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~Guest 171512
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:18 am
Posts: 2099
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:24 pm 
 

That's true, but differences of opinion are what lead to changes and improvements in the site. As you said, the average review quality is quite high nowadays, a clear distinction from how it was in the past, and the reason it's that way is because people have expressed the ways in which they disagree with the status quo. I think you made a good point that the people complaining about reviews like the 'Master of Puppets' one not being moderators, and therefore not having the burden of sifting through God-only-knows how many submissions, reading them, evaluating them, critiquing them, and however many other things have to be done before you finally hit 'accept' or 'reject'. You and all the other mods have my utmost respect for that. But the normal MA members who don't have to deal with all that can also be a valuable source of insight, precisely because they/we aren't knee-dip in the slag. (I know, I'm talking as if there isn't a Complaints and Suggestions forum where I could be saying all this. I'm simply not posting this there because it's more convenient to have the whole conversation in one place.)

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Diamhea
Eats and Spits Corpses

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:46 pm
Posts: 9275
Location: At the Heat of Winter
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 8:36 pm 
 

You are welcome to critique but expect to be called out if it is unfounded. Most of the peanut gallery "Why the hell was X review accepted!?" posts are from people who lack an encyclopedic grasp of the process involved.

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~Guest 171512
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:18 am
Posts: 2099
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 9:03 pm 
 

Yeah, I admit that I didn't kick things off in the best, most constructive way. I knew why the review was accepted; I just went with the aggressive, emotional hypothetic 'why' instead of proceeding rationally, for which I've tried to atone in subsequent posts. Hopefully that's obvious. Otherwise I'll quit while I'm behind. :p

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BastardHead
Worse than Stalin

Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:53 pm
Posts: 10857
Location: Oswego, Illinois
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:06 pm 
 

Also, just for some transparency, the whole abolishing of the old unwritten "standards go up after X amount of reviews" rule was a completely internal decision (based on dissatisfaction with the status quo) intended for the benefit of users. Everybody starts somewhere, a lot of people start on classics. It's silly to lock people out simply because their parents humped a decade after mine. I get that the review isn't very good, and (again, in the name of transparency) I'm pretty sure I looked at that review before anybody else and simply left a note saying that it was a tedious retread that I had no interest in reading, but seemed fine. Believe me, we all know it's not particularly great, but we have the three point option for a reason, and it shouldn't go away just because it's a super popular album with thirty years worth of listeners. You're right, it's basically just a speedbump on the way towards better reviews that make the same points much more eloquently, but that doesn't mean that minimal reviews should be barred on albums like that when they'd be accepted elsewhere. It's just sort of one of the negative effects of true equality.

Long story short, we all hate it too, but we enforce the law, that's our job.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:58 pm
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Location: Where the dead rule the night
PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 11:10 pm 
 

Shitty writing is shitty writing, and that review is shit. But we should just focus on pointing out its flaws and hopefully the author will learn and do better next time.
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Diamhea
Eats and Spits Corpses

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:46 pm
Posts: 9275
Location: At the Heat of Winter
PostPosted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 2:59 am 
 

Cheers to slayerrr666 for beating me to the punch with that Norhod review, although I don't find the album quite as groundbreaking. Then again, your review is superior so it rendered mine somewhat obsolete.

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Napalm_Satan
Ever-Opening Flower

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:27 pm
Posts: 3812
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 4:58 am 
 

LordThurisaz just deleted all his reviews, for some reason.
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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
Posts: 10812
Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 12:16 pm 
 

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/B ... Terror/433

Holy fuck what an awkward read, like zero command of what appears to be HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE.
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~Guest 125312
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:40 am
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 3:54 pm 
 

Empyreal wrote:
I was wondering if we'd see any more reviews from him. Guess not, that sucks. Can we trade MT_90 for him?

Don't hold your breath, just because I'm too lazy to push the delete button a hundred times.
joecubbie also deleted all his reviews not long ago, too bad I actually liked him, had some eclectic taste.

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Wilytank
Not a Flying Toy

Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:21 am
Posts: 5861
Location: 717
PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 5:45 pm 
 

droneriot wrote:
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Behemoth/Grom/1059/Symphony_Of_Terror/433

Holy fuck what an awkward read, like zero command of what appears to be HIS NATIVE LANGUAGE.

review wrote:
On The Dark Forest (Cast Me Your Spell) the song starts off great, aggressive and interesting drumming, grim and relentless riffs, all that you expect from a good black metal album. Then the song crashes, a slow picking acoustic guitar will start to play which breaks the flow of the song as well as the small atmosphere that it was creating.


I guess he doesn't like Ulver's Bergtatt either.

review wrote:
This album will only find a home in the hearts of the general metal enthusiast while it isolates the listeners of specific genre’s. Ergo this review being done by a black metal fan, I found the album to inconsistent and not powerful enough to listen to, the atmosphere created was weak and broken to much. Perhaps someone who is into heavy metal and death metal will like it more.


I don't understand this. This isn't a death metal album, why should it be written from that sort of perspective?

The other semi-critical review also talks about the non-black metal influences, but also does it with an inane track-by-track format. http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/B ... 1523/27886
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MikeyC
Official Greeter of Broken Hills

Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:16 am
Posts: 14211
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2016 7:48 pm 
 

Doominance's review of Dystopia is probably the least effective of the 10 already there, since I don't feel he discusses the strong points quite enough to justify the score, and nearly two paragraphs are about the bad production and the drop in quality after "Fatal Illusion."

Nevertheless, I'm glad to see the album getting some love. I would write my own but with so many there it seems redundant. :)
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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
Posts: 12030
Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2016 10:43 pm 
 

MY ASS, BALLS, FUCK, etc... :-P

While I like (and asked Diamhea for his imput about the acceptability) my short reviews I'm doing for my Metal Bounty Hunter series, I'd like some comments about 'em to improve the streamlined as hell style I'm using there. Here's 4 of 'em from taken from the 3 different volumes:
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/C ... ine/158505
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/G ... ine/158505
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/A ... ine/158505
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/O ... ine/158505
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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
Posts: 10812
Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2016 11:09 pm 
 

Try to write anything more intelligent for that album and you're gonna be compared to Nightgaunt, that's suicide. :P

In other news, Human666 is back with top quality writing.
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Grave_Wyrm
Metal Sloth

Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:55 pm
Posts: 3928
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 1:14 am 
 

Metantoine wrote:
ASS, BALLS, FUCK, etc...

pile of reviews

I think they're surprisingly good; the format seems really easy to fuck up. Most other things I've read that are this short read like ads (main potential fuck up), and these don't. They're concise.

Potentially my favorite thing about them is how easily identified the references are. The musical comparisons, while numerous, are precise. It's a good format, easily copied and pasted into youtube or whatever else, and that's it -- no time-sucking lists of side-projects or members or anything else that could just be looked up. I like that. Your references are generally the strongest parts of your reviews.

I think they're still a bit *too* casual to read as clearly as they might. Tightening efficiency would suit the format better. I suppose this will take some practice, since going too far in that direction would dry them out.

Consider putting your closing thoughts in their own paragraph, as a rule. In the case of otherwise single-paragraph reviews, this will break up the rectangular chunk, and will read more clearly. Changing topics too many times in a short review ends up tangling the already rapid thought process.
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raspberrysoda
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 4:51 pm
Posts: 1076
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 1:55 am 
 

Napalm started USING THIS again in his reviews
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Napalm_Satan
Ever-Opening Flower

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:27 pm
Posts: 3812
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 2:31 am 
 

Dude I never stopped - I stopped using ALL CAPS AND BOLD, and just use them more sparingly now.
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MikeyC
Official Greeter of Broken Hills

Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:16 am
Posts: 14211
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:29 am 
 

There weren't too many caps used in the review, and where they were worked, especially the second-last sentence there. :lol:

Good review, even though I like the album much more than you do. :)
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Napalm_Satan
Ever-Opening Flower

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:27 pm
Posts: 3812
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 5:13 pm 
 

MikeyC wrote:
There weren't too many caps used in the review, and where they were worked, especially the second-last sentence there. :lol:

Good review, even though I like the album much more than you do. :)


:thumbsup: Nice to know I continue to please like, my one fan! :lol:


Metantoine wrote:


:lol: I can't even help it anymore, I just write it how I would say it in my head.
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Diamhea
Eats and Spits Corpses

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:46 pm
Posts: 9275
Location: At the Heat of Winter
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:01 pm 
 

An interesting observation: Most reviewers forget/fail to close parenthesis.

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Lich Coldheart
Stares into the Void

Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:44 pm
Posts: 985
Location: Romania
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:04 pm 
 

Looks like the new Burzum review has a pretty angry tone.

Diamhea wrote:
An interesting observation: Most reviewers forget/fail to close parenthesis.


:lol: Well, success isn't always guaranteed.
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Napalm_Satan
Ever-Opening Flower

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:27 pm
Posts: 3812
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:18 pm 
 

Diamhea wrote:
An interesting observation: Most reviewers forget/fail to close parenthesis.


Is this in light of any recent review? Is it one of mine, perhaps?
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Grave_Wyrm
Metal Sloth

Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:55 pm
Posts: 3928
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:33 pm 
 

Everything refers to you, N_S. Everything at all times.
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Napalm_Satan
Ever-Opening Flower

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:27 pm
Posts: 3812
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:35 pm 
 

Grave_Wyrm wrote:
Everything refers to you, N_S. Everything at all times.


Perhaps I completely lack perception, but I can't tell if this is a jab at a previously unnoticed self-centred attitude or a joke. Forgive me, but I find perception of tone difficult through text.
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Grave_Wyrm
Metal Sloth

Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:55 pm
Posts: 3928
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:43 pm 
 

Napalm_Satan wrote:
I can't tell if this is a jab at a previously unnoticed self-centred attitude or a joke.

It is a friendly ribbing about the almost predictable likelihood that you will take a general criticism to possibly apply to you, yes.
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Napalm_Satan
Ever-Opening Flower

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:27 pm
Posts: 3812
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:45 pm 
 

Grave_Wyrm wrote:
Napalm_Satan wrote:
I can't tell if this is a jab at a previously unnoticed self-centred attitude or a joke.

It is a friendly ribbing about the almost predictable likelihood that you will take a general criticism to possibly apply to you, yes.



:lol: Forgive me. A combination of wanting to improve and being self-conscious and taking any sort of criticism to heart.


EDIT: Human666 must be angry about things. His last 4 reviews have all had single digit scores. I find maintaining negativity like that is impossible for too long, eventually I need to listen to something I like, or I risk forcing out tired reviews that take ages to write.
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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
Posts: 10812
Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:33 pm 
 

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/A ... ania/21543

It's so silly, I love it. He does talk about the music near the end, by the way.
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MutantClannfear
Blank Czech

Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 12:12 am
Posts: 3624
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:32 pm 
 

^ I read a few more of that guy's reviews, and I'm regretting having not done so earlier. The dude's style is ridiculously on-point - so witty and fun to read. People should talk about him more.
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~Guest 282118
Argentinian Asado Supremacy

Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2011 2:16 pm
Posts: 8300
PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:51 pm 
 

On a much less positive example than the previous one, this review here annoys me on a primal level: http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/A ... asX/317803

It sounds like the guy got into metal last week or something. Reeks of posturing and forced enthusiasm, not to mention passive-aggressive phrases such as "I just pissed off a lot of people, didn't I?". Nah man, ya didn't really piss off anyone, because fucking nobody listens to Adrenaline Mob. This kind of writing gives me ulcers, mostly because it sounds like the author trying to present himself as far more relevant and important than he really is. Just full of fuck all around.

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Felix 1666
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:19 pm
Posts: 121
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 7:58 am 
 

Acrobat's review for Living Death is very cool and I like people that like "Protected from Reality". But I must confess that I did not know that every German home had a Living Death mascot in the eighties :-)

I promise that I will take a look at the attic, when I visit my parents the next time.

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raspberrysoda
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 4:51 pm
Posts: 1076
PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 8:21 am 
 

The song "Ze Nigmar" feom Rotting Chriat's new album is in Hebrew, not Aramaic. Also, the Hebrew lyrics on that song are REALLY badly translated and it seems like the band used Google Translate on them.
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Acrobat
Eric Olthwaite

Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:53 am
Posts: 8854
Location: Yorkshire
PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:48 pm 
 

Felix 1666 wrote:
Acrobat's review for Living Death is very cool and I like people that like "Protected from Reality". But I must confess that I did not know that every German home had a Living Death mascot in the eighties :-)

I promise that I will take a look at the attic, when I visit my parents the next time.


Cheers, Felix! You let me know what you find up there. I wrote that one this week, my first in a while. I'll be digging up some half/almost finished ones soon, too. Marduk and Noisehunter (you've reviewed both bands, too, maybe I'm stalking you?)
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BastardHead
Worse than Stalin

Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:53 pm
Posts: 10857
Location: Oswego, Illinois
PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:11 pm 
 

Yeah, you've still got it for sure. Definitely one of my favorites from the golden era.
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Liquid_Braino
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:25 am
Posts: 596
PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:59 pm 
 

Felix 1666 wrote:
Acrobat's review for Living Death is very cool and I like people that like "Protected from Reality". But I must confess that I did not know that every German home had a Living Death mascot in the eighties :-)

I promise that I will take a look at the attic, when I visit my parents the next time.


I didn't know that the "strangle the younger sibling/friend game" was popular to play in Germany back then either. Granted, the inside of my PfR cassette shows an enlarged image of the two kids in stark black & white, revealing what's going on there in more detail.

Still, I agree with that review and always dug the vocals. I always thought of him on that album as some evil psycho brother of Nazareth's singer. "Nature's Death" has always been my favorite off that, creepy and almost doom-ish.

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Felix 1666
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:19 pm
Posts: 121
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 6:01 pm 
 

@ Acrobat

I am curious about your opinion concerning the bands that you have mentioned. But to be stalked by a man feels a little bit strange...

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Smoking_Gnu
Chicago Favorite

Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:22 pm
Posts: 4797
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 11:15 am 
 

raspberrysoda wrote:
The song "Ze Nigmar" feom Rotting Chriat's new album is in Hebrew, not Aramaic. Also, the Hebrew lyrics on that song are REALLY badly translated and it seems like the band used Google Translate on them.


Given that it sounds like the band spent maybe 30 minutes on songwriting for that entire album, it wouldn't surprise me if everything else about it was a hack job.
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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
Posts: 6232
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 3:41 pm 
 

caspian's review of Skagos's Ást takes the words right out of my mouth. Always thought they were a really shitty band and I could never understand the hype.

Quote:
What we've got here is a bunch of very, very earnest cascadian BM stuff that, like a significant amount of the genre, borrows heavily from the giants of foresty black metal, offers very little new to the table, forgets to write a single engaging music part and relies on song length to imply profundity.


100% agreed.

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Thumbman
Big Cube

Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:47 pm
Posts: 4473
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 3:45 pm 
 

This is not the first time that Casp has torn apart a shitty folk metal band that I really like, and it's always hilarious. In hindsight I really, really should not have given it 100%, and I will probably delete that review and write another at some point. Still dig the album, but it's definitely not flawless. Still, I feel like it's about as good as it gets in a lame style.
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Razakel
Nekroprince

Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:36 pm
Posts: 6232
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 3:55 pm 
 

Hippie Cascadian metal's pretty popular where I live, and some bands are better than others, but I always found Skagos really lame. But yeah, not really into the genre in general.

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Napalm_Satan
Ever-Opening Flower

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:27 pm
Posts: 3812
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 4:08 pm 
 

What is cascadian black metal? Is it that ultra-mellow, melodic, folk infused and lengthy variety of it?
Good review caspian!
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Thumbman
Big Cube

Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:47 pm
Posts: 4473
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 5:03 pm 
 

It's basically West Coast hippies making lame folky black metal, yeah.
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