No problem, comrade. Stuff happens

I pretty much worship Think This, as well. It'd get a perfect score from me, too, if not for the Led Zeppelin cover (it's not bad, but what the fuck is it doing there?). World Circus is good, but it doesn't hold a candle to Think This. There's just something about the juxtaposition of the heavy-as-fuck riffs, incredibly clear vocals, and the atmosphere that makes Think This really something unequaled in the tech thrash scene. World Circus might be faster and more unrestrained, but Think This is easily the heavier and more mature of the two albums. Pure songwriting genius.

Sabin is better than Sanders, hands down. Sanders is a good vocalist who really fits the music of World Circus, but while Sanders is good, Sabin is simply amazing. Easily one of the best heavy metal vocalists of all time, a pity he only recorded one album. There's no way Sanders would have the versatility to pull off a heartwrenching ballad like There Stood the Fence.

Sabin really nails the atmosphere on the album, too - just listen to the title track. You have that ugly, mechanical riffing (another thing about Think This - the riffs are often darker and more chromatic than the other thrash bands with melodic vocalists - Realm and Artillery wrote notably more melody-oriented riffs, while Toxik weren't afraid to experiment with combining the more grating, unsettling variety of thrash riffing with the high, clear vocals) with Sabin's muted-sounding vocals in the verse, and then he just fucking explodes for the pre-chorus. "FORTY-THOUSAND KILLING SEEEEEEEEEEEN! It all just comes together so perfectly, the union of theme and music, to create something that really sticks with you. A perfect song.

The Led Zeppelin cover doesn't really bother me at all, both because it's really well done and because, as said in my review, I don't see Think This as a concept album, or at least not having a conceptual part as important as, say, Operation: Mindcrime. Agree completely with the rest of your points Oblarg, although I like Sanders for reasons that go beyond versatility or purely technical aspects in general. I just love how fucking crazy he is in World Circus.

So my previous request for feedback was ignored, and rightly so. I should have read the thread more carefully, as most of the reviews that receive feedback are directly posted in the thread. I just posted a link to my profile. So no worries, I'll just do it right this time.

As I said in my previous post, I have been re-posting my reviews from my blog here in MA in order to promote my blog, and I would like some feedback. I focus primarily on underground Death Metal and Black Metal, recent releases(not gonna review classics... enough people for that.) Following is my review for Charon's newest album, Sulfur Seraph(The Archon Principle:

______________________________________________________________________________

Standing firmly on the precipice of chaotic, Satanic orgy yet never quite diving into the blood and semen, Sulfur Seraph(The Archon Principle) achieves an unbelievable level of intensity and destruction while remaining thought-out and self-controlled. This is a rare feat in Metal today, as bands either ape older acts for their ideas or become so lost in creativity as to lose purpose. Germany's Charon have delivered something truly wicked and evil with this album, yet also something purposeful and driven. The maturity of the song-writing here is incredibly impressive, and without a doubt Sulfur Seraph is the first great album of 2012.

What makes Sulfur Seraph so great is how dense with ideas it is without ever feeling over-wrought or directionless. At just under forty minutes, this album packs more murder and madness per minute than just about any album I have heard. Moving effortlessly from black thrash to bestial black metal and occult death metal, Charon wield their ideas like finely crafted blades. Each track flows into the other, creating a thick atmosphere that is surprisingly varied. Charon display the ability to drown you in death ala Incantation, before exploding into a Thrash blitzkrieg that would make Sarcofago proud. Even the vocal attack is varied, coming at your from all directions with vicious shrieks, cavernous gutturals, maddening chants, tortured screams and demonic whispers.

Sulfur Seraph provides so much, yet asks so little from the listener, another rarity in today's underground metal scene were reverb and static rule supreme. The production is appropriately raw, but also even and competent: this was not recorded at the bottom of the ocean. And there is something oddly accessible about this album, despite it's density. At times, Charon bring to mind early Belphegor(although Charon are much thrashier and more occult) in how they present such brutal and blistering ideas in ways that don't come off as forced or purposely unappealing. Song-writing just doesn't get much better than this.

The year has just barely begun, but already a surefire contender for album of the year has emerged. Sulfur Seraph(The Archon Principle) is one of those rare albums that hits all the marks for greatness. Bestial, brutal, dark, atmospheric, creative, inventive and accessible. The complete package if there ever was one.

Rating: 10/10

originally posted at http://curseofthegreatwhiteelephant.blogspot.com/

Addendum: I am not looking for anything specific. Be as kind or as brutal as you like. Thanks in advance.

My brutally honest opinion is that I always appreciate an appropriate use of the word "addendum".

The review is pretty cool, well written and flowing. If you don't mind me poking in though, it would be cool if you gave some song examples, for instance: "At times, Charon bring to mind early Belphegor, as in track x". You know those kind of reference points where you point out which songs remind you of which band, I always enjoy both writing and reading that kind of stuff, it makes it feel more informative.

Good job mate, and despite not being my thing it actually made me curious about the band. Isn't that the point of a review ultimately?!

I don't mind at all. Feel free to poke away

I try to keep my reviews short and to the point, because I find the longer the review the more the same points are repeated. I like short and sweet reviews, but I always worry that I am not providing enough information. Your statement gives me a good idea on how to add a little more valuable content to future reviews without repeating myself.

And glad I got you a little interested in the band. That's the biggest thing I want from my blog: to share awesome yet more obscure Metal bands with the world.

Black mastrobation "the way of mastrobation" review

In the beginning of this album there's the most bizarre and possibly the most kvlt intro I have ever heard. It's some drums and guys humming going like "uuuuugh uuuuugh uuuuugh ugh" and there's a flute. It's pretty up beat and stuff. It sounds... quite pleasant. Then immediately after that it descends into indeciferable rumbling. This takes the phrase "sounds like it was recorded with a potato" to a new level. I mean, where the hell is the music? I sit here, feeling quite amused, actually, at the complete lack of production in this demo. There's some horrible feedback once in the album. The funny thing is I played this on Halloween on my front porch and some stupid bitch ass parents skipped my house XD

Well, the reason I give this demo from this band 100% that obviously takes their music about as seriously as they jack off (hence the band name and title tracks). You got this one track "old way of true desecration." Pretty much the same riff over and over again with some furious chaotic pounding and howling. I'd say it's the best track on the album next to the intro. I love the moaning "bwaaaaah! buuuuuugh!!! BAAAAAAAW!!!" and then when it breaks out into that riff again. It's all good stuff, man. No black metal fan would be caught dead without at least being aware of this kvlt masterpiece. I have thoroughly enjoyed this album time and time again. It holds it's own and it's a good conversation piece. You gotta love the album cover too. It's just beer, some angel kid, and a goat... I have no idea. It's cool though and goes perfectly with the style of this band. It also throws in some sound bite from an old horror movie... fucking classic.

Then there's an Outro. It's pretty fucking sick. I'd love to know what language it is and have someone translate what this guy is saying. I bet it kvlt as fuck.
I also find it hilarious that there's like 52 copies of this album. This band is obviously trying to be kvlt. All and all, i'd say I find this pretty easy to masturbate too hahahaha. Also if you like this demo also check out their album "Death by thy semen." It's like the same thing as this album basically, except in that one you can hear what sounds like some actually masturbation. It's like a "clap clap clap clap clap clap clap" kinda thing. Again, very easy to masturbate too. And the Outro to death by thy semen is awesome. It's all like "wum wumwumwum bum bum bum bum bum" with some flute here and there. I honestly have never heard of anything more kvlt in my life.

Hope you enjoyed my first review! HUZZAH!

What the hell is this?

+1

Yeah, I took my review out of queue because I realized I couldn't edit it there. It's sitting safely in the drafts

Let me have smore feedback on what you think please.

Scrap it, and never submit anything.

Why ever so, kind sir?

You sound like a vulgar bro, it's not acceptable for the Metal Archives. Read the known reviewers of the site like BastardHead or Ozzy Apu.

Oh ... ... I don't even ...

Yeah Hermit, not to be an asshole, but your review is really bad. I might not be the best reviewer ever, but still.....

Do you have any suggestions on how I could improve it?

If there's one thing I learned in writing class it's that the punctuation ALWAYS goes inside the "." ALWAYS!

Write a new one from the start, really, and in the process get rid of any references to "kvlt" stuff and similar vulgarities that are not relevant to a review. Trying to be fun is one thing (and pulling it off even more so), but what you did is just overkill. Besides, try to make your reviews more structured, as this one is all over the place and difficult to follow.

Well.. this sucks I doubt I could ever make a review worthy of being in the metal archives. Maybe someday if I'm feeling serious.

No need to to write like Napero or BastardHead. You just have to be more structured and not so in-your-face.

I've heard that that is the case, but I consciously choose not to do that because it looks stupid.

When you say in your face, what do you mean?

FYI when I type I try to make it flow, because putting what's in my head in digital form isn't a piece of cake. So sometimes it turns out to be verbal diarrhea. But, what is wrong with diarrhea? Diarrhea is fun.

With "in your face" I mean that your writing is too direct and blunt for it's own good. And verbal diarrhea is not fun. Just annoying. That is, unless you're Trey Azagthoth.

IN YOUR FACE isn't necessarily bad. Sometimes you have to be IN YOUR FACE to keep things at maximum realness. The more people have to hallucinate their reality, the more transgressive gonzo behavior is called for to push back.

Well, I'll give you that, but being IN YOUR FACE is not always called for.

This is directed more towards new reviewers in general (since the HL thing has obviously been exposed and quelled), what our young friend Xlxlx means here by "don't be as IN YOUR FACE" is "don't try so hard to be UltraBoris". I get it, he has a recognizable style and is still popular as a holdover from the early days, and I won't sit here on my cloud and say that I didn't take a heap of influence from him too when I was first starting out, but really, it's atrocious to look at when you aren't very good with your writing or analyzing skills yet and try way too hard to make up for it with enthusiasm. The review above me that started this was obviously a stupid joke from a stupid person, but the point stands that I see it more often than I should.

Indeed, I still read some reviews that seem to be similiar to UltraBoris style, just not as good, such as WarriorsDawn's review of Virgin Steele's Invictus.

You worded what I was trying to get across better than I ever could. Cheers, Bastard.

The reason why Ultraboris was good was because he clearly wasn't trying too hard on his reviews a lot of the time. He just plugged out honest, over the top, overzealous raves and rants and you could tell he wasn't actually consciously trying to be like that - he just was, if you get my drift. You can't really emulate it.

He can't be emulated. His steam-of-thought realtime ranting is one of a kind.

Whaddaya think?

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/L ... 17/Diamhea

I re-wrote this one, whaddaya think?

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/L ... 01/Diamhea

Get rid of the prime-cuts thing at the end, readers should be able to discern from your review what the stand-out tracks are, or at least determine on their own what they should preview based on your descriptions. This can be extended to any and all P.S. type final sentences tacked on to the end of a review (I'm probably guilty of this but shut up).

Third paragraph kind of feels like a mess. You mention a fragment you liked from each track but then move on without really explaining anything. Why is the introduction track the weakest for instance? The following paragraph does the usual "mention each instruments contribution" which isn't bad per say, but is a weird pseudo-checklist approach. Your best bet is to break apart those two paragraphs and make them work together. Perhaps talk about one particular aspect per paragraph and provide songs or passages as examples.

It's not a bad review at all though, just a lot of the typical review pitfalls that everyone once fell into and probably has now and then. Good descriptions and it helps that you've probably listened to the album a hojillion times. Just keep writing stuff and get decent critique so that you can work on it. Try reviewing as many different albums of styles you can imagine, keep things interesting and challenging.

One last bad thing: "Regardless, this is a can't miss.". I hate that sentence, try saying it out loud. Awkward isn't it?

Thanks dude, noted.

Hi there... Need some help guys...
This was my first review.

sorry, im noob for this kind of things...
this is a review for Cradle's Dusk and her embrace album.
my review lacks proofread of grammar and sentence structuring. Your help is much appreciated...
Thank you.
Title: A must have album
Score: 93 out of 100
When I first hearld Cradle of Filth, I was amazed and mesmerized by their eerie, dark and goth themed music. For an instance, this album, Dusk...and Her Embrace is a best example and maybe the best album that Cradle released (in my own opinion). Please bare with me, for I cant review the whole song of this album, so I'll just review some tracks and the overall music that was presented on the entire album.

The album starts with an instrumental song, and the song was a led and driven by the keyboard which gives it an atmosphere of dark, creepy and eerie feeling that haunts the listener. For me, it seems like a soundtrack for a haunted castle. Then comes this second track, slow guitar riffs accompanied by Dani's traditional high pitch scream. Bass lines are audible and well presented on this track.Third track is an adrenalin rush. From the guitar riffs to the blast beats of the drums up to Dani's voice with additional vocals from Sarah and Danielle. Title track or the sixth track of the album blows all the songs from the entire album. Not as fast as the other song when it comes to drumming style and riff, but what makes this song the most amazing song Cradle composed and created because of the atmosphere. Genius and brilliantly constructed song. It's eerie, dark, and haunting which was of course courtesy of the keyboards (gives me goosebumps when I do listens to this song). Lyrically poetic, well transitioned song, from slow to fast parts of the song. Vocals are killer, and i think Dani's vocals on this track is his most extreme of all from all of the album that Cradle has ever made.

Track number eight starts off with an eerie keyboards accompanied by Dani's low guttural narrated voice. Indeed, kind a slow song in start but it's just a beginning of an outburst that will left you to beg for more. Overall, I highly recommend this album for the reason of musicality when it comes to guitars and drumming technique. The atmosphere created in this album is intense, eerie, haunting, tragic and dark courtesy of keyboards. Thus, musicality and lyrically outstanding and amazing album.
Best songs:
Heaven Torn Asunder
Funeral in Carpathia
Dusk and Her Embrace
Beauty Slept in Sodom

Well it is a review for a popular, well-known album, so that instantly raises the bar. It is also fairly short, and you fall into the common trap of doing a track-by-track rundown, even if you skip many of them. It just isn't good writing, needs a complete overhaul.

@ann_666 A less generic title (something I am guilty of from time to time) might do more to catch people's attention. There are some grammar mistakes, such as not having commas where the sentence requires it. There should be a space between the final paragraph and the best song section. Also, you should always use the song name (in quotations) instead of saying "track number eight". In the last paragraph i think you should say "musically outstanding" instead of "musicality outstanding." The best song section doesn't seem to be popular with MA reviewers, but whatever, I'm not going to try to dictate how you should do your review.

I feel the review is a little short by MA standards. Maybe it would be good if the middle paragraph was expanded upon a bit and split up to into two paragraphs. 4-5 paragraphs is generally standard for reviews here. As for the actual content, its not bad at all for a first try. Its a lot better at my first attempt at a review here (which got rejected.) I noticed when I started, it took a while to figure out how to do a review right, but after that you get the hang of it.

thank you very much sir for taking time and giving suggestions about the said review of mine..
it's well appreciated.

thank you!