheric. The production is frosty, with the mix perfectly balanced, and while its a bit raw, it sounds very dark and cold. This singular performance by Lozmodial is really wonderful. I recommend anyone who likes Silencer, Nyktalgia, Xasthur, Life is Pain, or any depressive black metal band to find this release and have it in your library.

Top
 Profile  
yentass
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:28 am
Posts: 927
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:15 pm 
 

MUSIC666 wrote:
review


You didn't specify the original reason for regection of your previous version.

As to this one - I think it would pass as is, but if doesn't - try adding "the enveloping distortion" to the previous paragraph.
_________________
Voidal, Doom/Death Metulz.
kingnuuuur wrote:
DoomMetalAlchemist wrote:
I know nothing of hair care, so bare with me.

Metal dudes, assemble in the shower!

Top
 Profile  
MUSIC666
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:21 pm
Posts: 2
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:25 pm 
 

I will do it, Thanks for the help :)

Top
 Profile  
~Guest 219268
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:23 am
Posts: 98
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:18 am 
 

So two of my reviews were rejected due to bad formatting, and I have no idea what's the problem. Could someone help me out?

Review Nr. 1 (This one has been rejected before, so I fixed it and resubmitted it, but it was still not acceptable.):

Mixing black metal with some melodic folk influences might not sound very innovative and unique. The whole field has been covered by a wide array of bands, beginning with Bathory themselves. But that doesn't make "Daudningekvider" any less impressive. Stylistically, this is your typical thrashy, guitar-oriented black metal, complete with shrieked vocals, but based around very melodic, beautiful guitar hooks. Eljudner do not try to impress with insane speed or technicality. Instead, they keep their songs rather simple, and let the melodies unfold.

The drums are somewhat simplistic and never pick up too much speed or try to steal the show, yet they are varied enough to remain interesting throughout. This works especially well in "Liivet af mig render" and "Svartgaldr", where the drums retain a driving groove that keeps the song going even at their calmer moments. The bass guitar, as usual in most black metal productions, is not noticeable, and it is clear that the focus lies on the guitars. Those are just as icy and raw as you would expect, but still sharp enough to make every riff clearly audible. The vocals play more of a supporting role, remaining quiet for long passages, but working exactly as they should when they are there.

From these descriptions, you could guess that Eljudner is just another generic black metal band, like there have been millions before and after. Indeed, their style can hardly be called original, but that's not the point. The focus lies solely on the melodies. Take "Naglfar Seiler I Rimkold Natt (Hevn)" as an example: The guitar begins with a slow, melancholic melody that clearly shows the band's folk influences. Then the drums kick in and it gets noticeably heavier. Still, the music retains that kind of melancholy that makes it sounds almost magic. The guitar use dual melodies here, which makes the song feels even more sorrowful. The song continues like that, featuring clean vocals and guitars later on. This culminates in a very calm, spoken word passage, where a lone electric guitar plays quietly in the background, creating a beautiful atmosphere. Fortunately, none of this is overdone, and the band avoids becoming pathetic (a problem that many bands in this genre have to face) by returning back into the song with a fast-paced, somewhat aggressive blastbeat section. But this isn't overdone either, and you don't have to expect merciless brutality. Even here, the guitar work is still highly melodic, and the feeling of epicness isn't lost. The song continues more uplifting than before, creating a strange contrast to the almost sad feeling before. All of this fits together perfectly to create one monster of a song. And while this is easily the best one on the record, that doesn't mean the rest is weak.

"Liivet af mig render" and "Svartgaldr" are the fastest tracks on the album, sharing an almost identical groove. Highlight is the bridge section from "Svartgaldr" that draws some inspiration from classic heavy metal á la Iron Maiden. Both shift between thrashy and melodic sections effortlessly. "Der Hammer Og Kors Motes" is a slow epic, starting with a cheerful melody and building up as it progresses. "Dodsvigd" starts with an acoustic guitar pattern, before the full band kicks in for probably the best moment on the whole record. The way the acoustic and electric guitar contrast each other is simply beautiful, and is very hard to describe. Later on we get some more classic metal melodies that sadly disappear immediately not to be heard again for the rest of the song.
Last song on the EP is "Gardmillom", and it's also the only weak point of the record. It starts very similarly to the previous track (in fact, it's too similar) and continues with spoken word and electric-acoustic-interplay like we've heard several times before. But this time, it fails to make any impression. The whole song feels like an interlude that is missing a proper context. However, it does work as an outro to the CD, and brings the record to a fitting conclusion.

With Daudningekvider, Eljudner somehow managed to make an incredibly solid and consistent record. Even after repeated listen, you won't feel the need to skip a song, since they are all equally great. Eljudner might not be innovative or technical, but their masterful use of melody makes this a stunning record nonetheless.

Review Nr. 2:

Musically, Cryptic Wintermoon sound a lot like Dimmu Borgir in their transitional phase. That means bombastic keyboard arrangements and melodic, not-quite-black-metal guitar riffs. All this is meant to sound very epic and melodramatic, and in most cases, they succeed. That doesn't automatically make "The Age of Cataclysm" a good album, however.

Cryptic Wintermoon's biggest problem is their lack of consistency. The first half of the album is quite solid, featuring enjoyable, catchy hymns. Their songs might not have a lot of depth, but the melodies are likely to stay in your ear for a while.

Opener "The Abyssal Spectre" is quite atypical for this album. It is quite fast-paced and sounds almost thrashy with its tremolo-picked lead guitar riffs. The keyboard plays a supporting role here, mostly used for enhancing the mood in the slower chorus section. Unlike the rest of the album, the focus lies solely on the guitar. In terms of general structure however, this is quite a good example of what's to come: Instead of the complex and unorthodox song structures black metal is known for, Cryptic Wintermoon adopt a classical verse-chorus-verse approach. Of course, that makes the music even catchier, which is just as it should be with music like this, but it also removes a lot of depth, leaving an impression similar to pop music: It tends to get boring after a while. Fortunately, the first few songs avoid this by simply being so damn catchy that you can't resist even the tenth time around.

Tracks 3 to 5 are related thematically and musically, telling the kind of Sword and Sorcery tale one would expect from the music. Here the keyboard becomes more prominent: It introduces each song with a lengthy solo section, and acts as both lead and backing instrument in the actual song, just as the guitars do. This technique is very well balanced and makes the cliched lyrics actually sound credible instead of laughable. In fact, the music sounds a bit like mid-era Bathory here, especially on "Fallen Kingdoms", which is blown up to almost epic proportions, clocking in at seven minutes. If they had sticked to that epic tale-telling kind of music for the rest of the album, this could have gotten quite a high score. It's not necessarily deep or meaningful, but it's damn catchy and a lot of fun.

Instead, they do the worst thing they could have possibly done: They write a ballad. Even worse, "When Daylight Dies" is the most cliched and kitschy kind of ballad you could imagine, complete with acoustic guitars, singalong chorus and whiny lyrics. The problem with the acoustic guitar probably lies in the sound: Instead of sounding warm like it should, it remains just as cold and plastic as the keyboards.

Several songs in the second half are quite lacking in terms of lyrics. Dracula-like bloodlust ("Black Moon") and grief ("Angels Never Die") are not the kind of themes they can portray well, and most of the time, they sound like some neo-romantic gothic metal band using a vocabulary of approximately 50 stereotype words to fit the emotion they want to portray. Musically, the tracks are a mixed bag: "Blood of the Dragon" is another epic like the ones we've heard before, and the only one with acceptable lyrics. "Winter of Apocalypse" is probably the strongest track, due to the varied mid-section. "Black Moon" and "Angels Never Die" both could have been great tracks, but they are ruined by poppy singalong choruses. The remaining two songs fall flat on their face, simply because they do not sound as epic as the instrumentation might imply: they're simply forgettable. They don't do much wrong, apart from the lyrics, and probably would have worked well if used as filler tracks between the better cuts, but since they both come directly after another, they tend to get very boring.

As long as they don't get too mainstream musically, and stick with war themes lyrically, Cryptic Wintermoon can be very enjoyable, if a bit generic. But their excursions into kitsch and melodrama almost ruin the record at times, and due to the lack of memorable riffs near the end, I tend to turn the record off after the first few tracks. If you're into the more melodic type of Black Metal and don't care about theatrical lyrics (or don't care about lyrics at all), you could give this a shot, but if you're looking for something original, stay away.

Top
 Profile  
ThyBlackHalo
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:56 pm
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 6:29 am 
 

I've written a review for Epica's "Design Your Universe", this is my first review and I'd like some help/suggestions to improve it. It's been rejected twice for bad formatting...




Two years later "The Divine Conspiracy" and after a lineup change Epica returns, with an album very well structured and with lyrical themes much more positives: while "The Divine Conspiracy" dealt with religion wars and prejudices, "Design Your Universe" tells you straight forward that you are free and free to project the world you live in, if you want this strongly enough.

This is the prominent message on the album, explained with many sub-themes such as Tibetan and Maya cultures, quantic physics and near-death experiences - all of these expressed with poetry: "Don't forget you are able to design your own universe".

Everything begins with "Samadhi", an introduction both lyrically and musically; but is "Resign to Surrender" that explains the overall style of the album: as for the voices we could listen to choirs, growling vocals and female vocals (both clean and opera), as an Epica trademark, but the instrumentation is changed, we listen to a more extreme sounds with many death metal influences, a more guitar-oriented sound that anyway doesn't forget the symphonic part.
The album goes through some very good songs (like "Unleashed", the first and gorgeous single), but the real highlight of the album is reached with "Kingdom of Heaven", a five-part track with both extreme parts, opera choirs and symphonic parts and even an acoustic part that the listener could relate to Opeth's style.
The album continues with songs that are just as good as the precedent ones: the best song on this second part of the album is ballad, "Tides of Time", that will melt even the more iced hearts with the beautiful performance of Simone Simons (that improves her vocals on every album).
After some more heavy tracks, such as "Semblance of Liberty", being the hardest track on the album, and a last ballad, "White Waters" with the guest vocals of Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica, we find the title-track, "Design Your Universe": another long track with many different sounding parts and perfect vocal performances.

This is "Design Your Universe": the best Epica album yet, and with no doubt one of the best album 2009 gave us - so get ready to design your own universe through the excellence of this musical experience...

Top
 Profile  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Reply to topic Go to page Previous  1 ... 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 ... 108  Next


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

  Print view
Jump to:  

Back to the Encyclopaedia Metallum


Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group