The idea is simple and as no one wants to read much text, I will keep this post short. Why not have some sort of a thread in which the preferences of the writers in terms of the genres are listed:

Example

• Main focus: black metal, death metal, pop/rock
• Less focus: grindcore, punk
• Never: thrash, power metal.

Not every genre has to be dealt with, but some basic information would be appropriate. Generally it seems useful to list the genres from important to less important ones; three to four should do it.

I contact bands and request information on their releases and it happens that some play metal that is not my cup of tea; a groove metal band wanted to have a review very recently ... and currently I try to support several other bands of various types. With such a thread bands would be offered a single and transparent source of potential reviewer.

Note:
as I am quite inactive in terms of the reviews on the MA recently, I see no point in adding me to the list.

Edit:
post was polished a bit.

Knowing a bit of the background of the thread, I think this is a good idea, and if we get enough replies, I might even sticky this as a permanent source for bands wishing to get their works reviewed.

Personally, my preferred fields are:
Thrash
Death (including death-thrash, prog death, death'n'roll...)
Black-ish and doom-ish (not the hyper-satanic blast beat saturation bombings, though)
Avant-garde and oddities (Axis of Perdition, The Wicked, Woods of Belial... but beware, a gimmick album calls for a gimmick review...)

No power metal, pure prog, raw black, or very traditional heavy metal except occasionally, sorry. And definitely, no core or stoner, ever. Due to the constraints on my listening and principles, I only review physical CDs, and possibly tapes. I don't have a vinyl player, and I don't have much chances of using MP3s, really, but I dislike them anyway.

That's a neat idea. It should also cut down the recently ballooning number of threads started (and immediately locked) with bands asking for their stuff to be reviewed. And I like the idea of us being able to pass on review requests we don't want to handle ourselves.

I'll review
Doom metal (trad and stoner, also death/ doom)
Black metal (any kind)
Death metal (old school mostly)
Power metal

Or to follow your OP, doom metal, black metal, death metal, power metal

Avoid grind, tech-anything, most prog.

Although I listen to more death metal than black metal, black metal is a genre I'm more interested to hear new sounds in, so I've put it above.

I have a keen interest in bands from countries where the metal scene isn't huge or is just starting, Asian countries for example where it might be even harder to get noticed/ signed, especially the Middle East/ West Asia etc.

This is a pretty good idea. It would also be useful for readers looking for an expert in a certain subgenre.

My reviewing preferences are as follows:

Power and speed metal (specifically USPM)
Traditional heavy metal, both ancient and modern
Traditional doom and stoner metal (the more upbeat variety, rather than the ultra slow, repetitive type)
Progressive metal

I will not under any circumstances review:
Black metal
Grindcore/metalcore/deathcore
Brutal death metal

Probably best for me:

Brutal/slam death metal/deathcore
Goregrind/Grindcore
Funeral doom
Black metal

Not real good with thrash, NWOBHM, trad doom, etc. In short, the opposite of failsafeman.

Good idea, indeed. I haven't been reviewing for a while, but I plan to come back in short.

Thrash metal
Traditional heavy metal
Power/Speed metal in all of its variations

Interesting thread. Nice try Oneyoudontknow.

Anyways, my Favorite list of genres and subgenres is as follows:

Power, Speed, Progressive Metal. 1
Melodic/Technical/Atmospheric Death Metal. 2
Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal. 3
Heavy, Viking, Folk Metal. 4
Possibly "Thrash" if it's mixed with another genre. 5

I dislike reviewing anything related to doom, brutal death/ Grind, -core, and stoner.

See this page, too.

I usually don't take requests, but here's what I generally review.

- Death metal / Melodic death metal
- Blackened death, OSDM, death/doom
- Heavy, speed, power (preferably European / Japanese)
- Black metal, atmospheric, dark...
- Older thrash metal

I don't like reviewing / tend not to review grind, brutal death, tech-music, prog fusion, most melodeath, -core, doom / stoner, experimental, and industrial.

Will do all doom metal except traditional

Don't mind reviewing death metal (ruling out brutal DM) or -core stuff. Oh, and I might take a crack at ambient/neoclassical, too.

Will not do thrash, prog, black (except depressive black, industrial black or Mork Gryning), power and heavy metals.

Progressive music in all forms is something I have a lot to talk about, so Prog metal is always a go for me. Post metal/atmospheric sludge/whatever you want to call it is another speciality. I have a pretty good ear for metalcore too, but don't expect too much positive stuff from me.

I love death metal, but I'm not very good at describing it, same goes with black metal. The more progressive the power metal the better written the review will be, but normal power metal is fair game. Haven't reviewed enough doom to say one way or another.

Great idea!

-Death metal, but not so much brutal/slam/tech/prog unless it's really atmospheric or something
-Black metal of just about any type minus extremely borderline "black/noise" stuff
-Any sort of doom/stoner
-Anything crust flavored
-Folk metal, but only if it tends toward the blackened side of things

I'm not really up for power, heavy or thrash (unless it's black/thrash or death/thrash, etc.) for the time being as I'm not really that versed in them. I can't really imagine ever doing prog metal or metalcore/deathcore reviews.

Oh, and PLEASE only contact me for reviews if your band is actually metal! I've gotten a couple of requests from bands not on the Archives and not metal enough for me to add. I only do reviews here.

You guys could also add that to your profiles.

I like reviewing:

Death metal
Brutal death metal
Deathcore (for the big cocks in my ass)
Doom metal/drone doom
Oddities

I'm a relative noob to black metal so I'm going to brush up on it before I start attempting to review it

I'm not a particularly big reviewer, but for what it's worth:

Power/speed metal, both USPM and German power metal (Scanner, Angel Dust, etc.)
Progressive metal, both early proto-prog (Awaken the Guardian sort of stuff) and modern prog, but not super-technical Watchtower derivatives.
Traditional metal (WASP, Armored Saint, etc.)
Non-extreme thrash metal (Overkill or Toxik, for instance).
Epic doom metal (Solstice, Doomsword, etc.)

Genres I like in order:

Power/Speed Metal (European or USPM)
Thrash Metal (primitive, Bay Area, German Teutonic and Crust)
Heavy/Traditional/NWOBHM
Folk Metal (blackened and power/heroic)
Black Metal (2nd wave, Symphonic and some Ambient)
Death Metal (melodic, death/thrash, pre-1997 brutal/technical, some death/grind)
Progressive Metal (traditional Dream Theater stuff mostly)
Doom Metal (traditional, stoner and epic)
Gothic Metal

Genres I generally don't like but review often and have experience with:

Groove Metal/Neo-Thrash
Brutal and Technical Death Metal (post-1997)

Genres I don't review much or at all

Metalcore
Grindcore
Deathcore

I guess my preferential order would be:

Thrash or death/thrash metal (old and new) ->
Death metal (primitive or technical)
Black metal (all sorts) ->
NWOBHM/heavy and power/speed metal
Melodic death
Folk and progressive metal ->
Doom, gothic metal, drone, and sludge. ->
Groove metal or grindcore.

The metalcore and deathcore bands I enjoy are few and far between, and I'm not normally into nu metal or fairycore (Epica, Nightwish, etc.)

Between physical and digital promos for bands/labels, personal review projects, and the rest of life, I don't always get the chance to write up everything bands send me, but I do try to get around to a lot of it.

Will do:
Black (of all kinds)
Death (old-school primarily, but OK with brutal and other variants)
Thrash (of most kinds, sans Crossover)
Folk

May do:
Doom (traditional, preferred)
Gothic (of most kinds)
Heavy/Power
Prog
Ambient-based
Melodeath

Wont do:
Metalcore (of any kind)
Stoner
Groove
Sludge
Drone
Speed

These tentative sections are judged primarily on experience and knowledge, not necessarily on whether I "like" a genre or enjoy it. For example, I don't know enough of groove or sludge to judge either fairly, but that doesn't mean I might not like bands that play one or the other. Likewise, there are some tenets of folk metal I don't enjoy, but have the experience with and knowledge of to review with informed subjectivity.

My choice of what to review is often somewhat arbitrary. It is usually whatever band at the moment that I am interested in judging; doing "contracted out" reviews is a rarity for me. Right now, I'm more or less booked for such reviews, with Vomiting Skulls pending for some time. Otherwise, I usually try to review works that don't already have reviews.

Edit: As for the medium, I'm open to just about anything. CDs, Tapes, Vinyl, MP3s, 8-track, whatnot. I will crosscheck to make sure what I have is accurate to what I am reviewing, regardless if it's physical or digital. I have the capacity to play both tapes and vinyl.

My reviews will follow my preferred subgenres: heavy, power, speed, progressive, gothic, doom, symphonic, and the very occasional thrash.

Reviewing an album from a subgenre you already don't like seems to be an exercise in futility. Also bias.

Using your logic, it's equally bias to review from subgenres you already do like.

Well, in my case, a bad doom metal album is still going to get a low rating, but if I were to review anything by, say, Morbid Angel, it could be the best thing ever in its own right, but because I don't like the vocal style or the overall sound, I would end up giving it a lower score than it would probably, objectively deserve.

See what I mean?

So a bad doom metal album would still get a higher score than it would probably, objectively deserve because you like the vocal style and the overal sound, even if they fuck it up completely.

Not quite. If they botched the vocals, I'd give 'em shit for it. :U

To make an analogy: I don't like art-house movies. It probably wouldn't matter if the message the film was conveying is deeper than Tool (you'll see what I did there), I most likely will still hate it.

However, because I love comedies, I will be more apt at picking out the shit from the gold. Because I willingly familiarize myself with the genre and often enjoy it, a bad egg will still ruin my day.

What you are arguing for has nothing to do with liking or disliking a genre, but with being familiar or unfamiliar with a genre. That being unfamiliar with a genre can be a consequence of disliking a genre does not mean that they are the same.

That could definitely explain it, though my point still stands: To review something, even a magnificent something, from a genre I detest would be pretty unfair.

How would it be magnificent if you detest it? Do you claim to have some objective clairvoyance that reaches beyond your subjective perception to determine what would be objectively magnificent while it is entirely detestable to your ears? Or would you be going by the opinions of others who do like the subgenre, taking their word for it that it is a magnificent work of art, even though your ears clearly tell you otherwise?

Perhaps I am to pragmatic in my approach. For me, if I detest something, it cannot be magnificent. If it was magnificent I wouldn't detest it. If somebody else tells me something I detest is magnificent, I tell that someone he or she is wrong. Very simple, very clear.

You should give it a try, it saves you the trouble of entangling yourself in self-contradictions trying to defend the notion that how much you are into a subgenre or not determines how biased you are, simply admit to yourself and others that you are ALWAYS biased no matter what, that everything you write in a review is a biased personal opinion, and that when all is said and done your opinion and yours alone is the only thing that matters in a review you yourself write.

Two subjective opinions can quite easily disagree with one another and both be right at the same time.

E.g. I like Bolt Thrower, but I hate hate hate hate HATE HATE HATE HATE death metal vox.

Well, the thing I know best, probably enjoy most and certainly write most about is the slow and boring; anything with heaps of ambient in it, drone, and to a slightly lesser extent stoner doom. Then come the other doom types- funeral, then sludge, then trad. After that I think Black Metal- the gayer, ambient-er variants anyway.

I'm happy to do the occaisonal death, thrash (er, Metallica) and even the occaisonal heavy metal review; some of my best reviews (imo, of course) have been on traditional HM. I just don't listen to a lot of the stuff.

Stuff that I avoid as much as possible: grind and its' variants, folk, modern death metal and melodeath, folk, groove (I don't really hate teh genre, I just can't think of anything to write), and folk. And prog, of course.

I am new to this,but I am willing to do mostly:
thrash(old school,or some newer groove-neo thrash too)
death(brutal,technical,some old school,very few melodic)
progressive(depends,but mostly DT,SX and PoS)
doom(especially traditional and sludge-stoner doom)

might ocassionally do:
folk metal
heavy/power/speed/traditional
very few melodic death


won't do:
gothic metal
most of black metal

Preferred:

Death metal though not slam or overtly technical.
More traditional black metal

Will do:

Doom/stoner
Power (not flower) metal
Traditional metal
Thrash metal

Won't touch:

Drone
Funeral doom
Grindcore
Flower metal

Progressive and avant garde can go either way.

I added a statistical version of this to the EM Discordance:

Reviewer Marketplace

That shows all reviewers with 50+ reviews, and for each one their style tendencies (in terms of actual reviews, not stated preferences!).

And, as OzzyApu noted, the page for each reviewer in the Discordance already has a couple pages of stats: Review Count, Band Count, Reviews/Band, Review Dates, Average Years After, a sorted Ratings list, Average, Deviation, Median, Mode, Review-Challenge participation, breakdowns by Bands/Styles/Countries, and a ranked list of similar reviewers by band overlap...

I'd review almost anything but my favourites are:

- Doom and any of its variants
-black
-folk
-melodic and old school death metal

Can you add a filter that seeds out the inactive ones (those who didn't post a review in the last, say, half a year, or banned users)? Cause I see there names like UltraBoris, PseudoGoatKill (inactive since, like, 2005), Shadow0fDeath (banned)...

Done. I did a year, just to have a nicely recognizable "365" people can see...

Is the total reviews count for each user slightly out of date? I'm asking primarily because every list shows Noktorn behind me when he should be ahead of me by about 50 reviews.

I think it counts splits only once, unlike the MA stats page. Noktorn has a shitload of reviews on those.

I see, that makes sense. I took note that my own total and Autothrall's were a little off as well and assumed there was some sort of lag in the turnover on the discordance.

Napero is right, I merge reviews of splits (but not the splits themselves).

If you click on any reviewer, I just added a breakdown of their reviews by release type (there were already breakdowns by band, country and style).

Favorite Genres:
Black Metal (everything)
Power (everything)
Death Metal (all but 'br00tal'/slam death, but normal brutal death is ok it's on a band by band basis)
Viking/Folk (More the Moonsorrow/Bathory style stuff than say, finntroll or korplikanni)
Experimental/Avant-Garde

May Review:
Grindcore
Thrash Metal
Traditional Metal
Doom/drone/stoner (more likely if it is epic doom)
Symphonic
Crossover Thrash
Speed Metal

Will Not review:
Gothic
Groove

*Note I am doing a 'Adventures in Metalcore' series so I am reviewing a bunch of metalcore/deathcore stuff, a genre I normally don't listen to. I am reviewing objectively rather than just slamming metalcore bands because I can.

I haven't posted too many reviews, but I generally avoid posting reviews for genres I don't like and would prefer that others do the same. So this is a good idea.

Like:
Death Metal
Grindcore
Punk/Crossover/etc.

Infrequent listener of:
Thrash
Older Heavy Metal (Sabbath, Rainbow, etc.)