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Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=82737		 Page 2 of 5
Author:  GuntherTheUndying [ Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Pretty much agree, except Noktorn, hells-unicorn and Emp are really consistent too.

Oh, and me, of course. :D
Author:  Perplexed_Sjel [ Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
positron666 wrote:
i dislike Perplexed_Sjel and there are many grounds but the very reason that i don't like him is fact that he likes Neige's band such as Alcest


Great reason. Fuck Neige! He isn't even all that sexy in person. Fursy was much sexier when I caught them live.

Snowgrave wrote:
dystopia4 wrote:
edit - speaking of perplexed_sjel does anyone know what happened to him? He has only made like 5 reviews since the start of 2011.

Well, I won't speak for him, but he seems to have been in a predominantly non-metal listening phase for quite some time now, which may have something to do with it.


Pretty much hit the nail on the head. I needed a break from metal, some time to get my head out of my ass, realise there's more to music than metal and mature a bit. Writing got pretty tedious after a while for various reasons and since I'm not heavily involved in the forum, I could easily shut myself off from it all. I have considered writing reviews for other genres though but I'm in no rush to start up again.
Author:  morbert [ Tue Sep 13, 2011 5:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
WebOfPiss wrote:
Write more, morbert! :D I think it's nigh time I eked out a new review.

As for the OP, the only mass reviewer worth a damn is autothrall. The rest should stop.

did two recently and review for worship Music is pending at the moment :)
Author:  soul_schizm [ Thu Sep 15, 2011 11:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
I'll usually gravitate towards some of the more prolific reviewers who I like. Then, if I like the music, I'll check back with a few of the lesser-known writers to get their take.


Overall, this is a great site. There is a lot of valid opinion here, from both experienced professionals and amateur writers. I think that's great.


I guess in the end, I just feel like the original post is a little strange. Why would I want to cut off my access to more opinions? But that's OK. To each his own.
Author:  SharpAndSlender [ Fri Sep 16, 2011 4:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
I actually don't read many reviews on MA these days simply because I prefer more prolific reviewers (since they have a more codified sense of style in their writing) but those prolific ones apart from me tend to concentrate on styles that I'm not that interested in (thrash, power, prog, etc.). If there were other people doing a lot of black/brutal death/grind reviews I would probably read more but for the most part you don't get to see that stuff reviewed on a very regular basis by people invested in the styles. There's a few people who I'll read anything from (Cheeses, Gutterscream, Nightgaunt, the usual suspects) but for the most part I just write my own stuff.
Author:  failsafeman [ Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
So you're pretty much the only reviewer you like and you wish more reviewers were like you.
Author:  ~Guest 226319 [ Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
There isn't a steady supply of black metal reviews? Ouch!
Author:  Acrobat [ Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Black metal is pretty much the least popular sub-genre around!
Author:  SharpAndSlender [ Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
failsafeman wrote:
So you're pretty much the only reviewer you like and you wish more reviewers were like you.


Not quite. I wish Cheeses/Gutterscream/Nightgaunt wrote more. I like Caspian's reviews a lot but he's still kind of infrequent. Muloc's are cool too but he really just posts on RYM now.

John_Sunlight wrote:
There isn't a steady supply of black metal reviews? Ouch!


I want a steady supply from the same writers. I like getting to know an individual's style of writing. I don't really read reviews as a buying guide, so it's more about style and interesting opinions and explorations than how "functional" they are.
Author:  sherlockmist [ Sat Sep 17, 2011 2:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
@OP: This question doesn't make sense, most of the really prolific writers are really good (autothrall, hells_unicorn, empyreal etc), and why would you be upset that someone had written a lot of reviews

@Sharp and Slender; I agree with you on Nightgaunt, Gutterscream and Cheeses Priced. BastardHead has slowed down a little as well. However, there are a fuckload of black metal reviews, perhaps an overabundance of them.
Author:  oneyoudontknow [ Sat Sep 17, 2011 3:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
sherlockmist wrote:
@Sharp and Slender; I agree with you on Nightgaunt, Gutterscream and Cheeses Priced. BastardHead has slowed down a little as well. However, there are a fuckload of black metal reviews, perhaps an overabundance of them.

yeah .. because these days you can basically c/p what you have written before
Author:  BastardHead [ Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
sherlockmist wrote:
BastardHead has slowed down a little as well.


I basically feel like as I improved as a writer, my vocal fanbase disappeared. When I was putting out five reviews a week, most of my stuff was based on goofy toilet humor and verbose profanity, then I became the resident fatty. Some time after that I started writing less, focusing more on good description while throwing in a few jokes here and there and, in my eyes, improved drastically as a writer. The issue is that I'm my own harshest critic so I don't do as much because I never feel like what I write is good enough. My early batch of reviews make me cringe.
Author:  Empyreal [ Sun Sep 18, 2011 11:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
BastardHead wrote:
sherlockmist wrote:
BastardHead has slowed down a little as well.


I basically feel like as I improved as a writer, my vocal fanbase disappeared. When I was putting out five reviews a week, most of my stuff was based on goofy toilet humor and verbose profanity, then I became the resident fatty.


That's how you get popular on the internet.
Author:  soul_schizm [ Sun Sep 18, 2011 9:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
BastardHead wrote:
sherlockmist wrote:
BastardHead has slowed down a little as well.


I basically feel like as I improved as a writer, my vocal fanbase disappeared. When I was putting out five reviews a week, most of my stuff was based on goofy toilet humor and verbose profanity, then I became the resident fatty. Some time after that I started writing less, focusing more on good description while throwing in a few jokes here and there and, in my eyes, improved drastically as a writer. The issue is that I'm my own harshest critic so I don't do as much because I never feel like what I write is good enough. My early batch of reviews make me cringe.


I hear you. I hate my own writing. When I do get a critique, it's usually about something that I thought was just fine.

So not only do I feel I'm not all that great, but the things I think I'm good at, other's think suck, and vice versa.

It's kind of a cluster fuck, heh.
Author:  AcidWorm [ Tue Sep 20, 2011 6:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
I hate my writing and I don't think I have ever been really satisfied with a review.
Author:  KC_Slaanesh [ Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Same here! When I have time I wanna get better and re-do the 3 I have up, plus the ones I was gonna do for the most recent Review Challenge that I totally bitched out on. It seems like they sound so good when you write them, then a month later it's embarrassing.

As for autothrall, I couldn't live without him! He's helped map out my journey into more and more obscure thrash metal, and he does it in a more comprehensive and less reactionary way than UltraBoris, who I used to regard in much the same light. Though his scores often seem way low I feel like I understand his criteria and why albums deserve the score he awards. I'm not as knowledgeable about the other prolific reviewers mostly because they don't deal in thrash like autothrall does but I haven't seen any reviewer since the alexredchord guy who does lots of reviews that I can't stand.
Author:  Temnozor13 [ Thu Oct 06, 2011 11:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
if its a good review what do I care if the same person keeps writing them
Author:  ~Guest 171512 [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Speaking of UltraBoris, whatever happened to him? I disagree with quite a few of his reviews, but they nearly always made me laugh. Not to mention I discovered some good thrash as a result of reading his thoughts.

Also, I find autothrall to be one of the best reviewers on this site, along with hells_unicorn. Autothrall gets bonus points for being the only person (as of this post) to have reviewed 'Sympathetic Resonance'.
Author:  MalignantThrone [ Sun Oct 09, 2011 4:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
I think I'd like autothrall more if he reviewed brutal death metal albums.
Author:  JayTor2112 [ Mon Feb 27, 2012 9:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
I caught on to that pretty quickly. I started reading reviews here recently just to pass some time at work, and for shits n' giggles. Oh my god is this annoying, where do these come from? Some sound halfway informed or intelligent, but most sound like a 5 year old wrote them, either in the grammar (I know many are not native English speakers, but you can tell who those are), or in the reasoning behind their criticisms. Man woudl I hate to go through life not beign able to enjoy music becasue of the slightest little nit-picks. "Unoriginal"...what IS original any more? All ideas have been used up, everything now sounds somewhat like something that came before it, or influenced by it, get over it.
And I think I've counted no less than 1,547,208 uses of the word "wankery" in the Dream theater reviews. It has quickly climed to near the top of my most hated terms list. In a review I just read abour their Six Degrees album, "poor composition". Ok where is your masterpiece of musical composition? By what standard are you judging this by?
Most of the reviewers also tend to forget their opinion is just that - their opinion, and they present it as a matter of fact that is unarguable. And the fact that I'm constantly asking myself "what the hell album are they listening to?" as I'm reading their ramblings, proves the cliche that opinions are like the ol' bown-eye.

I better stop, I could go on for hours about how annoying most of these reviews are. So now I'll just go back to reading more of them, LOL. (Just registered here to post this rant.)
Author:  Empyreal [ Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Quote:
In a review I just read abour their Six Degrees album, "poor composition". Ok where is your masterpiece of musical composition? By what standard are you judging this by?


That's the worst fallacy you can commit about a subjective review. You just come off as retarded for using it.
Author:  OzzyApu [ Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Empyreal wrote:
Quote:
In a review I just read abour their Six Degrees album, "poor composition". Ok where is your masterpiece of musical composition? By what standard are you judging this by?


That's the worst fallacy you can commit about a subjective review. You just come off as retarded for using it.

I, too, wish this argument was never used again.

I can't cook, so I obviously have no opinion about what foods taste bad.
I don't have my own tv show, so who am I to say that Big Bang Theory is a horrible show?
Zarach 'Baal" Tharagh actually makes music, while all I do is bitch about it. When I make a bedroom black metal demo, then I'll have a valid opinion.

Fuck you guys that cower behind this argument.
Author:  BastardHead [ Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
I completely agree with Ozzy and Emp, that's my least favorite thing in the world, BUT I don't think that's what he meant. He harped on the opinion point so I assumed he meant "what is what you consider a masterpiece personally?". I actually didn't even interpret it as anything other than that until you guys.
Author:  MalignantThrone [ Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
BastardHead wrote:
I completely agree with Ozzy and Emp, that's my least favorite thing in the world, BUT I don't think that's what he meant. He harped on the opinion point so I assumed he meant "what is what you consider a masterpiece personally?". I actually didn't even interpret it as anything other than that until you guys.

Same. You guys read way too far into things. :|

That being said, I hate this line of reasoning just as much:
JayTor2112 wrote:
Most of the reviewers also tend to forget their opinion is just that - their opinion, and they present it as a matter of fact that is unarguable.

Waaah, you voiced your opinion too strongly! :cry: I'm too stupid to know that every judgement of an artistic work is an opinion at heart, and when people voice opinions that are different from mine without specifically leaving a disclaimer that it's an opinion, I feel this unbearable little hurt feeling in my bottom! :(
Author:  Necroticism174 [ Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Once again, the fungus that is Autothrall only posted when he was mentioned. Honestly, I don't get the OP's point either. Autothrall is a damn good reviewer and I tend to agree with his views most of the time. In fact, I think I'm the opposite of what the OP is suggesting. When I see a review by the greats like hells_unicorn, Perplexed_sledj (etc...) I tend to read them. When I see that it's by Deathmetul248, I stay away.
Author:  hakarl [ Wed Mar 07, 2012 6:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Necroticism174 wrote:
When I see a review by the greats like ... Perplexed_sledj (etc...)

What the Jesus? His taste is god-awful, his writing purple and excessively lenghty. How is he "a great?"
Author:  DodensGrav [ Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
I would ask the same of the others he mentioned, but the obvious answer is that it's a matter of opinion.
Author:  hakarl [ Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Autothrall and especially hells_unicorn are quite good compared to Perplexed_Sjel.
Author:  Thumbman [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Ilwhyan wrote:
Autothrall and especially hells_unicorn are quite good compared to Perplexed_Sjel.


I think Perplexed_Sjel usually goes into more depth than Autothrall. As for hells_unicorn, I can't really comment as I don't read a lot of his reviews because I have a very different taste in metal than him (I really dislike power metal, for example.) I think Perplexed_Sjel is a good guy to read when it comes to black metal, although I do occasionally disagree with him. I'm disappointed he no longer reviews here. Oh, and what do you mean by "his writing is purple"?
Author:  hakarl [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
This is purple writing:

Quote:
Such haunting screams aptly depict the pain and suffering of the lyrical themes. Images of an isolated soul tormented by grief and despair are conjured up as the music takes you through it's journey of relentless destruction, taking out whatever stands in its path.

Quote:
Emotions of a quiet sorrow ebbing through your veins and taking control of your heart. The celestial atmospheric nature doesn't detract from what is going on.


His writing is characterised by stupidly vivid, pretentious descriptions of some impressionistic scenes from the depths of his mind. I know I've committed the same crime in some of my reviews, but to boot his purple descriptions are delightfully combined with incredibly bad structure and textual flow and read like a shopping list arranged into a proper paragraph.

To make a caricature of his style:
"Neige's indredibly beautiful singing flows straight to your heart conjuring images of peace and hopefulness from childhood that definitely doesn't bother the listener. The drumming is skillful. Neige also plays bass on the album, which isn't noticeable."
Author:  Necroticism174 [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
I never said he was the greatest reviewer ever and didn't have any flaws, but he generally gives a good idea of what the music sounds like and we have a lot of similar tastes.
Author:  hakarl [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Well, you did call him "a great".

Necroticism174 wrote:
When I see a review by the greats like ... Perplexed_sledj (etc...)
Author:  Necroticism174 [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Cause I personally think he's great. But when it comes to purple writing and pretentiousness, he dosen't come close to Noktorn. And Napero is clearly the greatest reviewer.
Author:  Zombie94 [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
The only thing I can say I am sick of seeing as far as reviews go, are the biased reviews people post for albums from genres they openly dispise. That only scares away people that do like that genre and might actually like that album. What I mean here is, if you like folk metal and hate deathcore, don't do a deathcore review, vise-vera.
Author:  hakarl [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Zombie94, and where would you draw the line? I like black metal but despise its certain pussified offshoot (bands like Alcest, Falloch, etc.) which is easily identifiable as its own style. Should I not review those bands?

I think the notion is ridiculous. Every new viewpoint is a gain for any album's reviews. There are some other folk metal fans who timidly explore deathcore albums with the understanding that deathcore is not in fact inherently shite and some albums may be worth the time. Another folk metal fan's review on deathcore, therefore, is potentially useful to someone, and as unlikely as it may be, a review that exists is worth more than one that doesn't.
Author:  Zombie94 [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
If you went into that review with a critisism that wasn't a constant shit talking of the band or genre then I say go ahead. To make my original point more precise, I was talking of those that go into an album, knowing they won't like it, and then write a "review" on it that is a constant trash talk of the genre as a whole. I haven't nessessarily seen too much of that here, but I have seen it in many other places and I find it simply disgraceful.
Author:  DodensGrav [ Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Ilwhyan wrote:
a review that exists is worth more than one that doesn't.


This is not at all necessarily true.
Author:  OzzyApu [ Sat Mar 10, 2012 4:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
DodensGrav wrote:
Ilwhyan wrote:
a review that exists is worth more than one that doesn't.


This is not at all necessarily true.

Exactly. The exchange rate is currently: 100 ConorFynes reviews for 8 autothrall reviews or .0211 of a Napero review (respectively).
Author:  GuntherTheUndying [ Sun Mar 11, 2012 4:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
Ozzy, you're ConorFynes' #1 fan.
Author:  OzzyApu [ Sun Mar 11, 2012 5:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Anyone else sick of the same users writing reviews?
He's where I was when I started on this site. Instead of looking back on my own work 6 years ago, I just need to look at any of his reviews.

I never wanted to be a busker like him, though.
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