Just thought I'd say a bit more about my good pal StryckenFromHistory, both because not very many seem to have read his reviews and I think they should, and to encourage him to write more!

What I really enjoy about his writing is how he's able to delve deeply both into the nuts and bolts of the music itself, theory and all, as well as capture the spirituality and emotional aspects of what he talks about (especially concerning the genres close to his heart). Many, like Autothrall, can detail the technical merits and foibles with exacting precision, and many others including myself can go to great lengths to form comparative abstractions to describe the experience of the music, but Strycken is one of the rare reviewers who seem to be approach music from both of these angles and marry the ideas into one fully coherent, logically weighed, hollistic evaluation.

Another thing I really appreciate how passionate he is about metal and how much he holds artists to task in expressing that same zeal through both the form and function of what they put out, and how he's able to express all these things in such a lucid and succinct way.

So dude, write some more reviews already!

It's weird to be mentioned in this thread at all. from the outset of my writing i have professed to be a shit writer, and just do it for the practice. i concentrate on rarer shit just so there are a few useful, yet completely un-flashy and un-poetic sentences of basic description of the music. Basically i just speil out the first thing that comes to mind, dont spell check shit, or read through it and don't bother with gimmicks or trying to sound smart.

That being said there are some very articulate, smart, and proficient writers on site here. Some of my favourite writers are of course Gutterscream, for his veteran style og wisdom. Napero for his excellent gimmicks - the one of my album was hilarious (not too mention exceeedingly generous), and the recent Manowar one was great. Xeo, Empyreal and failsafe i enjoy for competent, backgrounded, well written reviews by people with the same musical tastes as me. I enjoyed the WASP series by OzzyApu also.

I like autothrall a lot, similar tastes and whatnot. I'll hear an album, want to review it to get it some exposure, look the band up on MA and he'll have done it already. Nice, man!

May take this chance to mention WebofPiss's (aka WalnutofPiss) pretty hilarious scathing reviews of shit like Klimt 1918 which used to be on here, but isn't anymore because this review laid waste to its metal credentials (review can be found at http://www.last.fm/user/grevenmelkor/journal). Personally i write a lot of shit reviews quite often, rather than good ones seldomly, unlike others on this site.

A true classic!

I just read Autothrall's review of A Blaze in the Northern Sky. He did a great job on that one. I also like Drowned's old school death metal reviews.

Autothrall's review are always concise and well-written, and even though I don't really agree with all of them, he supports his opinions well.

Empyreal's reviews are great, and his negative ones are absolutely hysterical.

__Ziltoid__ needs to write more death metal reviews, he's to the point but with lots of substance, furthermore seems to specialize in death metal.

Napero, Autothrall and Noktorn are the ones I like the most. I wish I was as articulated as them, specially Noktorn.

Caspian, Hells Unicorn & Napero are often spot-on.
Pretty neat stuff they've done.

.

morbert, you jester! Gotcha! That was not nice...

Fuckshitpissdamn it's not metal!!! Not metal not metal not metal really not metal bass does this drums do that seriously guys it's not metal!!!

What a terrible review.

Agreed. That band really does suck, though; shame they aren't on here anymore, else I'd do my own review.

Pretty much the usual names everybody is concurring. Aren't there any other "darkhorse" reviewers who should get mentioned like Aeturnus65?

If they are so un-metal, why were they on the MA out of curiosity?

Nope, none. Unless you count the one's who've already been mentioned in this thread. Sheesh.

Abominatrix, Aeturnus65, BM_DM, Byrgan, Drowned, HowDisgusting, Kruel, oneyoudontknow, Overkill666, radiohater, saintinhell, StryckenFromHistory, Tepes_The_Unweeping, Thomash, Twisted_Psychology, Xeogred, Zelkiiro, __Ziltoid__: these guys have all been mentioned and could be considered dark horses.



It just happens some times. No biggie.

rexx

I might add droneriot to my favorites too. I really like his negative reviews in which he methodically chops down an album until there's nothing more to mutilate. He could make a black metal kiddie hang himself after he read droneriot's opinion on his latest bedroom black metal demo.

Gotta mention someone who's work I only came across today: waiguoren.

His style reminds me of another favorite, being succinct, full of concrete musical ANALysis, a very focussed and coherent point of view, and scads of ultra-hilarious quips and linguistic type jokes that tickle the ribs while massaging the brain (and quietly implanting ideas you may foolishly think your own).

In particular, his review of "In The Nightside Eclipse" is excellent, and perfectly articulates the same feelings I've had about the record for the longest time and been unable to properly express.

What? Many of whom you listed are among the most popular reviewers on the site.

Not only that, but actually "Tepes_The_Unweeping" is zoldaten ov zatan himself, do u think ur one of the dark horses seriously zoldaten ?? haha.

Why can't you spell properly? [/Basil Fawlty]

I speak English very good, I learn it from a book.

Well, yeah, you're probobly right. I just listed the guys in the thread to who one or few mentions and aren't in the top review stats. Since so many seem to go by quantity these days to determine quality...



Hell yeah I'm a dark horse. Sixty+ reviews and still virtually nobody takes me seriously for some reason or another.

It is a mystery

I must be the only person in the top 100 reviewers by quantity to not get mentioned in this thread. This thread makes me a sad panda...

Not really, I know I'm not anywhere near the quality of these guys.

Hehehe, thats nice, keep it up, you definitely doing a great job

I do like your review titles, though I haven't read much of the reviews themselves.

I personally like Christi(ns)anity due to liking alot of the same old school death metal I do, but also like morbert's reviews.

Then there is UltraBoris, even though I don't always agree with him, he's always a good read, makes me laugh and sometimes he's correct

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it.

I gave you a shout out for your None So Vile review in the funny reviews thread awhile back, I think it's fantastic and hilarious. The Lord Worm vocals discussion is classic, gave me a good laugh.

I do always get a warm fuzzy feeling when people (or maybe it's just you a couple of times) do that. It's come up a few times.

Ripping off Noktorn's joke style? Not to say it isn't fitting, of course

Nah, he capitalized a letter.

I know this is an old thread, but I'd like to show my appreciation for Perplexed_Sjel's reviews. Great stuff! He shows a true understanding of all the genres that he has covered in his work.

Nightgaunt's review of forgotten woods is quite amazing

Kruel's review of "Nothing" is awesome. I love how negative his reviews are, but how observant he is as opposed to just whining about how the music sucks. I generally disagree with his reviews, especially his review of Death's "TSOP", but they are inspiring all the same. I think he has alot to say unlike alot of the more negative reviewers on here. Wish he reviewed more.

Man, did you nail that one perfectly.

O liked the reviews by Vic, Ultraboris and Hellsunicorn. Also Nighcrawler had some good reviews, but he tended to follow the majority opinion a loot.

OlympicSharpshooter had good writting skills but a really bad taste. I mean, 60% to Painkiller, 80% to Powerslave and 95% to Load?