It's that time of the year when I challenge you to compete against others in reviewing material from a band that, despite their uniqueness or far-reaching influence, has received absolutely dick for reviews. caspian and I negotiated to plan out our little ventures, and seeing how February is here, it's high time I summon metal-archives' best reviewers.

This year, I challenge you to review the discography of Amebix, the Unholy Godfathers of Crust Punk. Pick any album, EP, or demo you fancy, and share your insights accounting for your listening experience. The Contest ends on March 4th, so be sure to get in gear; unlike my previous contest, I have no intention of extending the closing time...unless absolutely necessary (read: an unlikely event compromises my ability to judge the reviews with swift speed). The reviews will be for Amebix only; side-projects (Zygote, etc.) will not be accepted.

Contestants:
StryckenFromHistory
Noktorn
hells_unicorn
tomcat_ha
iamntbatman
caspian
droneriot
Tepes_the_Unweeping

PRIZES:
Top Prize
Amebix: Monolith + Arise + No Sanctuary: The Spiderleg Recordings



On top of that, you win an (in-stock) Amebix t-shirt from Nightgaunt Graphics or Punkstuff of your choice. Just let me know your shirt size.

Close, but No Cigarette:

By no means is Axegrinder a terrible band; they're quite fine, actually. Unfortunately, they're no Amebix. I'll accompany this prize with either an Axegrinder t-shirt or this:

The term fanboy may be appropriate for me when it comes to Hellbastard.

And last, and most certainly least,
The Talisman of Shame:



MAY THE BEST ONE WIN!

sure why not

Good. I'd been planning this contest for some time, but after a few initial ideas (Hellbastard, Deviated Instinct, Axegrinder, etc.), I finally settled on Amebix. After all, they're the reason Crust exists as it is.

Nobody took my Thor suggestion.

There's always next time.

Any way, I'm up for this, I got a $100 gift certificate to amazon.com from my brother and I just spent a little less than half of it. I look forward to seeing what Noktorn's take on these guys are.

Hmm. I might give this one a go.

i doubt i'll win it but no harm putting my name down. I'm in!

Now where's dronie when you need him?

#death suicide pact.

Probably do Arise or something.

Would a reviewer be limited to reviewing one item or can more than one review be submitted for the challenge?

Well, speaking for myself, I bought 3 releases by the band and I intend to hit all 3 of them, regardless to whether or not they count.

I suppose one could write more than one review...provided it's fresh (read: after February 1, 2011 and before March 4, 2011). Remember, I'm of the opinion quality beats quantity, so I'd personally advise the contestants one well-written review beats three shoddy reviews.

I've just been informed our good friend Tepes_the_Unweeping would like to enter the fray. This should raise the contest's stakes very high.

StryckenFromHistory vs. Tepes_the_Unweeping vs. droneriot vs. hells_unicorn vs. Noktorn vs. caspian vs. tomcat_ha vs. iamntbatman

Talk about stiff competition. One more thing. Be sure to tell me which albums you intend to review.

i have no idea about any of their music or releases, so I'll go for Monolith, because it has a cool album name.

If you're looking for Motörhead inspired Speed/Thrash, Monolith will deliver. Imagine racing a million miles per hour atop a nuclear warhead headed toward a post-industrial wasteland in the heat of conflict.

This is looking fun and all, but it just occured to me, instead of us all writing reviews for this challenge, how about we have a pitched battle? If we could get autothrall, perplexed_Sjel, blockman, and kruel to join in it could be Metal of Death vs MA's review spammers.

Nice try. This is a free-for-all, not a team battle; every man for himself.

I think I'll try to write something for the "Winter" single. It's pretty much my favourite.

wait my reviews are now considered high quality? Despite that i only made like 5 reviews?

I am sure my name just slipped in that post by accident.

I'll definitely be up for this. Just to clarify, only one review of any of their material is required, correct?

That is correct. Just specify which album you intend to review.

I'm gonna go ahead and do Monolith.

huh i was pretty sure i posted yesterday about my own intention to review monolith.

Well, looks like it's about time to start listening to this thing now...

i submitted my review but i seem to be the first one to do so.

I'll probably be submitting mine either tonight or early tomorrow. I spent about 3 1/2 weeks figuring out which album I wanted to review since I had very little experience with the band and bought 3 of their albums specifically for this challenge.

Two midterms to write, but I should be able to review the Right to Ride single before the final hour. If I have more time, I'll do one for Arise!

After much deliberation, I've decided to grant a two (if I'm feeling generous, three) week grace period. I plan on ending this contest on the 17th of March. I won't be able to judge until after the 23rd of March, as I, too, am bogged down with exams and upcoming papers.

However, this extension will be my only reprieve; if any writer does not submit a review within those two weeks, he/she loses out. I'm not giving the same clemency I had for my previous contest.

still sad im the only one who submitted a review

*shrugs* yeah, I downloaded Monolith a while ago now and while it's not bad I can't think of anything to write about it. It's pretty decent but doesn't set my world afire, I guess I could crank out a supremely uninspired 4 paragraph effort but it'd be pretty average and I'm holding back on reviews these days unless if I feel I can pull off a good one, sorry dude.

It's not over yet, dudes. Everyone likes to keep everyone else in suspense.

Ok, after changing my mind about 15 times on which album I would review, I finally got around to submitting my review for "Arise!". I'll probably do the other albums that I bought some time after this challenge has concluded. Hopefully someone else will get something submitted before the end, a 2 person contest is definitely less than what I had hoped for.

My review is submitted and now in the hands of the gods (or the mods).

WOP's is up too. The competition has arrived.

The contest is officially over, but since I'll be away from a computer this weekend, I won't be able to judge any of these reviews until Friday of next week; my midterms and essays will be finished by then. Come March 25th, I will be announcing winners.

Noktorn, iamntbatman, droneriot and caspian, I'll allow a three day reprieve for you four. However, if no reviews are up by Monday, I'm ending the contest.

Yeah, screw it. Nothing I write feels right so I'm throwing in the towel.

Wish I knew how to promote more reviewers to keep up the fight; c'est la vie. Anywho, time to announce Muhammadabbadabba's Second Annual Review Contest Awards:

The Talisman of Shame goes to:
tomcat_ha
One glaring grammatical error aside, the review didn't seem properly crafted. Rather than transitioning smoothly, my reading experience felt like driving over a series of speed bumps. While your contribution to this contest is noted, that review could use some editing. Suggestions from me: while first-person isn't necessarily detracting, try to avoid it as much as possible. Furthermore, make me care. EX: "I would prefer if the guitar had the same sound as Axegrinder an crustover thrash band heavily influenced by Amebix but from a few years later (Their debut Rise of the Serpentmen was released in 1989) It doesn't ruin the sound of this album but I just believe this album would gain from a more massive guitar sound." Simply stating "I would prefer if..." isn't going to cut it. In the final analysis, subjective experience means dick.

The Duel of Spite winner is:
hells_unicorn
You fired the first shot; Noktorn didn't. By default, you win. You have a choice of an Amebix CD OR an Amebix t-shirt.

Close, but No Cigarette:
StryckenFromHistory
A quick, steady and articulate analysis of the single. Nothing particularly wrong, but reviewing a full length would've improved your standing. That way, you would've made my grand prize decision difficult. Now, would you like an Axegrinder CD and t-shirt OR would you like an Axegrinder and Hellbastard CD? Your choice.

And the winner of Muhammadabbadabba's Second Annual Review Contest is:
Tepes_the_Unweeping
Was it any surprise? I couldn't have expected any less from you, and once again, you insight continues to rivet me. Pity your listening experience wasn't any better. No matter, you win the grand prize pack of:
- Arise + Monolith + No Sanctuary
- A t-shirt of your choice from Nightgaunt Graphics

Never really listened to either band aside from the early Hellbastard shit which I don't recall being to fond of. I suppose I'll have to do more investigating, unless you'd be down with substituting them for another crust band.

Name your tune, and I'll see if I can find it. If not, we can work something out. Just PM me.

Hey, sorry I didn't get anything in for this. Had a lot of personal stuff to deal with plus I moved, so I didn't have time to write a review, though I did have some ideas floating around in my head for Arise!. Congratulations to the winners/losers/participants!