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1) Bands I dealt with on the site recently. Mostly some newer thrash bands, but going through a few of those in a row, I found myself looking for ways to make distinctions between them, and where they were coming from, figuratively.
1.5) One of those was Brutal Verms. It took a few days of reflection and a bit of research to find the right comparison, because they didn't seem as directly derived from Carcass and Napalm Death as other grind/death bands of the time. Sometimes it's hard to not force a description in comparison to a popular band. Eventually, the exploration led me to relisten the Necrobutcher demos, and this was a perfect match, the band was basically a clone of this band which, from my perspective, was obscure-as-fuck, but for grinders in Brazil in 1991, was probably one of the few bands they had heard!

2) The small discographies of two bands I didn't care for at all, Jupiterian and Contempty, which I hadn't fully figured out until I had finished writing these reviews. This was a learning experience. I had a pretty good idea of what they were going for, but it wasn't until I had given it a couple tries that I really figured out exactly what they were doing. I pushed myself to write these reviews, and they didn't come out well, though the music wasn't very good, either.

3) Obscure-as-fuck demos courtesy of Emptiness Cycle. This was a really good sampling of bands throughout the years, which gave me some good insight into the approach and style of bands, and how it shaped their sound. For example, Cosmo Awen were just about the most minimal band I've ever heard, but after some struggling and comparison, I realized it was basically a bare-bones bedroom homage to early Samael. Some more imaginative bands like Goat Horns required much more vivid and imaginative explanations.

4) Sovereign. I love the band, and it also wouldn't do it justice to review any less than almost the entire discography, with months of preparation thinking about how to describe it. I was well prepared and completely satisfied with this series of reviews, which let me crank out all of them in one day.

Author:	Napero [ Fri Jun 09, 2017 4:20 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Derigin almost wrote: Guys, I don't care what you review for the challenge, so long as you're virgins, and you're not an asshole about it. ...wait, what? Anyway, I just got back from a business trip to Nizza/Monaco, and managed to participate. It's likely that I can squeeze out one or two others, tops, due to time constraints and too much to do in real life, but at least I didn't miss the challenge completely.

Author:	Sweetie [ Fri Jun 09, 2017 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Somebody should review "Thunder Mouth" by Almost Honest. It's a virgin album, and I'd do it myself but if I did it this quickly after hearing it for the first time, it'd turn out pretty poor. Also, it's labeled "digital" in the archives but they actually sell CD copies.

Author:	Derigin [ Fri Jun 09, 2017 5:41 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Napero almost wrote: It's likely that I can squeeze one out or two others, tops, due to time constraints and too much to do in real life. I, too, am time constrained when it comes to squeezing one out.

Author:	Napero [ Fri Jun 09, 2017 7:30 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Derigin wrote: I, too, am time constrained when it comes to squeezing one out. Ah, I see you're thinking about choking the pretzel. Carry on, carry on, nothing to see here...

Author:	MetalCuresHeadaches [ Fri Jun 09, 2017 7:33 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
I finally managed to participate. I punked out and did a box set, but it still counts!

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Author:	TrooperEd [ Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:30 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Holy crap do I feel dumb for not realizing a Real Live Dead One was a virgin album.

Author:	Derigin [ Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:51 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Daily Tally for June 9th 2017 Total Reviews: 69 / 426 Total Virgin Reviews: 62 / 358 Percentage (VIRGINS/TOTAL): 89.9% / 84.0% Participant List for June 9th 2017 Total Participants: 29 / 66 Today's Totals per Individual: Spoiler: show aglasshouse = 1 bolmeteus6 = 1 DaCaptn1 = 1 Diamhea = 1 Felix 1666 = 1 FrozenSand = 1 gasmask_colostomy = 6 hells_unicorn = 3 Insin = 1 kluseba = 7 MetalCuresHeadaches = 2 Metantoine = 1 mikey22 = 1 Napero = 1 Palecompanion2001 = 2 PorcupineOfDoom = 1 RapeTheDead = 1 Sargeantdeath99 = 1 slayrrr666 = 3 Subtemplum1 = 1 TadakatsuH0nda = 1 Tanuki = 4 tastepolice = 1 televiper11 = 3 TheAbyssalArchivist = 1 TheExodusAttack = 1 TheStormIRide = 7 tomcat_ha = 2 Zodijackyl = 5 Did not participate this day: Spoiler: show autothrall BastardHead bayern Demiror_Moritur devletli dystopia4 Emptiness Cycle Empyreal grimwinter13 HeavyMetalMeltdownReviews iamntbatman JimmyStJames97 jontayl KonradKantor Larry6990 Lich Coldheart Liquid_Braino mjollnir Monstro_City NausikaDalazBlindaz PaganiusI PassiveMetalhead raoulduke25 raspberrysoda Silicon Messiah SlayerDeath666 Spiner202 Svartarkraka Lopterfinginn SweetLeaf95 Trashy_Rambo TrooperEd Twin_guitar_attack Twisted_Psychology UnholyCrusada Wacke Wilytank Zelkiiro As of today, we have surpassed the total # of virgins from last year's summer challenge to become the best summer challenge since 2010. Keep up the great work! 2 days to go!

Author:	Derigin [ Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:34 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Daily Tally for June 10th 2017 Total Reviews: 64 / 490 Total Virgin Reviews: 56 / 414 Percentage (VIRGINS/TOTAL): 87.5% / 84.5% Participant List for June 10th 2017 Total Participants: 22 / 74 Today's Totals per Individual: Spoiler: show BastardHead = 2 bayern = 2 CHAIRTHROWER = 1 Derigin = 2 felix headbanger = 1 gasmask_colostomy = 4 Gutterscream = 1 hells_unicorn = 7 iamntbatman = 4 Insin = 1 kluseba = 3 Lich Coldheart = 3 Nargodath = 1 NausikaDalazBlindaz = 1 Sengion = 1 slayrrr666 = 3 StevenJordan79 = 1 SweetLeaf95 = 1 Tanuki = 4 TheExodusAttack = 1 TheStormIRide = 8 Zodijackyl = 4 Did not participate this day: Spoiler: show aglasshouse autothrall bolmeteus6 Demiror_Moritur DaCaptn1 devletli Diamhea dystopia4 Emptiness Cycle Empyreal Felix 1666 FrozenSand grimwinter13 HeavyMetalMeltdownReviews JimmyStJames97 jontayl KonradKantor Larry6990 Liquid_Braino MetalCuresHeadaches Metantoine mikey22 mjollnir Monstro_City Napero PaganiusI Palecompanion2001 PassiveMetalhead PorcupineOfDoom raoulduke25 RapeTheDead raspberrysoda Sargeantdeath99 Silicon Messiah SlayerDeath666 Spiner202 Subtemplum1 Svartarkraka Lopterfinginn TadakatsuH0nda tastepolice televiper11 TheAbyssalArchivist tomcat_ha Trashy_Rambo TrooperEd Twin_guitar_attack Twisted_Psychology UnholyCrusada Wacke Wilytank Zelkiiro

Author:	PorcupineOfDoom [ Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:44 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Think that's me done for this challenge - just finished my Secret Satan nomination, unfortunately not one of my best but I'm glad I got it done. Didn't want to have another day not on the scoreboard - I'm already kinda disappointed with myself for not doing anything yesterday, since now I won't be credited for participation in every day. Ah well, maybe next time.

Author:	Tanuki [ Sun Jun 11, 2017 5:27 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
PorcupineOfDoom wrote: Think that's me done for this challenge - just finished my Secret Satan nomination, unfortunately not one of my best but I'm glad I got it done. Didn't want to have another day not on the scoreboard - I'm already kinda disappointed with myself for not doing anything yesterday, since now I won't be credited for participation in every day. Ah well, maybe next time. Nice work man! Eh, don't let the participation-every-day thing bum you out, it's not easy. I've got one review left in the tank, hopefully I can shape it up in the next few hours. I'm really happy with my involvement this time around, Secret Satan was enlightening and I discovered a lot of cool stuff from other peoples' reviews.

Author:	TheStormIRide [ Sun Jun 11, 2017 5:32 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Nice review of that Druid Lord, porcupine! I really hope they do another full length soon. If they build on that foundation it could be pretty damn awesome.

Author:	iamntbatman [ Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:18 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Oh wow, that thing was still a virgin seven years later? Definitely needed a review! I managed more than I expected, but that seems to be the case with recent challenges!

Author:	TheStormIRide [ Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:33 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
iamntbatman wrote: Oh wow, that thing was still a virgin seven years later? Definitely needed a review! That's why it was my Secret Satan choice for Porcupine!

Author:	flexodus [ Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:46 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Two challenges in a row where I try to participate every day and miss it on one day. Work and life gets in the way, and the time zone differences can steal a few hours before the usual midnight deadline. About 5000 words in a week isn't too bad though, and I like everything I've written. If my last review gets accepted within 80 minutes or so then I can have two submitted today, which would make up for the missed day. Looking forward to combing through all the reviews more closely in the future! Had to skip Secret Satan this year because last time I completely failed to review it until the following review challenge

Author:	Felix 1666 [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
I don't want to pour some cold water on the matter and I respect the performance of every reviewer during the challenge. Nevertheless, the challenges give me a pretty ambivalent feeling. I think that most of us are creative and this creativity deserves to be noticed, but the flood of reviews makes it impossible to read all these works. Of course, I also do not read all of them during the "regular modus". Anyway, I think it's a little bit sad that the reviews disappear so quickly from the main site (and I am normally too lazy to see the reviews which have been disappeared in the meantime... maybe this is just my personal problem and all of you do not know this kind of laziness...). So my point of view is simple: reviews are written in order to be read, not in order to break quantity records. Of course, we always say quality over quantity, but honestly, I don't know whether I really respect this dogma during a challenge. Maybe someday somebody has a good idea to optimize the rules. Just my two cents.

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Author:	hells_unicorn [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 12:02 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
I managed to sneak a couple more reviews for the two full lengths by Abyssaria in before the buzzer, so I think my grand total for this challenge stands at about 50, with absolutely zero singles in the mix. I managed to do a lot more than I thought I would, largely because I found myself with about 5 hours of free time every evening that I normally don't have for some reason. I have a healthy supply of really obscure old school heavy metal from the 80s still at my disposal that I hope to hit next time, but for now I think I may have to take a nice little break from my computer for maybe a day or so just to get acquainted with the real world again.

Author:	gasmask_colostomy [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 12:07 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Just managed to get my last one done in time. I decided when I got up this morning that I wanted to make it to 50 reviews and by my count got there with a couple of minutes to spare. Anyway, now it's time to shave, do some exercise, and listen to Amy Winehouse because this challenge really takes it out of you. Congrats to everyone who reviewed, I've read some great stuff (y)

Author:	Zodijackyl [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 12:55 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
I just counted and I can't believe I wrote 53 reviews! I was hoping I'd end up one behind gasmask_colostomy since his reviews were more substantial than mine. His breakdown of a Paradise Lost single was very well done. My theme for this challenge was bands from Brazil. I familiarized myself with quite a few bands through recent site work and from Emptiness Cycle's blog, Black Metal Yesteryear. There's a few more obscure black metal demos in there, too. I also took an ill-advised dive into the discographies of two newer bands voted as similar to Katatonia, which sucked and felt forced - I regret those a bit. Lastly, I spent tonight reviewing the Sovereign discography - a band I love very much which had no reviews on MA. I really pushed myself in reviewing bands with no frame of reference, often no info whatsoever outside of MA. It's really easy to affirm who you think a band sounds like when they have slick modern production, a Facebook page, and 50 pictures of themselves wearing band shirts. It's really hard to figure it out when all you've got is a tape insert and a single guitar track over a drum machine.

Author:	PorcupineOfDoom [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:06 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
TheStormIRide wrote: Nice review of that Druid Lord, porcupine! I really hope they do another full length soon. If they build on that foundation it could be pretty damn awesome. Thanks man. It looks like it's been a while since they last released anything, so hopefully a new LP is the next item on the list.

Author:	Derigin [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 7:53 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Daily Tally for June 11th 2017 Total Reviews: 72 / 562 Total Virgin Reviews: 69 / 483 Percentage (VIRGINS/TOTAL): 95.8% / 85.9% Participant List for June 11th 2017 Total Participants: 22 / 78 Today's Totals per Individual: Spoiler: show Akerthorpe = 1 bayern = 3 colin040 = 1 Emptiness Cycle = 1 FrozenSand = 1 gasmask_colostomy = 9 Gutterscream = 1 hells_unicorn = 8 Homer_Nava = 1 iamntbatman = 3 Jophelerx = 1 Lich Coldheart = 1 oneyoudontknow = 4 PorcupineOfDoom = 1 slayrrr666 = 6 StevenJordan79 = 1 Tanuki = 4 TheExodusAttack = 2 TheStormIRide = 4 Twin_guitar_attack = 1 Wilytank = 1 Zodijackyl = 14 Did not participate this day: Spoiler: show aglasshouse autothrall BastardHead bolmeteus6 CHAIRTHROWER Demiror_Moritur DaCaptn1 Derigin devletli Diamhea dystopia4 Empyreal Felix 1666 felix headbanger grimwinter13 HeavyMetalMeltdownReviews Insin JimmyStJames97 jontayl kluseba KonradKantor Larry6990 Liquid_Braino MetalCuresHeadaches Metantoine mikey22 mjollnir Monstro_City Napero Nargodath NausikaDalazBlindaz PaganiusI Palecompanion2001 PassiveMetalhead raoulduke25 RapeTheDead raspberrysoda Sargeantdeath99 Sengion Silicon Messiah SlayerDeath666 Spiner202 Subtemplum1 Svartarkraka Lopterfinginn SweetLeaf95 TadakatsuH0nda tastepolice televiper11 TheAbyssalArchivist tomcat_ha Trashy_Rambo TrooperEd Twisted_Psychology UnholyCrusada Wacke Zelkiiro

Author:	Derigin [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 9:07 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
TOTAL VIRGINS: 483 On average, 86% of all reviews from the week were virgins! This was our best summer challenge since June 2010! We were only 3 reviews off from matching the total of the last winter challenge, and 4 reviews off from having the best challenge since 2010. Participant List GRAND TOTALS Spoiler: show Zodijackyl = 53 (1st Place) gasmask_colostomy = 50 (2nd Place) hells_unicorn = 50 (2nd Place) kluseba = 38 (3rd Place) TheStormIRide = 35 Tanuki = 28 slayrrr666 = 24 Emptiness Cycle = 17 televiper11 = 12 Metantoine = 11 iamntbatman = 9 dystopia4 = 8 RapeTheDead = 8 PorcupineOfDoom = 7 TheExodusAttack = 7 tomcat_ha = 7 bayern = 6 BastardHead = 5 Felix 1666 = 5 Lich Coldheart = 5 oneyoudontknow = 4 raspberrysoda = 4 Twin_guitar_attack = 4 Wilytank = 4 aglasshouse = 3 autothrall = 3 Diamhea = 3 Insin = 3 NausikaDalazBlindaz = 3 Palecompanion2001 = 3 Zelkiiro = 3 Derigin = 2 Empyreal = 2 FrozenSand = 2 Gutterscream = 2 MetalCuresHeadaches = 2 Silicon Messiah = 2 Spiner202 = 2 StevenJordan79 = 2 Svartarkraka Lopterfinginn = 2 SweetLeaf95 = 2 TheAbyssalArchivist = 2 Trashy_Rambo = 2 Twisted_Psychology = 2 Wacke = 2 Akerthorpe = 1 bolmeteus6 = 1 CHAIRTHROWER = 1 colin040 = 1 DaCaptn1 = 1 Demiror_Moritur = 1 devletli = 1 felix headbanger = 1 grimwinter13 = 1 HeavyMetalMeltdownReviews = 1 Homer_Nava = 1 JimmyStJames97 = 1 jontayl = 1 Jophelerx = 1 KonradKantor = 1 Larry6990 = 1 Liquid_Braino = 1 mikey22 = 1 mjollnir = 1 Monstro_City = 1 Napero = 1 Nargodath = 1 PaganiusI = 1 PassiveMetalhead = 1 raoulduke25 = 1 Sargeantdeath99 = 1 Sengion = 1 SlayerDeath666 = 1 Subtemplum1 = 1 TadakatsuH0nda = 1 tastepolice = 1 TrooperEd = 1 UnholyCrusada = 1 Congratulations Zodijackyl on 1st place, gasmask_colostomy and hells_unicorn on 2nd place, and kluseba on 3rd! Individuals who participated for all 7 days: gasmask_colostomy hells_unicorn slayrrr666 Tanuki TheStormIRide Zodijackyl Individuals who participated for 6 days: kluseba PorcupineOfDoom TheExodusAttack Individuals who participated for 5 days: Emptiness Cycle Felix 1666 Metantoine televiper11 We had a total of 78 participants for this challenge; our highest for a summer challenge since at least 2010 (perhaps even ever). Great job, everyone! The next challenge will be held in December 2017!

Author:	Zelkiiro [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 9:52 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
I helped! :V

Author:	Emptiness Cycle [ Mon Jun 12, 2017 1:05 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Woo, 7th!

Author:	RapeTheDead [ Tue Jun 13, 2017 12:35 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
I seem to recall a list of all the virgins reviewed during the challenge being compiled at the end of a past challenge thread? That might help. Would have liked to participate a lot more than I did, but for the first few days of the week it seemed like all of my friends were harassing me to get out of the house, and then I got sick Friday through Sunday and didn't feel up to writing at all. Still always fun to pitch in. Congrats to the winners and everyone who participated every day! It's not as easy as it might seem. Hoping to beat my own personal best of 20 next time around! Also, am I the only one who found it mildly amusing to see Diamhea drop from 100 reviews in the last challenge to 3 in this one? Maybe he just had stuff going on this week, but I was expecting at least a dozen out of him or something.

Author:	Diamhea [ Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:19 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Well, I normally only do the Winter challenges. I just threw in a few for the fun of it, but if I was to make any semi-serious attempt, I would have won.

Author:	RapeTheDead [ Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:28 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
huh, that's interesting, I didn't realize you only did one challenge per year. Any particular reason for that? Do you use the year to build up a backlog of virgins to review? That might be a good idea. (teach me your ways)

Author:	Diamhea [ Tue Jun 13, 2017 4:54 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Well, kind of. With the volume I typically do, it takes all year to have a big enough backlog of bands I've run into working on the site, or just stumbled upon via other ways. I also always end up burning myself out for a couple months after the winter challenge - it is actually quite difficult since my reviews aren't necessarily short...

Author:	Derigin [ Mon Jun 19, 2017 10:36 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
RapeTheDead wrote: I seem to recall a list of all the virgins reviewed during the challenge being compiled at the end of a past challenge thread? That might help. I guess for the next challenge I could do that again, though I thought nobody really cared for it (so stopped doing it). I'm sorry to hear that there's some disappointment with the review challenge. It should always be about quality and quantity - not one over the other. We typically record quantity because it's the easiest thing to quantify (!), and gives people a reason to push themselves a little harder for the challenge. I suppose we could add (or try) some way of recording quality (maybe a poll for best reviewer/review?), but I'm not sure how that might fly. Thoughts? Is there anything else that should change about the way the challenge is held, or the policies of the challenge?

Author:	Lich Coldheart [ Mon Jun 19, 2017 10:48 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Derigin wrote: Is there anything else that should change about the way the challenge is held, or the policies of the challenge? A poll when there are 50+ participants? How would that work? I know some reviewers here are more respected or, say, more appreciated due to their higher quality output but even so, how do you decide who's to be left out? Or do you plan to include them all?

Author:	PorcupineOfDoom [ Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:22 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Derigin wrote: maybe a poll for best reviewer/review? I think this could be an interesting addition, maybe a top 3 to go alongside the three with the highest quantity? If it was left to a poll on the specific topic thread at the end of the challenge I think it could work, maybe with a minimum review cap so that the focus of the challenge remains the same. Generally though I'm pretty happy with how these things run, the rules are straightforward and it's always fun to participate in.

Author:	tomcat_ha [ Sat Jun 24, 2017 8:31 am ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
just a poll for worst review I ended up not doing my secret satan because i felt i couldnt give it a fair judgement.

Author:	BastardHead [ Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:30 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
For what it's worth, Gunther, Tony, and I tried to curate a challenge ourselves once and give prizes to the best reviews in an attempt to focus more on quality than quantity, and at the end of the day we still wound up just choosing the three that wrote the most reviews because they were the most consistent until one of us pointed out the awesome choose-your-own-adventure review Zodi wrote for On Broken Wings and threw him in third place. It was a bad idea, it just defaulted to quantity anyway because it's so rare that somebody floods the challenge with weak ass three pointers anyway. And if I'm not mistaken that was one of the lowest turnouts for a challenge in the site's history, not even one of those insane ones where Dia cranks out triple digits. tl;dr - It's a nice idea but it's really impractical because that's way too many reviews to re-read singularly and choose who wrote the best and our reviewers here are by and large very good anyway so it'll just end up going down to consistency which basically just means rewarding quantity anyway.

Author:	Derigin [ Sat Jun 24, 2017 2:35 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
Haha, yeah that's the dilemma in general: you guys are all so damn good at writing reviews, that the quality is already pretty up there.

Author:	Zelkiiro [ Sat Jun 24, 2017 4:33 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
BastardHead wrote: the awesome choose-your-own-adventure review Zodi wrote for On Broken Wings ...Shit, that's good.

Author:	Zodijackyl [ Sun Jul 16, 2017 8:35 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: The 19th M-A Reviews Challenge: 5th - 11th Jun 2017 + SECRET SATAN!
My suggestion is to "curate your challenge." Find a non-superficial theme - a style/niche, a state/country, perhaps even a long lost label or two - which you can explore, and share an overview of your content on the forums. This works well when you are familiar with the subject matter, but you can also become pretty well acquainted with the scope of what you're reviewing in the time leading up to the challenge. Rather than filling in some rather meaningless gaps in popular bands' discographies, you could take an overarching theme and craft it into a resource, especially for those who want to read a bit of peripheral content on the forums. There are two things I think this is good for: 1) Creating something that is a bit more than "just a bunch of reviews." 2) A vehicle for self-reflection and improvement. For example, In the last challenge, I reviewed only bands from Brazil. I still ended up picking from four different sources and not having the overall coherence I hoped for, but I learned from challenging myself. My reflections on those four sources might be as such: Spoiler: show 1) Bands I dealt with on the site recently. Mostly some newer thrash bands, but going through a few of those in a row, I found myself looking for ways to make distinctions between them, and where they were coming from, figuratively. 1.5) One of those was Brutal Verms. It took a few days of reflection and a bit of research to find the right comparison, because they didn't seem as directly derived from Carcass and Napalm Death as other grind/death bands of the time. Sometimes it's hard to not force a description in comparison to a popular band. Eventually, the exploration led me to relisten the Necrobutcher demos, and this was a perfect match, the band was basically a clone of this band which, from my perspective, was obscure-as-fuck, but for grinders in Brazil in 1991, was probably one of the few bands they had heard! 2) The small discographies of two bands I didn't care for at all, Jupiterian and Contempty, which I hadn't fully figured out until I had finished writing these reviews. This was a learning experience. I had a pretty good idea of what they were going for, but it wasn't until I had given it a couple tries that I really figured out exactly what they were doing. I pushed myself to write these reviews, and they didn't come out well, though the music wasn't very good, either. 3) Obscure-as-fuck demos courtesy of Emptiness Cycle. This was a really good sampling of bands throughout the years, which gave me some good insight into the approach and style of bands, and how it shaped their sound. For example, Cosmo Awen were just about the most minimal band I've ever heard, but after some struggling and comparison, I realized it was basically a bare-bones bedroom homage to early Samael. Some more imaginative bands like Goat Horns required much more vivid and imaginative explanations. 4) Sovereign. I love the band, and it also wouldn't do it justice to review any less than almost the entire discography, with months of preparation thinking about how to describe it. I was well prepared and completely satisfied with this series of reviews, which let me crank out all of them in one day. These two ideas could also lead into: 1) Some ongoing exploration of the area by others who read the reviews, such as everyone falling in love with Gargoyle/Ningen-Isu or Paul Chain... 2) Perhaps an open self-challenge to revise and improve some of your writing in the coming months, when you have time.