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The Infamous Bastard
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:47 am
Posts: 310
PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:00 am 
 

Are reviews discarded for not being long enough, although they have explained the music pretty well in limited words?

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:04 am 
 

There is technically no minimum, but you should offer detailed description of the music. Over time the review standard has certainly increased, so I would look to more recent reviews as a guideline rather than very old ones.
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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:07 am 
 

It's a case by case thing, if there's the required musical description, the length of the review is not that important. Of course, there's a necessary size for the review to possess this amount of description.

This fellow mod can write short and sweet reviews: http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/R ... Zodijackyl

Also: what iamntnightwing said. There's a lot of old reviews (2002-2005 mostly) that should be deleted from the site but it's not very constructive to explore that and we don't really have the task force to do it.
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The Infamous Bastard
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:47 am
Posts: 310
PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 3:44 am 
 

Thanks, got it!

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Zodijackyl
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Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:39 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:16 pm 
 

Metantoine wrote:
This fellow mod can write short and sweet reviews: http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/R ... Zodijackyl


:love: I like that review as an example of what I am currently trying to do - concise reviews written after all of my thoughts have already been organized.

In some cases, for short demos and things that aren't going to get/aren't worth much of a look otherwise, shorter reviews can be acceptable as long as you cut out introductions and fluff and give a solid, coherent description of the release. It requires some experience in finding precise descriptions. The shortest review of mine that was accepted before I was a staffer was this review of a mediocre 12-minute demo: http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/I ... Zodijackyl

I recommend not trying to meet a word count, just picking something that hasn't been reviewed to death and trying to put together a solid, coherent description of the album, and working on your writing from there.

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The Infamous Bastard
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:47 am
Posts: 310
PostPosted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:03 pm 
 

Hmmm. I've tried two short reviews with a little more than 300 words, and both got accepted with 5 points provided for each. Sorry if it's already written somewhere, but what are the points generally rewarded? 5 and 8 if I'm not mistaken, as I read somewhere?

P.S. Still learning to write better reviews.

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Metantoine
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:33 pm 
 

I rarely give 8 points, I gave like 10 or something since I'm a mod. But keep in mind the best (and/or more productive) reviewers are scribes so their reviews are automatically accepted.
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lord_ghengis
Still Standing After 38 Beers... hic

Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:31 pm
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Location: Australia
PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:38 am 
 

5 is pretty much the standard score, there's a three which is for stuff which only just reaches site's standards. I've never gotten one and I'm barely literate, so 5s seem pretty easy.
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Diamhea
Eats and Spits Corpses

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:46 pm
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 3:52 pm 
 

Yeah I don't think I've ever received 3 before, maybe not even for my very early reviews which blow ass insofar that they aren't long enough (Still well written). But as stated somewhere in another thread, the site's standard for acceptable reviews has grown immensely in the last 7+ years. I've actually had two reviews that got accepted be taken down (Trivium's Ascendancy and Summoning's Oathbound) for reasons beyond my comprehension. Lack of comprehension if you will. My recent reviews follow a pretty organized method, I have mental checklist I'll go through (mention the band's history and standing at said point of album release, hit the production, vocals, guitars, bass [if any], drums, good and bad songs, tertiary info) next thing you know you have 4 paragraphs.
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BastardHead
Worse than Stalin

Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:53 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:02 am 
 

Diamhea wrote:
My recent reviews follow a pretty organized method, I have mental checklist I'll go through (mention the band's history and standing at said point of album release, hit the production, vocals, guitars, bass [if any], drums, good and bad songs, tertiary info) next thing you know you have 4 paragraphs.


Personal quibble here, but if you do this, you're probably my enemy. Nothing is less interesting to read than a clear checklist, dryly running through the bullet points and checking every box on the way down. Just do Mad Libs if you want to fill in blank spaces on an already established format, it'll be more entertaining for you and for us.
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Diamhea
Eats and Spits Corpses

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:46 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 11:07 pm 
 

BastardHead wrote:
Personal quibble here, but if you do this, you're probably my enemy. Nothing is less interesting to read than a clear checklist, dryly running through the bullet points and checking every box on the way down. Just do Mad Libs if you want to fill in blank spaces on an already established format, it'll be more entertaining for you and for us.


Just because I follow a mental checklist doesn't mean it reflects in a cut-and-dry manner in the review itself. As I stated, tertiary info and band history, etc. always adds a lot more meat to the review. The rest are points that I believe are required to be addressed in any review. Here is a review I used that method on:

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/L ... 50/Diamhea
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Twin_guitar_attack
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2007 4:27 am
Posts: 1649
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:53 am 
 

Wait, how do I see how many points I got for a review? I thought it was just a standard amount.
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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 12:01 pm 
 

You can't but judging with your recent reviews, none were 8 pointers (these are rare, I think I gave less than 10). 5 is the usual score most of the time.
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Twin_guitar_attack
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2007 4:27 am
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Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 12:09 pm 
 

Fair enough, they're not all that good.
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Panflute
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:11 am
Posts: 467
PostPosted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 5:00 pm 
 

I'll just ask in this thread instead of creating a new one: is there a maximum number of words? Assuming everything is well-written of course. I can imagine mods are only willing to put up with so many words when they still have a ton of reviews waiting for approval.
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theunrelentingattack
Not yet ready for a custom title

Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:18 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 5:22 pm 
 

There's no mix or max level - but the longest ones tend to sit in the queue longer as well. It's about readability really - the really long reviews tend to be boring more often than not, on many levels - usually track-by-track reviews (which get rejected), or very repetitive (which will likely also get rejected). Just keep the reviews interesting, don't do checklist reviews and spellcheck them before submitting.
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hakarl
Metel fraek

Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:41 pm
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Location: Finland
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 6:29 am 
 

I remember one instance where a review exceeded the character limit and the review was truncated, but it was (in hindsight) a drugged-up rant mostly about how awesome the reviewer is, and it didn't have much use as an album review. Though initially accepted, it was soon deleted by Morrigan, if I remember correctly.

The limit is very high. No sane/sober reviewer should be able to reach it.
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PhilosophicalFrog
The Hypercube

Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 7:08 pm
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 12:22 pm 
 

^ Noktorn?
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Zodijackyl
63 Axe Handles High

Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:39 pm
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 10:03 pm 
 

Of course it was Noktorn.

I believe the longest review currently on the site is oneyoudontknow's Ulver review.

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MutantClannfear
Blank Czech

Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 12:12 am
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PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2014 4:57 pm 
 

Here's another absurdly long one that's damn near impossible to get through: http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/O ... MyScissors
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Rykov
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:52 pm
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PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2014 8:09 pm 
 

I scrolled down randomly and had only the will to get through this much before I decided there were innumerable other things that were more worth reading, like a good book, or a discourse on laxatives, or the Wikipedia article on bird shit, or really anything but this.

"Shit, maybe I AM a purist. What a horrible thought, what a horrible reflection to catch in the mirror-mind of my mind, as I picture all straight-laced titless purists that I’ve sneered at in the past. Is that me? Do I drain people around me with my smug humourless whining and blinkered reasoning like all these superior schmoes?"

Yes, yes you do.
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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

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PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2014 10:47 pm 
 

I dunno, I find his reviews deeply satisfying. He's one of the very few writers here who can be that melodramatic and self-centered in music reviews yet somehow avoid managing to come across as obnoxiously egotistical.
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MutantClannfear
Blank Czech

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PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 3:12 am 
 

Nobody should be that melodramatic and self-centered in a review. That Om review is the only one of his that I've read and I'd like to keep it that way. I remember reading the whole thing, hoping that anybody with that much to say would pull out something interesting at some point, but the review was pretty uniformly "Watch me show off how great my personality is while I occasionally mention the album in question did I mention I have a personality LOOK AT IT"
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gs1980
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:03 am
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PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 7:49 am 
 

I have been working on some reviews the past couple of days which I want so submit soon. They are, on purpose, quite concise and to the point. As a result of this they are between 300 and 400 words.

Is that too short?

Personally I like shorter reviews as opposed to these detailed, "wall-of-text", kind of reviews.

What do you think?

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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

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PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 1:05 pm 
 

That's totally fine if there's the required subjective amount of music description. Submit them and we'll see.
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Zodijackyl
63 Axe Handles High

Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:39 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 9:06 pm 
 

gs1980 wrote:
I have been working on some reviews the past couple of days which I want so submit soon. They are, on purpose, quite concise and to the point. As a result of this they are between 300 and 400 words.

Is that too short?

Personally I like shorter reviews as opposed to these detailed, "wall-of-text", kind of reviews.

What do you think?


I prefer that sort of review too - concise reviews that avoid wasting words with excessive background, personal experiences, naming off the lineup, checking off tracks/instruments one-by-one.

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theunrelentingattack
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PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 10:34 pm 
 

Pressure's on now. We're all waiting..... :)
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Panflute
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:11 am
Posts: 467
PostPosted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:13 pm 
 

MutantClannfear wrote:
Here's another absurdly long one that's damn near impossible to get through: http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/O ... MyScissors


3500 words is about my average review length these days. :W
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oneyoudontknow
Cum insantientibus furere necesse est.

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 6:25 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 10:21 am 
 

Zodijackyl wrote:
I believe the longest review currently on the site is oneyoudontknow's Ulver review.

I am sorry to disappoint you:
http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/S ... oudontknow
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~Guest 193166
Metalhead

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:40 am 
 

How long did that review take you to write?

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OzzyApu
Metal freak

Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:11 am
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Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:56 am 
 

For an almost 12 hour release, something that long is warranted.
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oneyoudontknow
Cum insantientibus furere necesse est.

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 12:24 pm 
 

ksevile wrote:
How long did that review take you to write?

I had a version of this thing prior to the one posted at the MA. It had an even more theoretical perspective on the album, but at some point I scrapped most of it and started again. I would say that it had taken me several months, but there had never been a continous process of writing and working on it.
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theunrelentingattack
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Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:18 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 2:21 pm 
 

oneyoudontknow wrote:
ksevile wrote:
How long did that review take you to write?

I had a version of this thing prior to the one posted at the MA. It had an even more theoretical perspective on the album, but at some point I scrapped most of it and started again. I would say that it had taken me several months, but there had never been a continous process of writing and working on it.


I wish we could lock that. No one ever needs to review that again (even if no one likely will)
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BastardHead
Worse than Stalin

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 2:32 pm 
 

27 lines of recommended further reading for a monolithic review for a 12 hour album with four notes?

I'm pretty sure, without even reading it, that this is would make me shoot myself in the head. Twice.
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~Guest 193166
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:12 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 4:11 pm 
 

Why shouldn't anyone review it again?

Goodness... nevermind. I didn't realize it was a near 12 hour release.

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Metantoine
Slave to Santa

Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 pm
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Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 4:17 pm 
 

A gimmick review for a gimmick album! That's perfectly fine haha.
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theunrelentingattack
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 4:18 pm 
 

Same reason no one ever needs to reviews another Metallica record. What more could possibly be said?
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~Guest 193166
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:12 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:33 pm 
 

Yes indeed. I see why it should not be reviewed again.

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EyesOfGlass
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2012 4:59 pm
Posts: 186
Location: Argentina
PostPosted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 10:58 pm 
 

How long did it actually take to sit and read through the whole thing? And also to understand and follow what he was saying?
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PhilosophicalFrog
The Hypercube

Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 7:08 pm
Posts: 7631
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:36 pm 
 

I like that review, actually. But, I suppose that's not surprising.
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