The mod named "Nightgaunt" rejected 2 of my reviews: Bathory-1984 and Metallica-Death Magnetic. His arguments were "little viable content, especially in the sense that this album has already been reviewed to death."
On some albums we have 15-20 reviews and on bathory and/or metallica about 10. I have read the rules and understood them. I have read most of the other reviews concerning these albums. I thought the leading team here on this site "hope that you keep contributing to the Encyclopaedia in the future, to help it become the best Web resource for true heavy metal!"
But I can not understand why my reviews got rejected and I lost points.
Sincerely,
Aris

I am also willing to post the reviews for critique.

While some albums have up around 20 reviews, after there gets to being 5 or 6 the quality requirements become much higher. Chances are your reviews were fairly short, and only gave brief descriptions, which may have been good enough for an album with one or two reviews, but both those albums get heaps, and to get accepted you need to write a pretty damn good review.

Considering you lost points, I assume your review was fairly poor at the best of times.

First of all, i had to wait about 5 days until my reviews got rejected, and second, here are both of them, tell me what's shitty about them.

Bathory - 1984 - Bathory Rating 10/10 97 %

Total fucking necro.

We go back to the year 1981. Venom welcomes us to hell with their debut album. Since that album the extreme metal scene and lifestyle have never been the same. Of course this would lead, later on in the early 90s, to the radicalization of this new philosophy with the glorification of the individual in heroic scenarios filled with anti-social themes. 1982 an appropriate name for this kind of music was found; "Black Metal", as the titles of Venom's 82' release suggests. The name also fits the music very well, it's Slayer infused into fast and dirty rock'n'roll with harsh vocals and blasphemous lyrics. One formula that has prevailed so many times, but ceased to in the mid 90s. For some reason the individualistic energy that appeared soon put itself out and suffocated into a docile state, later degenerating into order instead of chaos and depression instead of strength.

So much for the small history lesson. Tomas Forsberg, better known under his scenic name of "Quorthon", was merely 18 years old at the time the first "Bathory" album was released. But do not get fooled by the age of the band members, for listening to this release, one can really imagine the raw energy that was running through their veins at that time. Energy that this new generation of extreme music is somehow lacking. On this release we have pure chaos that pushes you forward into a juvenile world of mysticism and provocative satanic imagery. The same problems the youth had back then, we have today; the question to wether one is an important part of this world or not and if society really is what it pretends to be. The nihilistic attitude on this album is not only an imagery to promote the band, but also an important part of the music. Every aspect of this album is a reflection of the band members' thoughts and minds. One must not be a psychologist to realize the fact that this album simply put, has more balls than say 95% of what is being produced in the music industry today. With only a set of crude guitars and some amps, a decent drum kit these younglings have managed to overwhelm the animalistic instincts that mankind possess.

The opener "Storm of Damnation", an intro, embraces the album together with its counterpart "Outro". Directly after the intro, a set of fast paced drums and sagging guitar riffs capture the listener's attention, carrying him forth into a twisted world of determined eagerness and negative emotions. Grasping one by the leg, this album shows you, instead of telling you. It speaks to its listener, encouraging him to feel the most empathy possible with the music. Technically, this album may not appear outstanding, but it remains impressive. The soli could be compared to those of Slayer, only much shorter in length. Being only less than half an hour in its length, this album really makes up for its intensity. You will be amazed as this album never gets boring and will stay in your cd player or playlist for a long time spinning again and again on almost endless repeat. Every track on this album has its own character and pulls you down its own dark path, each with its own personal set of blasphemy, such as death, satanic rituals and the apocalypse.

"I swear the oath of blood
and tear the virgin's flesh
I gash the wounds of heaven
and ride the wings of death"

This lyrical extraction of "Armageddon" pretty much sums up the feeling on this album and gives a decent impression of what awaits you if you have not already heard this masterpiece. Shut the door and turn up the volume, for this is what our hell sounds like.


Written by Aris Stefanov; September 2008

Metallica - 2008 - Death Magnetic Rating 7 / 10 67%


Agitation. High anticipation. One of the most popular names in heavy metal history is about to release their next album entitled "Death Magnetic". After Metallica's (or better said heavy metal's) worst ever produced and induced album "St. Anger" everyone's expectancy is rather low, or laughably enthusiastic. How could it, regarding the utter shit Metallica have allowed themselves to be unleashed upon the metal scene, which they presume to be loyal to? Enjoying mass media success and thus making tremendous amounts of profit, after their rather decent "Black Album", they have appearantly begun to blunder into free fall, at least musically speaking.

For "Death Magnetic" the guys from Metallica have decided to return to the classical E-tuning, as opposed to what they had on St.Anger (C). And they should really stick with this, as this is how heavy metal has to sound like. Of course they can never return to the old days, so people comparing this with old stuff (Master of Puppets) are still an enigma to me. This is modern Metallica, take it or leave it.

Listening to this is indeed a challenge for the most part, since ignoring what Metallica have been back in the 80s and what Metallica are now today is a difficult task. You'd be probably better off now knowing the band, letting objectivity decide. But between St.Anger and this new record lay worlds. They have actually started to record music again. Lars decided to take his drum set out of the package this time and he actually uses a snare, instead of a frying pan. Another amazing thing are James Hetfield's vocals. As they may not sound any thing like in the old days, they have a certain torment in them. No wonder, this guy has truly been through a lot of shit in his life. But one can not expect him to sound like on "Master of Puppets", he is 45 years old, for Christ's sake! The voice changes over the years. Additionally, the lyrical concepts are a bit like on St.Anger, focusing on inner struggles life's experiences and of course modern day warfare, but done in a fairly right matter. They are actually quite good at times and utterly pathetic at others;

"Love is a four letter word
And never spoken here
Love is a four letter word
Here in this prison
I suffer this no longer
I put it into
This I swear!
This I swear!
The sun will shine
This I swear!
This I swear!
This I swear!"

Sure this sounds exactly like what it is. This extract from "The Day That Never Comes" is one of those lyrical passages that an album does not require to be effective. This is one of those obsolete St.Anger reject parts. But at least the part after this is great.

Another good fact about this LP is the presence of actual soli. So Mr. Hammett decided to put his guitar skills back to good use, a completely new aspect in the last 12 years. The tapping parts really have character, as on track nr. 4. Bad parts include quite a couple of soulless and dry riffs that don't really feed your with the old awe. The formula sometimes is just too damn blunt.

All in all: The Unforgiven III didn't turn out that bad and "All Nightmare Long" is a great standalone track. Old Metallica may be dead and new Metallica growing old, but still I have to say: not bad. After hearing the "new metallica tracks" on youtube I thought it was the end. This album surprised and cheered me up.

Written by Aris Stefanov; September 2008

Not bad reviews, though perhaps make it less about expectations and/or historical significance of the band or album and pack more musical description in there.

As lord_ghengis said though, you really do need a very good review to get accepted for an album with around 10 or more reviews. Another thing to point out is that a review consistent with the current average (such as your Bathory review) really offers little in giving another opinion, it's just reiteration of points already made by other reviewers, so the quality of a review for an album with lots of reviews where you mostly agree with what's already there has VERY high quality expectations.

Hope that answers your questions.

Oh Nightgaunt, was the point docking really necessary, the reviews aren't so bad as to warrant that surely?

Sure, I guess that answers the question on the Bathory review, but as I said, the reason why I'm writing is first of all to improve my english skills, as I will be needing them here in Germany. The second is to enrich this site and betonate the fact that an album is great and my opinion is not that I've just repeated everything the others said, but wrote my own personal point of view and the more positive (or negative, for that matter) impressions on an album, the better. Correct me if I am wrong.
Also the point thing is pretty useful when someone like me has enough time to write reviews and collect points so that one day I can help the mods in correcting mistakes/adding information, which also is a very productive thing to help them in becoming one of the greatest cummunities on true heavy metal.
Sincerely,
Aris

Those reviews weren't bad, I feel that Nightgaunt was pretty harsh on you docking points for those, honestly, there's a few other mods on here that probably would have let those on.

I apologize for assuming they would be complete trash

So I guess I can forget the reviews, and they won't be hosted on the site, since Nightgaunt, being one of the highest moderators, apparently doesn't like them?
The point docking really discourages me to further write reviews for the metal archives.

No harm taken.

Honestly, they aren't terrible, but standards are extremely high for bands like Metallica, Bathory, Iron Maiden, et cetera. If you honestly want to hone your craft, start out writing for slightly less popular bands and/or putting your reviews up in the Feedback Workshop thread located here. Believe me when I say that you will start to refine the way you write and eventually find your earlier works to be complete bollocks, regardless of their actual quality.

Also, the moderators aren't a society of hooded demons hell bent on destroying all of the newbies' dreams. We call 'em the Gestapo in jest, chill out. Gaunt is known as the harshest of them all, but it's not a big deal. Try improving on those by posting in the Feedback Workshop and trying again, or for writing completely different reviews for completely different albums.

That's my two cents at least.

Ok, thanks for your advice. I am not here to whine about me losing points or my reviews being rejected, but simply want to know why, and what can be done better to improve my review skills, since english is still a foreign language to me. I posted the bathory review for a start in the feedback workshop and am anxious to reading what other users recommend.

I have feeling that the author has had something else rejected today as well, but I'll leave replying to this to Gaunt. Perhaps looking through the mailbox for the other rejections might help?

Gaunt might seem harsh, but knowing that none of the users on the thread so far were not here in 2003...2004, he is nowhere near the brutality level of certain former mods. Actually, not counting the treatment for plagiarism, sabotage and blatant trolling, the interpretations of the rules are quite relaxed these days, and the atmosphere much more tolerant than it used to be. Just saying.

Nice try, whelp. You innocently "forgot" to include here the third review of yours that I rejected, which is the one that cost you your points. Would you care to point this one out to the nice people, hmm?

Ehm, I only got 2 emails, why would I bullshit you? I think I know which review you mean. Eisregen's Farbenfinsternis. I assumed it also got rejected, but tell me, why?
Here is the review in full.

Eisregen - 2001 - Farbenfinsternis Rating 9.5/10 95 %

Morbidity combined with cynicism.

Before starting let me first introduce this morbid crew from Germany. Eisregen, here in this country they are one of the most well known acts of extreme German metal. They started out back in 95', releasing some very rare demo tapes and three years later their first LP came out, entitled "Zerfall" (meaning decay).
Characteristically, this band's trademarks were always the severe manner in which they presented themselves and their music. Basically the formula was always kept, but they have somehow managed to evolve with each album, creating an even more brutal atmosphere. With "Farbenfinsternis" (color obscurity) they have reached the peak of their gory concept. "Krebskolonie", "Farbenfinsternis" and "Wundwasser" are on the index in Germany, meaning they are not allowed to be sold or distributed in any way. Additionally, they aren't allowed to play any songs from these albums, as they have in the past and got into a lot of trouble for that.

I have read in other reviews how people denounce the aspects of the German language in their reviews, comparing the vocals of German metal vocalists to a burlesque image of Hitler, propagating their silly motives as the music accompanies the caricature throughout the album. These are the kind of people who hinder objectivity in every aspect possible and feed you the stereotypical bullshit no one needs to hear.

(At this point I will abbreviate the albums with their respective alliterations.)

KK was one of the most amazing brutally executed albums I have ever heard, but that is material for another review. We are here to talk about the music on FF. The 7 string guitars they use create a unique dark atmosphere. Another great thing we have here is the usage of violins, but in a very gloomy way. It gives you the feeling as if you were either on a graveyard, a shattered old house or simply in the dark. You pick whatever you want, the result is the same. Very melancholic and classy. But now to come to the more interesting part of Eisregen's whole concept: the vocals and the lyrics.

I have to admit, it was a bit of a challenge to get used to M.Roth's unique style of "singing", but so were "Dornenreich" or King Diamond for that matter. The same persons who call this guy a "cartoonish Hitler" call King Diamond a eunuch (who actually has more balls then they have altogether). The vocals are preformed in a high pitched throat rasp with some clean vocals here and there (ex. on track 01). Sounds a bit on the thrashy side at times and a bit on the black/death side at others. But the most severe aspect of the music are truly the lyrics, as the vocalist is very talented in describing brutal concepts. Be it butchering prostitutes after sexual intercourse and keeping their bodies for further enjoyment in secret apartments, setting his fatherland ablaze or savoring the fresh blood of victims, Eisregen have it all in their répertoire. No perverted lust remains unrelished as they push their listeners forward into their sick minds and music.

The album has a small "Zyklus" (meaning cycle), beginning with track 06 "Vorboten", about a person living his normal life, until one day his life changes. The protagonist isolates himself, obtaining paranoia and ultimately succumbing to a higher entity for the sole purpose of eliminating the living. Of course, this can be viewed as a horror film translated into music. With M.Roth, being a great horror/gore film fan, this does not surprise one. But the change of low and high pitched vocals really does the job, since you can really "feel" how the change of sentiment and state of mind occurs at certain points on this "cycle".

The album ends with a track finishing the year which sums up all catastrophes that occured the previous year. Train crashes, airplane accidents, terrorist and gang shootings, etc... The bonus edition even has a cover of the death metal masters "Death" which is pretty cool too.

I recommend this album to everybody liking extreme metal and who does understand a bit of German, since it's kind of important to fully savor the music OR to open minded people looking for something a little bit different.

I didn't forget it, it just wasn't as "important" for me as my other two reviews for that matter, but still, I may be mentally fryed, but what's wrong with it?

And there you have it. At least twice during the piece, you go out of your way to bitch and moan about the review that is already on the page. This in itself normally leads to instant rejection, and it is an offense that I personally always punish. Furthermore, in this particular case, not only have you seen fit to whine about the existing review, but you have done so based on a blatant misrepresentation of what the other review actually says. Your emotions coupled with marked a deficit or lapse in reading comprehension explain your lost points.

This issue aside, I still would not have been likely to approve this review, for the same reason that I rejected the other two. Your entries in the queue this past evening all display an uncanny knack for using a lot of words to convey very little relevant description, which is the main thing that we look for. This review, for instance, spends a fair amount of time on the vocals and quite a bit on the lyrics, but leaves every other aspect of the music either entirely untreated with or relegated to a brief mention in all of about 1.5 piddling sentences, and even this is left at vague qualifiers such as "dark." This will not do. The Bathory and Metallica reviews also display this problem in some form or another, though not quite so severely. In their cases, however, the glut of reviews of identical sentiment with far greater depth and breadth alone would render them nothing but redundant.

Edit: I should clarify that the content you do have is fine (apart from the whining), and does not need removing. However, it cannot carry a review on its own. A 3000 word review will be rejected if it neglects to take care of the fundamental requirements.

Ok, thanks, that's all I wanted to hear. I want my reviews to get better and will reprocess them for resubmission. I honestly did NOT get an email with the content of your previous post and am thankful that you took your time to reply to my concern.
I am not taking this personally, you may have removed my points, if you wish and think that it was necessary, then it's okay.
I also thought that a little cirticism to other reviewers was adequate, since I have observed this on other pages also.

If you know of reviews that actively insult or complain about their pagemates, you are invited to post them in the "Oven Fodder" thread in this subforum. They will be reviewed and possibly removed.

Do not make the mistake of confusing the kind of behavior I'm speaking of with more general references to public opinion, or to more neutral nods to other reviewers, (i. e. "as the other reviewer mentioned, the drum track on the album is at the top of the mix, though I don't think this is much of a problem"), however.

On a sidenote, being on the index doesn't mean they aren't allowed to be sold or distributed. Please try to keep such factual inaccuracies out of your reviews.

What does it mean? I once googled it, but the results were not very definite.

OK; Farbenfinsternis, Krebskolonie and Wundwasser are on the index, meaning they aren't allowed to be distributed openly, or played in the public or on shows. Krebskolonie is actually completely BANNED because of its severe content.

Ah, thanks for clarifying, I've often wondered about that myself.
What exactly is it that makes KK somewhat "worse" than the rest, though? I haven't translated every single line of every song, but the general content doesn't seem that terribly far removed form other Eisregen releases I own.

I think it's best I will save all that info for my KK review, there I will throughly discuss the tematics

O.K. Will do.
Do not think I am some kind of internet troll trying to bullshit the administrators or such, I thought you would welcome further support. As for the other email, I found it on my ISP's spam folder, which I apologize for. I also do hope that you encourage people, such as myself, who are only at the beginning of writing reviews, to continue.

It is actually, NOT banned, only indexed as the others.
It is listed under section B of the list, which means that the office thinks it is in conflict with German law, but a court has to decide about it.
As long as there is not court decision, the distribution is not banned.

B means "Beschlagnahmt" which is "confiscated" in English. It may be indexed as the others, but with more severe constrictions. I believe the equivalent term is "banned" in English.

Ha, nice! Funny, I dug out my Eisregen cd's after a while this week and a thread about them pops up (well, sort of). I guess I was lucky to snatch a copy of KK (as well as the original Flesichfestival ep on its own) when they were still available. Then again, I must be one of the very few people that knows this band in Italy... those cd's were lying there in a semi-mainstream record shop, haha! Who knows how they ended up there in the first place... good for me

http://www.schnittberichte.com/
See this page or their forum for example, where they explain the differencies.
It means, that the office thinks hat the distribution is against German law, but as long as there is no such decision, the status is the same as the others on the index. Of course that the band will not reissue it, since the legal situation is then unclear. It can be "beschlagnahmt" only by a court decision, as recently the uncut version of Hostel 2 the movie was.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beschlagnahme

Alright, I guess that pretty much sums it up

You're lucky, I own every release from them, the only one that's missing is KK .

So, when are the overworked and revised eisregen and bathory reviews be viewed for further inspection?? Just wondering, as it has been a while now. Napero, Nightgaunt, sorry if you are occupied, but just asking myself, so I can continue with other reviews!
Aris.

Those reviews should definitely have been accepting, and if not requires a very good reason why not. Your only hope is waiting for a mod to review your reviews again. I remember I sent a review and I got a reply "title didn't meet the requirements". I checked it again and it was perfect. They claimed I had 2 letters in my title when I had an entire phrase. I don't know if the review moderating is up to scratch.

No. Musical description occupies only about 1/3 of each review.

I have improved the content of the reviews and am happy now.
This thread should be closed.
Period.