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severed_metal
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:58 pm
Posts: 73
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:11 pm 
 

Hmm, could I get a quick read through please?

Tell me if I should get rid of the banter, and/or what I could add, thanks.


Just putting this review for a friend of mine:

Artist: Scalpel
Album: Common Threads
2010

"I listened intently to how the vocals played out, how well they corresponded with the guitars, and basically, overall...How the music sounded to me, and I'll explain how it sounded to me, to you, or try to.

We'll start off with a creaking noise, a sound effect of a chair, or maybe a door. I don't know, it could be either. It needs some WD40, but then there's a sewing machine, and I finally understand the title.

Beginning the music, melodic approach to the music. Very intense, and vocals are a bit harsher than what I expected, but develop into gutterals later on. Solid drumming, very rhythm balanced, a good sense of structure. Constant riffing, although sounding a little more on the dark/depressive side at points, eventually spawning further into chaos.

One thing I enjoyed about the band itself was the consistency. There weren't mistakes, it was a generally solid effort all around, and a little too polished at points, but I didn't mind. The drums I found could be a bit higher in the mix, but I understand the point of accenting the guitars/vocals over that. Although, I still would've enjoyed the drums being higher.

I found the leads to be the most intriguing of this band. always unexpected, usually soloing on a darker, more eerie vibe. A very good EP for having the new vocalist, Alonso."

So, yes. Thoughts, please and thank you.

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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:18 pm 
 

severed_metal wrote:
Solid drumming, very rhythm balanced,

Uh.. what?

severed_metal wrote:
Constant riffing, although sounding a little more on the dark/depressive side at points, eventually spawning further into chaos.

What the hell? What a confused sentence.

severed_metal wrote:
I found the leads to be the most intriguing of this band. always unexpected, usually soloing on a darker, more eerie vibe. A very good EP for having the new vocalist, Alonso.

Unexpected leads soloing on a dark and eerie vibe, okay, that's definitely good for having the new vocalist. That honestly doesn't make any friggin sense either.
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severed_metal
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:58 pm
Posts: 73
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:23 pm 
 

A) It has a solid structure, not complicated to understand. Why you picked that part seems redundant to me.

B) Hmm, you're right, that needs to fixed.

Actually, I needed to fix the vocalist part anyways. I just couldn't think of a better way of saying, "The solos are dark and eerie" , rather than using specific notes, scales, modes, since not all readers are educated on musical theory.

But alright, alright. Understood.


Excuse me, sorry for being a knob, thank you for reading.

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OzzyApu
Metal freak

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Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:29 pm 
 

Probably just me, but that review doesn't look very appealing format-wise: very short paragraphs, not a whole lot of in-depth detail, etc. If it's going to be short, then you better make it pretty descriptive.
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droneriot
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:29 pm 
 

The problem with your review is that you seem to randomly line up tidbits of information that have no real connection to each other. Especially that last one, where you talk about the guitar leads, but in the same breath say the EP is good for having the new vocalist, it seems completely random.
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severed_metal
Metal newbie

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:34 pm 
 

Ozzy, what do you think should be added for more detail?

As in, what would make it more detailed?

droneriot wrote:
The problem with your review is that you seem to randomly line up tidbits of information that have no real connection to each other. Especially that last one, where you talk about the guitar leads, but in the same breath say the EP is good for having the new vocalist, it seems completely random.


You have a point, a good one. I think editing out the vocalist bit altogether might make a bit more sense. I'll re-read it, and post my edited review tomorrow or something, thanks for your time.

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OzzyApu
Metal freak

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Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:36 pm 
 

I've never heard that release, so I don't know what specifically to say. Just put more descriptive words that help me understand what the music sounds like. Words like "melodic," "intense," "harsher," "dark," and their kind of ok, but not very stand alone. A review of that size doesn't gain much from rather dull words like that - you can definitely find better words to pinpoint a specific tone (read: go thesaurus hunting).

See, I just went to the band page and found out that they were death metal. I had no idea what genre they really were if I just read your review.
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severed_metal
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:44 pm 
 

Well, to get to the review you'd usually have to go through their band page :p


But I understand where you're coming from, and it's been noted. Thank you for your time.

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droneriot
cisgender

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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:51 pm 
 

We don't want or need you to write a novel, but it would probably help if you gave each thought more than three words before moving on to the next one already. The review is written like someone was holding a gun to your head threatening to pull the trigger if you aren't done writing in sixty seconds.
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severed_metal
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:59 pm 
 

Ok no problem, I'll keep it short and sweet.

The EP was very short, and I usually write whilst listening to the music. It was under ten minutes, so I wrote it in about ten minutes. No excuse, but I thought I should explain myself a little better.

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yentass
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 9:28 am
Posts: 927
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 6:44 am 
 

severed_metal wrote:
It was under ten minutes


That's something that should be mentioned in the review, for example.

And in general, the review is quite odd in the phrasing:

Quote:
We'll start off with a creaking noise, a sound effect of a chair, or maybe a door. I don't know, it could be either. It needs some WD40, but then there's a sewing machine, and I finally understand the title.


Seems a little random to me, and that's just one example out of many.
You can generally understand what the review says, I just don't think it would be accepted, on grounds of improper syntax (and a poor formatting, too).
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hakarl
Metel fraek

Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:41 pm
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Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:32 am 
 

Also:
Quote:
Beginning the music, melodic approach to the music.
That's a very bad sentence.

Quote:
Very intense, and vocals are a bit harsher than what I expected, but develop into gutterals later on.
This is also a horrible sentence with a bad typo. It doesn't describe the music much either.

Another thing that's wrong with your review is that the descriptions are way too fucking ambiguous to say anything. Here's an example:
Quote:
One thing I enjoyed about the band itself was the consistency.
Because consistency can mean a lot of things, especially since you used the word band here (in which case it could refer to a band's consistent quality, style or frequency of putting out releases or, which I assume to be the case, the consistency of the EP in question in some way), the reader, at this point, expects you to clarify it, which you do very half assedly:
Quote:
There weren't mistakes,
I'm assuming this refers to the musical perfomance
Quote:
it was a generally solid effort all around,
What was? What do you mean by solid effort? What do you mean by all around?
Quote:
and a little too polished at points, but I didn't mind.
Wait, you were just talking about musical peformance, and now you're using the adjective polished, which is usually used to describe production. Now I'm confused. Which were you talking about?

Your review wouldn't have been accepted under any circumstances. I'm not a master reviewer (in fact my reviews suck so much I will probably remove most of them), but ... did you even read it through once?
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severed_metal
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:58 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:11 pm 
 

No, I did not read it through it all. That's why I was asking for a quick review of people who would read it, and get back to me with the mistakes. This is my first review on here, and since it's a free for all format, (Such as, there aren't devoted sections to post your writings under *Lyrics/Sound/Impression*)

I was a little lost, to be honest.

But I'll re-write it, be a lot more specific, and make the paragraphs longer.


Will post back when finished.

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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
Posts: 10812
Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:21 pm 
 

We all start off like crap. Here's my first review as an example:

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=4071#16199

(edit) I just read through that one. Oh my.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:26 pm 
 

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=33470

My first review, and still the only one 4 years later.
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OzzyApu
Metal freak

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Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:46 pm 
 

Empyreal :lol: even my first review for this site wasn't that bad, and it's still alive (Hypocrisy's The Fourth Dimension).
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Last edited by OzzyApu on Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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droneriot
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:47 pm 
 

Indeed, quite a humble beginning. ;)
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:51 pm 
 

OzzyApu wrote:
Empyreal :lol: even my first review for this site wasn't that bad, and it's still alive (Hypocrisy's The Fourth Dimension).


It's OK, I make up for it by being better than you in every way in my new reviews. ;)

Speaking of new reviews, I should write some. Before everyone forgets my name on the main site.
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OzzyApu
Metal freak

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Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:15 pm 
 

Empyreal wrote:
OzzyApu wrote:
Empyreal :lol: even my first review for this site wasn't that bad, and it's still alive (Hypocrisy's The Fourth Dimension).


It's OK, I make up for it by being better than you in every way in my new reviews. ;)

Speaking of new reviews, I should write some. Before everyone forgets my name on the main site.

I haven't written reviews in almost a month now, too, and I know I have plenty of material to write on. Guess this army crap and summer time off is getting to me.

I still like my own reviews. :(
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Oblarg
Veteran

Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:59 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:43 pm 
 

My first review? Ah...

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=29181

Actually, I don't think it's that bad. It's a bit sparse, sure, but minus one or two minor typos nothing really stands out as wrong.

I don't know why I reviewed that album, though. I hardly listen to it anymore.

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droneriot
cisgender

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Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:45 pm 
 

It's rather moot to compare your first review to your current writing when the former isn't even a year old yet.
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BastardHead
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:54 pm 
 

My first review is gone (pretty sure I took it down myself, but there's a good chance it was nuked for being retarded), but it was a positive review of Inhuman Rampage in which I claimed that Dragonforce really weren't all that cheesy. If I were to rewrite it, I'd probably give it a higher score (pretty sure it was a 77) and cite the overwhelming cheesiness as its standout quality. It had to be about four years old now, as I'm fairly sure the album had only been out a few months when I wrote it.

I think my earliest review that's still here in its original form is the one for Strapping Young Lad's City. I still have an insane kiddish enthusiasm for the record, but that review is abysmal. Most of my stuff prior to May/June of '08 is pretty torturous for me to reread. My Timeless Miracle review it dated sometime in '07 if I'm not mistaken but it was rewritten in late '08/early '09 when my feelings for the album changed and my writing skills improved drastically.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:57 pm 
 

OzzyApu wrote:
I haven't written reviews in almost a month now, too, and I know I have plenty of material to write on. Guess this army crap and summer time off is getting to me.

I still like my own reviews. :(


I've just been kind of lazy about it, despite still listening to metal more attentively than ever. Maybe that's it. I just take more time listening to albums than before. I've got a few reviews for Lost Horizon and Tad Morose banging around on my hard drive. Gonna finish those maybe tomorrow I think...and I've got some Dimmu Borgir ones in the process.

But this is neither the time nor the place.
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Oblarg
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 11:04 pm 
 

I have a half-finished review for Hypertrace titled "Greatest Ever Speed Metal Pt. 1," which I doubt I'll ever get around to working on again because I find it hard to pin down what it is about Scanner that I love so damn much.

I've also been planning to do a series of Steel Prophet reviews (as they have almost none) titled "Superb Vocalist in a Shitty Band," but I have a feeling they'd get a bit repetitive.

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Xeogred
Thunderbolt from Hell

Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:28 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 4:37 am 
 

At least you guys haven't taken like, two years off like me.

Someday... :roll:

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MutantClannfear
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 4:41 pm 
 

.

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~Guest 226319
President Satan

Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:41 am
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 6:09 pm 
 

Put some breaks in those monster paragraphs.

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MutantClannfear
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 10:58 pm 
 

.

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iamntbatman
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:38 am 
 

Yeah, those longer paragraphs would get stretched out to ludicrous lengths in the smaller horizontal space of the posted review. If that wasn't the problem, though, there might be other characters that are causing issues with the formatting once it's published. For example, those strange slanted quote marks that people sometimes use mess things up. Maybe the tildes ("~") don't go through properly?
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Darkes7_
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:19 am 
 

The weird quote marks may appear when you write the review in Word/OpenOffice Write and save it to .doc or something similar (meaning not .rtf). Both auto-change the standard quote marks for some reason.

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:55 pm 
 

I feel compelled to espouse the virtues of notepad here, which never has problems or that nature, or indeed any problems at all!

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OshKosh
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:00 pm
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 11:06 pm 
 

I have no idea why my review is getting rejected... I keep getting the same reason, being "That it is poorly formatted or annoying to read." I don't think it's that bad, like I have formatted paragraphs with a space in between them, no track-by-track review, etc. I think there are some comma splices or excessive punctuation but nothing major. The paragraphs are a tad long, but there are much longer reviews I've seen that are accepted. Also, try not to rip on my review too hard since it is one of my first music album reviews.


The year is 1998, when front man Chuck Schuldiner decided to release his last album under the name of Death. He would continue on with the band Control Denied which sounded even more melodic than Death. The general consensus of all Death albums is that the first few were unadulterated death metal (although one could argue Spiritual Healing was the start of the proggy Death instead of Human) and later albums become much more progressive/ melodic and much less like traditional death metal. It got so melodic that he couldn’t release music under the name of Death as death metal which is why he started Control Denied. The Sound of Perseverance is the midpoint of Chuck Schuldiner’s career in terms of sound, at which if Death sounded any more melodic; it would be no longer considered death metal. The Sound of Perseverance remains a mixed bag amongst Death fans; some criticized the album for being far too “wanky” and some praised the album for being Death’s greatest release. I fall more into the latter category and may be subjected to bias since it was the very first Death album I listened to. I have since listened to Human and Symbolic, which I may review later on. Alright enough blabbing, let’s get into the album.

I’ll first talk about the production. The production is crystal clear and is Death’s best produced album. Everything sounds clear and distinct; you could just admire the production of this album alone rather than the actual music. Each cymbal hit rings out with clarity and just sounds damn good. A great example of where you can take note of the production is around the three minute mark of the opening track of “Scavenger of Human Sorrow”. It is even more obvious if you compare something like Human which sounded kind of murky and somewhat hard to distinguish the individual instruments to The Sound of Perseverance.

Another thing you’d notice about this album is that Chuck Schuldiner’s vocal style has changed considerably. From low guttural growling to an almost black metal like screeching, this alone would cause uproars amongst Death’s fan base. This may be attributed to Chuck’s cancer but I’m not too sure. I for one don’t mind it too much and I think it still fits the style of music well. It also sounds clearer and you can make out the lyrics easier than with his previous style. I’m not saying it supersedes his previous style; it’s just a change that I accept and don’t make a huge deal out of it.

Now the guitar is excellent overall and displays some traditional metal riffs like in “Spirit Crusher” and some great melodic leads like in the chorus of “A Moment of Clarity”. Even to songs that would be considered blasphemy to the death metal genre *ahem* “Voice of the Soul”, which I’ll talk about more in depth later. The solos can be quite short like in “Spirit Crusher” where it lasts around 30 seconds to being around a minute and 30 seconds like in (again) “A Moment of Clarity.” Now for the aforementioned “wanky” elements; there are definitely some that are no doubt “wank” as in “Bite the Pain” where he decides to throw in some random lick that didn’t really need to be in the song. I have to admit some of the solos just seem more sterile and don’t really add to much to the song and are there for simply the sake of it example: “Spirit Crusher”. (I really got to start referencing more tracks). There are around half a dozen types of riffs per song which makes each song interesting and enjoyable to listen to.

On to the drums… and what can I say? Richard Christy is a fucking good drummer. Everyone talks about Hoglan or Reinert but I hardly hear anyone mention Christy. This guy does some extremely complex stuff and there are hardly any beats that sound typical or unoriginal. All his beats typically utilize most of his drum set and are a joy to listen to. I had to watch a few Death drum covers in order to truly understand how good Christy was. Practically every part of his kit is used and he uses every single cymbal and drum head on his kit a few times for each song. Just look at the intro to “Scavenger of Human Sorrow” where he hits at least five different cymbals yet it still sounds great and not out of place. Parts that are mind-blowing and I had to pause for a bit in order to fully take in what I just heard is around the two minute part of “Bite the Pain” where he pulls off some unbelievable stuff. An extremely underrated drummer, Christy raised the bar of how I look at drumming in metal in general.

The bass lines in each song are complex and are definitely not just there for the sake of having a bass. There are many times where the bassist shines and is given his moments of having these interludes placed in songs where you can only hear the bass and maybe with some drum accompaniment. The bass isn’t also buried under layers of other instruments and you can easily hear it for pretty much all of the tracks. One of my favorite bass lines in this album is for “Spirit Crusher” and damn… it sounds very menacing, like this evil being (the Spirit Crusher) is coming and the drums only add to it. Not too much to elaborate on the bass but it just sounds outstanding overall.

The lyrics, of course, are extremely well written and it is one of the many high standards of Chuck Schuldiner that consistently holds. However (get ready to flame the shit out of me), some of them border the line on almost mallcore like. Don’t get me wrong; Death (especially on Human and songs like “Crystal Mountain”) have very philosophical and deep lyrics. This is me just being pretty nitpicky. I just noticed that quite a few songs like “Scavenger of Sorrow” (example: “If you doubt what I say/ I will make you believe”) seem to have this sort of “I hate you” attitude that is typical of that genre. Some of them are pretty cringe worthy like the beginning of “Flesh and the Power It Holds” (“I told you once/ But I’ll say it again”). Perhaps there is a much deeper meaning to these lyrics? A very nitpicky thing I have about Death lyrics are that they don’t take too long to interpret, as in they’re not very cryptic or have many hidden meanings to them. This is a very small complaint as they still make you think about certain things in perspectives you never would’ve imagined. Again, this is purely my opinion and I’m sure that many, many other people would be glad to contradict me.

The song lengths are easily Death’s longest overall with only 2 under the 6 minute mark. However, I don’t really mind the song length because they are well structured and continue to hold your interest throughout each song. Although, some of the parts in each song are repeated quite a few times which may put some people off. Each part is complex and you probably won’t fully appreciate each part if they weren’t repeated that often. The track that would stick out the most to Death fans is easily “Voice of the Soul” where it is an instrumental that would be the last thing categorized as death metal because there is an acoustic guitar coupled with an electric guitar soloing over it sans drums, bass and of course vocals. It is a very solemn track where I often become contemplative and introspective when I listen to it. The album ends on a cover of Judas Priest’s “Painkiller” which I have a sort of “meh” feel about it. It’s not the best way to the end the album, but it doesn’t feel too out of place and (like many people have said before me) Schuldiner pushes his voice to the limits on the track and you can truly behold what he is capable of doing vocally. Another interesting thing I noticed about this album is that each song sort of leads into each other or sounds similar to other songs on the album, like around 3 minutes through “Scavenger of Human Sorrow” it resembles “Spirit Crusher”. The same can be said for a few other tracks on the album.

In conclusion, I think it is not best to look at this as a death metal album but more of a melodic progressive album which many find it as a hard pill to swallow considering Death essentially created death metal and their name is “Death” after all. Just look at Symbolic; it is hard to consider it as pure death metal especially with a drum intro like “Zero Tolerance” yet it was extremely innovative. Everything about this album is admirable and Schuldiner poured quite a bit of work into it to make such an album. Maybe it wouldn’t receive so much criticism if Schuldiner released this under Control Denied’s name. Ironically, Death’s last and most complex and progressive album got me into Death which is probably why I give it this much praise. This is one of the albums that you have to listen to quite a few times in order to appreciate it (I know I did; I listened to the album four or five times and a few tracks around 25-30 times) so I don’t blame you if you didn’t like it at first.

Favorite tracks: “Bite the Pain”, “Spirit Crusher”, “A Moment of Clarity”, and “Voice of the Soul”.

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MutantClannfear
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Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 12:12 am
Posts: 3624
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 12:22 am 
 

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 12:41 am 
 

It's the quotes. Those angled ones mess up the formatting when you try to post it. Replace them all with the standard " quotes and it should be fine, I think.

John_Sunlight wrote:
I feel compelled to espouse the virtues of notepad here, which never has problems or that nature, or indeed any problems at all!


I like Wordpad. It's a little more feature-rich than Notepad but is still bare-bones enough to know that what you've got there is what will appear in the review when it gets submitted.
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~Guest 226319
President Satan

Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:41 am
Posts: 6570
PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 12:49 pm 
 

Oh yeah, I always just think of wordpad as notepad being the same thing (though really it's a less bloated and more useful version of Word). EditPad is very nifty too, has some really useful features for specific things you might want to do to manipulate text but keeps the mimimal size constraints and streamlined design intact. I actually have all three on my desktop! Word too. That's probobly enough word processors. :-P

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OshKosh
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:00 pm
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:20 pm 
 

Thank you very much for the quick feedback!

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~Guest 226319
President Satan

Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:41 am
Posts: 6570
PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 3:31 am 
 

No prob, I hope our efforts help guide you to making thoughtful decisions regarding your future word processor needs.

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amandak695
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:02 am
Posts: 1
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:03 am 
 

19755 wrote:
This is my first review and I'd appreciate some feedback from experienced review writers and anyone else as to what I should work on.

I wasn't aware of Elegeion until I heard a track from this album on local Australian metal show 'Full Metal Racket', and after waiting patiently for the album to arrive via the mail, I finally received it 2 weeks after ordering. Hailing from Victoria (and sounding very much like they should be from Scandanavia) this is only the second album by the band, but releasing a couple of EP's and demos since their formation in 1995 has ensured this recording is very much a mature, focused release with no hints of inexperienced songwriting often found in some bands early efforts. This album also boasts cover art by famed artist Travis Smith (whose work can be seen on various Opeth and Katatonia releases), with the image depicting a lonely figure standing atop a cliff edge - poignant symbolism of the isolation and lonliness described in the lyrics. I actually didn't immediately listen to the cd upon receiving it as I thought having a first listen at night would be more fitting the sombre, slow music that I knew was to come.

Consisting of just three main members (having utilised the services of various session musicians in the past) this cd is an epic journey of atmospheric blackened doom with a palpable sense of melancholy, reminiscent of Agalloch and early Katatonia. There is dual vocals here, male and female, with the male vocals consisting of distant rasps (very similar to John Haughm of Agalloch) and occasional whispers which provide sharp contrasts to the clean, crisp and beautiful female vocals of Dieudonnee, who also plays piano on the album, in addition to writing the lyrics and music for a number of tracks. The use of violin is a nice touch, a sign of early My Dying Bride influence, which alongside the piano gives the album a sophisticated Gothic feel.

'The Last Moment' begins with the title track, and starts off with a surprisingly catchy heavy riff that leads into some impressive lead work courtesy of Justin Hartwig from Chalice. The vocal interplay between main songwriter/lyricist Anthony and Dieudonnee is top notch in this track, and leads well into 'Scars', a highly emotive, all female vocalled affair, featuring just violin and piano accompaniment. The third song, 'Solitude', is the second longest on the album (behind the title track), clocking in at a bit over 7 minutes, but the length of the track is of no detriment as it features some nice melodic riffs and spoken word vocals that make for an interesting change in tone colour in the light of Anthony's blackish rasps and melodic beauty of Dieudonnee. 'Taste' follows, and could be considered to be the most 'upbeat' of all the songs on the album, and while it serves as a nice interlude between the melancholia of 'Solitude' and 'Heavens Torment' it doesn't sever the atmosphere built by the albums early songs.

'Heavens Torment' is next, my personal favourite. If the band was ever to release a single off this album, I'd imagine this song would be it, clocking in at a short 3:25 and featuring a memorable, catchy chorus sung by Dieudonnee. 'Wallow' continues much in the same vein as the earlier tracks. With an almost Burzum-ish feel to it, it's funeral march speed combined with mournful violin takes the listener deeper into the bleak Elegeion world described throughout the album. When the final track begins, you'd be forgiven for thinking your listening to something off My Dying Bride's 'The Angel and The Dark River', with the violin setting the mood for the heavy guitar/female vocalled mix that follows. This is a great album finisher. The from-out-of-nowhere black metal ending section a pleasant surprise, with harsh screams that any kvlt fan would be proud of. And with that, the album abruptly concludes. Possibly a reaction against the seemingly stock standard drawn out, feedback-y album endings, but an ending that leaves you wanting more all the same.

Production wise, this album reminds me a lot of Burzum with it's grainy, slightly fuzzy guitar & male vocal sound (though Anthony's vocal performance is in no way similar to Vargs) which I think suits the album perfectly. The juxtoposition between that and the feminine beauty of Dieudonnee's vocals makes for a very interesting mix, and one that still sounds unique even in the light of so many 'beauty & and the beast' Gothic metal bands.

This is a highly emotive record, filled with many great elements, such as melancholy, great vocals (by both singers), excellent musicianship, atmosphere, and heartfelt lyrics. Anyone who is a fan of old Theatre of Tragedy, Chalice, Enslaved, Novembers Doom or any of the bands mentioned in this review would do very well to purchase this. One complaint I do have though is, with only 7 tracks, it's not long enough!

Standout tracks: The Last Moment, Scars, Heavens Torment, Confusion
Filler: None
90%
- Alex


Good post. I appreciate it!



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OshKosh
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2010 10:00 pm
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 4:04 pm 
 

iamntbatman wrote:
It's the quotes. Those angled ones mess up the formatting when you try to post it. Replace them all with the standard " quotes and it should be fine, I think.


This is what solved my problem. Thanks a lot!

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
Posts: 11421
Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 1:24 am 
 

No problem!
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