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Iron Wizard
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2015 11:21 pm
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 7:51 pm 
 

I just got two reviews rejected as they were track by track. The first one was for an album with only four songs, and the second one had eight tracks, but only six actual songs.

I know that such formatting is permissible for albums with only a few songs, but my question is, how is a "few" defined? I was under the assumption that it was 6 or so. Maybe the nature of the album is relevant to this as well, for example, an album like Filosofem by Burzum almost necessitates a track by track review, whereas another album with a similar number of songs, but with a different kind of structure, might not permit one. What is the consensus here?
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Diamhea
Eats and Spits Corpses

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:46 pm
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Location: At the Heat of Winter
PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 7:57 pm 
 

Generally it is best to avoid it outright, but many factors come into play, most importantly the way the review is structured and presented. If a reviewer manages to blur the lines between the track descriptions by adding some meat to the review, it becomes more passable, but if each track is addressed in a formulaic fashion right down the line, we have a problem.

For singles/demos with a couple, maybe three tracks, it's okay. Any more than that, and nine times out of ten I will reject it.
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Zelkiiro
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Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:30 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 12:57 am 
 

I've always wanted to do track-by-track reviews as a sort of stream-of-consciousness journey the reader takes with me, and it'd be well-written and insightful and awesome...but my writing is too shit and ain't nobody got time for that.
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zeingard
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:49 pm
Posts: 659
PostPosted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 9:18 pm 
 

Iron Wizard wrote:
What is the consensus here?


Never

As a rule of thumb, a review should address the album and it's myriad of achievements and flaws by pointing to examples in specific songs or patterns that have emerged over a handful. Technically by this method you could do essentially do a track-by-track review but it wouldn't be obvious and thus more readable.

Track-by-track is obnoxiously lazy and barely a step above giving a five star rating for each track with no text.
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droneriot
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Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 6:14 am 
 

zeingard wrote:
Never

Requesting a review for a split 7" by zeingard.
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zeingard
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:49 pm
Posts: 659
PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 11:19 pm 
 

droneriot wrote:
zeingard wrote:
Never

Requesting a review for a split 7" by zeingard.


Technically my review of Malfeasance-Retribution by Thou was track by track.

In those instance you inevitably do a track by track but it's important to write about either what ties the tracks together or differentiates them. How does this relate to the band's sound as a whole? Is it garbage? Why? etc. etc.

Like you can do track by track, just don't checklist that shit otherwise it's obvious and boring.
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