Has anyone else noticed that Rateyourmusic.com has a very substantial amount of negative reviews and ratings according to many great metal albums with high ratings on Metal-Archives? There are so many great underground bands found on the Metal-Archivest that just get overlooked or marked as mediocre. Another problem I faced was reading reviews and ratings that either appeared biased or gave the artist/album way too much acclaim (not that that happens on this site...). Ultimately, would you find this site reliable for metal reviews/ratings.

I used to post reviews there under the name Clatta07 in high school but I eventually grew out of it. It's not a bad site per se but the format doesn't leave much room for professionalism and review depth. The only review sites that I really go on these days are this one and SputnikMusic.com

There was a thread like this about a month ago. But anyway, RYM isn't designed to be a site dedicated to metal, the reviewers there do not reflect a metal community and should not really be factored in when looking for insight on the genre. The site can be used effectively for other styles, but it's not aimed at us.

It'd be like the reviewers here trying to review popular rap or whatever, honest opinions, but not really a worthy viewpoint.

RYM voters sure as hell do love them some Death. The band's albums are ranked incredibly high.

They're one of the bands that guys who go through a metal phase hang onto due to their out-of-genre appeal, so naturally it has much higher ratings than other metal on the largely un-metal site.

I disagree. Just look at the ratings for the year 1986. There are 7 metal albums in the top 25 just for that year. Now we all know that 1986 was undoubtedly one of the best years for metal, but that is still a remarkable statistic considering how many other genres there are out there.
Also looking at all 80's Maiden albums, they all have very high ratings, with most of them exceeding 4.0. I have definitely noticed the same with others, but maybe your statement differs from mine because I am mostly considering the non-extreme releases.

You also have to take into account that a lot of hipsters ironically listen to Iron Maiden. I've seen way more hipsters wearing Maiden shirts recently than actual metalheads.

And Slayer, and Mayhem, and Darkthrone, and Burzum, and Goatwhore, and kill me now...

Going off the lists posted in the Elvenefris thread, quite a few of the highest-rated albums on metal-archives are also in the top 100 metal albums on RYM. Symbolic comes in at 9th, Unquestionable Presence 18th, Human 19th, Sad Wings of Destiny 30th, Mercyful Fate 31st, Beneath the Remains 39th, Close to a World Below 47th, Abigail 63rd, Blood Fire Death 92nd and To the Nameless Dead at 99th.

I haven't used that site in a few months but I did notice that traditional metal from the 80s tended to perform very highly there and that newer releases maybe not so much. That somewhat reflects the attitudes here as well.

It reflects that the only people interested in old heavy metal are metalheads and some have found their way over to that site. RYM, like MA, doesn't have central cabal who determine the site policy on ratings for anything. Just a bunch of individuals saying their piece.

It's up to you how much depth you put into them.

Yeah but this one at least has standards and many people avoid rateyourmusic cause of all the 2 line reviews.

The biggest problem with RYM in general is that there are a large amount of Pitchfork sheep on it, and so indie bands and singer/songwriters get rated higher than other kinds of music. It doesn't affect their metal ratings and reviews too much, except for bands like Mastodon or Isis that are popular with the Pitchfork crowd.

RE: hipsters and iron maiden: i saw this really cute girl at my school, wearing a live after death hoodie, sitting drinking coffee.. i walk upto her and say "hey nice sweater, so what metal bands are you into" and she says " huh?"

true story.

Maybe you didn't enunciate clearly enough.

Was it Miley Cyrus?

no, she was actually good looking, and not jailbait.

I can't say i've noticed this. Many classic albms tend to be rated pretty highly there, and i find myself often rating an album lower than its current/average rating on RYM.