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hells_unicorn
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:18 am 
 

I think a lot of it has to do with people tending to review their favorite albums, so they tend to listen to it from start to finish without skipping around and tend to not see the album for the songs. This was a problem that I had during my early days as a reviewer, and I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-45 review from between February 2005 and the middle of 2006 that read exactly like what you are describing that were purged and I am now in the process of rewriting.

I'm not sure I've seen any reviews of LP releases in the past several years that have a checklist format like you describe, though some of the longer reviews will often reference most or even all of the songs in an album. Generally I catch myself referencing most or all songs on an album when I write a review that is longer than 4 paragraphs, which doesn't happen as often now as it used to and is more something that only happens with albums that I don't go for more than a month without listening to at least once, but I always make a point of trying to avoid any sort of checklist format and always try to keep the focus more on the album that as being a simple play by play of each song.

I think the site is a bit more lenient on this format when it comes to shorter releases like EPs, demos and singles, which may be part of why you are seeing certain checklist style reviews. Speaking for myself, I try to avoid doing a checklist format on anything with more than 2 or 3 songs on it, ergo I don't dedicate an entire paragraph to each song.

gasmask_colostomy wrote:
Didn't anyone like Blooddrunk? I thought that pretty much wiped the floor with Are You Dead Yet?, a couple of dodgy moments excepted.


I used to dislike it but it grew on me over the years, as did Relentless Reckless Forever. I haven't gotten around to reviewing either of them, nor most of COB's discography, but I may start soon as this conversation has roused my interest.
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Last edited by hells_unicorn on Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Diamhea
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:20 am 
 

gasmask_colostomy wrote:
Didn't anyone like Blooddrunk? I thought that pretty much wiped the floor with Are You Dead Yet?, a couple of dodgy moments excepted.


Some pre-emptively called it a "return to form" because the band tried to half-sell out and go back to their older sound, but its really stilted and awkward sounding as a result. Listen to shit like "Tie My Rope," its a mess. Terrible album, save for a couple of moments.

Oh, and the opening of "One Day You Will Cry" sounds like Chocolate Rain.
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hells_unicorn
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:30 am 
 

Gotta hand it to Bayern yet again, his review of Wykked Wytch's obscure 1996 debut is a spot on representation of an album that was largely a throwback thrash album with a rather unique lead vocal approach. It's been over 10 years since I reviewed the album in question and approaching 18 years since I met the guitarist on the album in college and procured my own physical copy of it along with the Carnivean album that also featured his 6-string handiwork. Nothing like a good review to revive a sense of nostalgia in an aging metal head like me. lol
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~Guest 135946
MUH BOTH SIDES!

Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:34 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 3:22 am 
 

Diamhea wrote:
Five_Nails wrote:
Funny to see that Diamhea sees in later Children of Bodom what I saw in 'Are You Dead Yet'. I really disliked that album, though I don't think I ever reviewed it, but clearly we differed on that one. It seems that stopping with that band at that album was the best time to over a decade ago because wow, Diamhea sees right through the new stuff like I saw right through 'Are You Dead Yet'. How bad has that band fallen from being fun metal/rock group with some classical licks and plenty of fan service? I haven't heard anything from them in a long time.


I liked it then and I still like it. Not going to repeat everything I've already said but one example is Jaska's drumming. Listen to "Trashed, Lost & Strungout;" it isn't overly complicated but he has a good feel for the fills and jounce of the beat. The drumming sucked on every album after that, and yes, Are You Dead Yet? has flashes of the older sound like the chorus of "Next in Line." "Living Deadbeat" is an awesome opener and the title track has some meaty riffs... finally, the production fits the style well. Every album after it sounded kinda flat and weird, plus the band stopped writing memorable hooks.

Spoiler: show
Yep.
Image


I can get that it's a fun album but even listening to it after over ten years later it still doesn't hit me hard enough to make it worth my while. CoB seems like a fun band with which to hang out but the music doesn't really drag me in. It feels like I'm trying to validate and not disappoint the members of another local band that will never make the Archives.

That image, was that you back in the day or is that you now?

Also,is that picture you Diamhea?

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bayern
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:11 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 3:57 am 
 

hells_unicorn wrote:
Gotta hand it to Bayern yet again, his review of Wykked Wytch's obscure 1996 debut is a spot on representation of an album that was largely a throwback thrash album with a rather unique lead vocal approach. It's been over 10 years since I reviewed the album in question and approaching 18 years since I met the guitarist on the album in college and procured my own physical copy of it along with the Carnivean album that also featured his 6-string handiwork. Nothing like a good review to revive a sense of nostalgia in an aging metal head like me. lol



Man, you should have told him to "Carry on, my wayward son, in the same direction!". Just imagine the good old thrash coming out of this witch's brew in the new millennium...

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TrooperEd
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Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:18 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 9:10 am 
 

gasmask_colostomy wrote:
Diamhea wrote:
The drumming sucked on every album after that, and yes, Are You Dead Yet? has flashes of the older sound like the chorus of "Next in Line." "Living Deadbeat" is an awesome opener and the title track has some meaty riffs... finally, the production fits the style well. Every album after it sounded kinda flat and weird, plus the band stopped writing memorable hooks.


Didn't anyone like Blooddrunk? I thought that pretty much wiped the floor with Are You Dead Yet?, a couple of dodgy moments excepted.


I still like Blooddrunk, and you are right about it smoking Are You Dead Yet. Sure some of the moments might be a little weird (Tie My Rope fucking owns in my opinion) but I think it's decent.
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hells_unicorn
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 9:46 am 
 

bayern wrote:
hells_unicorn wrote:
Gotta hand it to Bayern yet again, his review of Wykked Wytch's obscure 1996 debut is a spot on representation of an album that was largely a throwback thrash album with a rather unique lead vocal approach. It's been over 10 years since I reviewed the album in question and approaching 18 years since I met the guitarist on the album in college and procured my own physical copy of it along with the Carnivean album that also featured his 6-string handiwork. Nothing like a good review to revive a sense of nostalgia in an aging metal head like me. lol



Man, you should have told him to "Carry on, my wayward son, in the same direction!". Just imagine the good old thrash coming out of this witch's brew in the new millennium...


I did complement him heavily on the Wykked Wytch album when he showed it to me and told him I preferred it to the orthodox Cannibal Corpse meets Deicide sound he went with on the Carnivean project (it had just been recorded at the time), but good old Mark was a creature of necessity and had a family to support. Sadly thrash metal didn't make any kind of a resurgence in the USA until the later 2000s and even then you couldn't make a living off it. Last I heard (this was back in 2006), Mark relocated from Pennsylvania to Atlanta, Georgia and started giving guitar lessons, which makes sense given that cost of living is much lower down there and it's easier to make a living off a working man's wages.
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gasmask_colostomy
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:02 am 
 

hells_unicorn wrote:
I think a lot of it has to do with people tending to review their favorite albums, so they tend to listen to it from start to finish without skipping around and tend to not see the album for the songs. This was a problem that I had during my early days as a reviewer...


Well, with favourite albums I suppose people do get over-excited, but I think you've only got to have your reviews rejected two or three times to get the picture about that. When I started reviewing, I had exactly that issue (and a few of my oldest are still preserved in that format). I really wasn't pointing out any of your faults with that point, but there's one or two people who are buzzing round the forums who should take more notice of this discussion.

hells_unicorn wrote:
I'm not sure I've seen any reviews of LP releases in the past several years that have a checklist format like you describe, though some of the longer reviews will often reference most or even all of the songs in an album.


Well, I don't mean a checklist exactly, but the kind of review that goes: "The first song is this...next we have this...after that, there's another one..." The terrible thing about that is that people aren't even making separate points about the album and using songs to back up those points, they are just using the tracklist as a structure for the review. Writing like that can't even hope to go into detail or explore what makes the music tick.

hells_unicorn wrote:
I think the site is a bit more lenient on this format when it comes to shorter releases like EPs, demos and singles, which may be part of why you are seeing certain checklist style reviews.


I can absolutely understand why people do this for shorter releases and I tend to do it myself, but it's full-lengths that I'm seeing it on and it's only on full-lengths that it would annoy me.

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gasmask_colostomy
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:09 am 
 

Diamhea wrote:
gasmask_colostomy wrote:
Didn't anyone like Blooddrunk? I thought that pretty much wiped the floor with Are You Dead Yet?, a couple of dodgy moments excepted.


Some pre-emptively called it a "return to form" because the band tried to half-sell out and go back to their older sound, but its really stilted and awkward sounding as a result. Listen to shit like "Tie My Rope," its a mess. Terrible album, save for a couple of moments.

Oh, and the opening of "One Day You Will Cry" sounds like Chocolate Rain.


I'm kind of surprised that you'd call it a sell-out album given that Bodom had only made one album that drastically fiddled with the sound before that, though I'm not immune to the fact that it does feel quite different from their earlier work. Then again, I had problems with CoB all through the first four albums that are difficult for me to explain except by saying that they were "too sharp" (read my review for Follow the Reaper if that's awfully vague), so I welcomed the kind of blunter sound on Blooddrunk.

There are some dreadful intros and flowery keyboard moments, like at the beginning of the title track and on 'One Day You Will Cry' (what a fucking title), but I'm afraid that I'm with TrooperEd and

TrooperEd wrote:
Tie My Rope fucking owns in my opinion

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Diamhea
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 11:30 am 
 

Five_Nails wrote:
That image, was that you back in the day or is that you now?

Also,is that picture you Diamhea?


That's me over a decade ago, dude.
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Diamhea
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 11:37 am 
 

gasmask_colostomy wrote:
I'm kind of surprised that you'd call it a sell-out album given that Bodom had only made one album that drastically fiddled with the sound before that, though I'm not immune to the fact that it does feel quite different from their earlier work. Then again, I had problems with CoB all through the first four albums that are difficult for me to explain except by saying that they were "too sharp" (read my review for Follow the Reaper if that's awfully vague), so I welcomed the kind of blunter sound on Blooddrunk.

There are some dreadful intros and flowery keyboard moments, like at the beginning of the title track and on 'One Day You Will Cry' (what a fucking title), but I'm afraid that I'm with TrooperEd and


Read Empyreal's review of Blooddrunk, he touches on the sell-out concept fairly well. There was a huge backlash against AYDY? at the time, with people constantly bringing up the vocals on "In Your Face," misquoting lines that Alexi said. Then Blooddrunk had a lot of anticipation, and the band released "Tie My Rope" as a teaser track, and listen right after the two minute mark. There is a guitar lead that sounds great at first, but then falls apart because it was like Alexi was intentionally trying to avoid overt hooks. Plus the keyboard intro/main theme is exceptionally lazy sounding and simple. And that's just one song, but it paints the whole picture well, even though it is one of the better tracks. I need to rewrite my review for Blooddrunk so just ignore whatever is still there now.
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mjollnir
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Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2004 4:14 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 12:20 pm 
 

hells_unicorn wrote:
Gotta hand it to Bayern yet again, his review of Wykked Wytch's obscure 1996 debut is a spot on representation of an album that was largely a throwback thrash album with a rather unique lead vocal approach. It's been over 10 years since I reviewed the album in question and approaching 18 years since I met the guitarist on the album in college and procured my own physical copy of it along with the Carnivean album that also featured his 6-string handiwork. Nothing like a good review to revive a sense of nostalgia in an aging metal head like me. lol

I used to talk to Ipek on the AOL Savatage boards back in the day. She was cool. Wykked Wytch never seem to click with me, though.
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Diamhea wrote:
TrooperEd wrote:
Edit: fuck it this whole thing is bait anyway.


Like your reviews?

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EzraBlumenfeld
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Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:50 pm
Posts: 450
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:42 pm 
 

Psyche_Dome wrote:
Jonpo wrote:
The opening sentence for the new To Mega Therion review is baffling. I had to stop reading immediately, but I can't stop thinking about it:

"On To Mega Therion, Swiss metallers Celtic Frost manage to take a would-be monotonous and repetitive proto-death metal record and make it memorable as well as epic."

99% rating. Thank god they saved this unbelievably classic album from being monotonous and repetitive...close call!


Ezra's (new reviewer) Reign in Blood review adds ' Slayer never achieved any commercial success. ' They were commercially successful in the late '80s and early '90s, tailing off when metal was being beaten down.

Ezra gave the album 97%, then finished his review with 'All in all, this is a solid album that should be in every metalhead's collection.' If he think that it's worth that much then it's a 'colossal' album.

On the other hand he gave Celtic Frost's Mega Therion a 99% and matched that with stating that it was a 'masterpiece'.



Just found this. I'll probably rewrite those godawful reviews at some point; I had never read literally any other reviews on here ever, so I had no good basis. Also I know I was just raving about albums everyone already loves. Whenever I get around to rewriting, I'll make sure to be much more insightful :)
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EzraBlumenfeld
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Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:50 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:59 pm 
 

Five_Nails wrote:
Psyche_Dome wrote:
With regards to "The Threat is Real", it's the "No one controlling who comes through the door" line that seems to rattle those who subsequently shout, "right wing xenophobic!"

You could treat "The Threat is Real" as ambiguous, like a lot of Mustaine's lyrics, although, in my opinion, "The Threat" is in relation to the American politicians trying to pull the wool over the citizens eyes. They implement new policy, like anti-terrorism laws, which are, on the surface, there to protect the people, for the people, by the people, however, in reality, these policies are being misused-where the authorities can use these laws to enter your homes, taking away your constitutional rights. It's now "Justified obliteration" of your constitutional rights, by "the Messiah, part murderer", with "meetings and rendezvous", "No controlling who comes through the door"-it's the "final act" and "The Threat is Real".

It's got nothing to do with immigrants or xenophobia.


This is a great example of sticking to the issue while the person he's talking to tries to deflect.

Now that I've had some time to digest that review, I'd have to say the only "Lesson in Eye Rolling" I've had from this review is my own with this reviewer's pedantic and less than elaborate hit at Mustaine's lyrics while simultaneously describing his intrepid blacklist of bands to automatically hate. Wouldn't it be more constructive and conducive to learning to have a list of bands that you want to listen to rather than a list of no-goes? It really makes me wonder how anyone can enjoy music if he cannot separate the music from the musician, especially when cultivating a list of black metal bands to shy away from. That's going to leave what academics call a 'knowledge gap' in the zeitgeist of such a controversial music style.

According to this person's profile they're fourteen years old. So I really doubt that hard-headed 'liberalism' is going to last if they're being forthright about their age. Really, this seems to put Ezra Blumenfeld's responses to Psyche_Dome into perspective. How can you try to Beeteljuice away a longtime contributor to the forums by thrice saying 'write your own review' as though Psyche_Dome hasn't been anything but respectfully critical? It's a real show of disrespect to not even attempt to agree to disagree but to dismiss solely because you refuse to take on any view that isn't so outwardly politically motivated, let alone only on your side.

I miss the live and let live that politics somewhat had not too long ago, now we have little hard-liners who barely have pubes calling Nazi and Trump like boys used to cry wolf.

Open mindedness is a good thing, so is confronting ideas that make you uncomfortable. Heavy metal is sometimes (a lot of times) an uncomfortable kind of music. How can someone be so dismissive of a cutting edge style of music for being edgy to the point of cringe at times? How can someone claim to be liberal while being so totally closed minded? It's astounding how the hard left's brainwashing mirrors the hard right's.


Again, just saw this. I'm sorry. I was not aware of this thread and didn't realize how often reviews are... well, reviewed. I thought I was being singled out, and I can now see that was not the case. So yeah, sorry for being immature and stuff. I'll be more open-minded for sure in the future. I stand by my Dystopia review, though.
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hells_unicorn
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 3:14 pm 
 

mjollnir wrote:
hells_unicorn wrote:
Gotta hand it to Bayern yet again, his review of Wykked Wytch's obscure 1996 debut is a spot on representation of an album that was largely a throwback thrash album with a rather unique lead vocal approach. It's been over 10 years since I reviewed the album in question and approaching 18 years since I met the guitarist on the album in college and procured my own physical copy of it along with the Carnivean album that also featured his 6-string handiwork. Nothing like a good review to revive a sense of nostalgia in an aging metal head like me. lol

I used to talk to Ipek on the AOL Savatage boards back in the day. She was cool. Wykked Wytch never seem to click with me, though.


Their debut album Something Wykked This Way Comes is a bit different from their subsequent releases, it doesn't have nearly as much of a Cradle Of Filth vibe to it. Funny story, back when I was hanging out with Mark Warnock/Warlokk in the early 2000s he basically accused Iced Earth of ripping off their album title and art scheme, and you can see a level of similarity in both. lol
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Metal_Guderian
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 3:26 pm 
 

A track review is pefectly fine for a single release? I guess it would be better to maybe compare the style of the single to a song from the bands previous album, and maybe, write about expections for the upcoming album release, if that single was the recent promotional vehicle for that album, I guess.

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hells_unicorn
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 6:57 pm 
 

Metal_Guderian wrote:
A track review is pefectly fine for a single release? I guess it would be better to maybe compare the style of the single to a song from the bands previous album, and maybe, write about expections for the upcoming album release, if that single was the recent promotional vehicle for that album, I guess.


Some singles, particularly prior to downloading digital songs, consisted of 2-3 songs. They had these things called b-sides, I guess it's a foreign concept to anyone born after 2002, I guess.
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EzraBlumenfeld
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:39 pm 
 

hells_unicorn wrote:
Some singles, particularly prior to downloading digital songs, consisted of 2-3 songs. They had these things called b-sides, I guess it's a foreign concept to anyone born after 2002, I guess.


I know what those are :) 2003 here
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CHAIRTHROWER
Methed-burnt rogue babelfish

Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 7:10 pm
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Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:14 pm 
 

Readily dug Dimhea's Lahmia_Into the Abyss review for its compact, forceful diligence and smattering of choice 10,20 and 50$ werdz!

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CHAIRTHROWER
Methed-burnt rogue babelfish

Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 7:10 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:16 pm 
 

What's this I see regarding a new and improved Car Door Dick Smash (or CDDS when in a Christian environment)?! Crikey!

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EzraBlumenfeld
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:18 pm 
 

CHAIRTHROWER wrote:
What's this I see regarding a new and improved Car Door Dick Smash (or CDDS when in a Christian environment)?! Crikey!


I'm telling you, it's good!
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BEGRAVEMENT - 'Horrific Illusions Beckon' out now!

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CHAIRTHROWER
Methed-burnt rogue babelfish

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 9:35 pm 
 

Wow! I'll definitely have to check it out...

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EzraBlumenfeld
Metalhead

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 9:36 pm 
 

Yes you will. It's like they were almost trying to be serious...
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BEGRAVEMENT - 'Horrific Illusions Beckon' out now!

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CHAIRTHROWER
Methed-burnt rogue babelfish

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 11:25 pm 
 

There's hope for them still then! (yay!).

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gasmask_colostomy
Metalhead

Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 5:38 am
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 10:46 am 
 

Diamhea wrote:
Read Empyreal's review of Blooddrunk, he touches on the sell-out concept fairly well. There was a huge backlash against AYDY? at the time, with people constantly bringing up the vocals on "In Your Face," misquoting lines that Alexi said. Then Blooddrunk had a lot of anticipation, and the band released "Tie My Rope" as a teaser track, and listen right after the two minute mark. There is a guitar lead that sounds great at first, but then falls apart because it was like Alexi was intentionally trying to avoid overt hooks. Plus the keyboard intro/main theme is exceptionally lazy sounding and simple. And that's just one song, but it paints the whole picture well, even though it is one of the better tracks. I need to rewrite my review for Blooddrunk so just ignore whatever is still there now.


Funnily enough, I read a few of the old reviews for Blooddrunk prior to my last post and I was not impressed by Empyreal's at all. Apart from the hyperbolic 0% score, there's very little in the review to back up his opinion about how the band sold out except for the description of their return to their older sound with elements of Are You Dead Yet?. What that review essentially says is that the band "chickened out" (I'm quoting) and made "desensitized, bland music" by the sterility of mixing their former technical melodic style with blunter chugging stuff. The problem is that there's very little to convert those comments into an actual critique of the album that goes much beyond saying, "I smell a rat." I mean, from my point of view, berating CoB specifically for changing styles is just the kind of thing that one shouldn't do in a review if it's going to sound as incensed as this one does.


Empyreal wrote:
There was no reason to shift direction once again after the chugga-chugga tuff-guy style of AYDY? (stick with one style, idiots!), but they did it anyway. Instead of expanding on that style, as the old Bodom would've done, they took the easy way out and tried to appeal to everyone at the same time, and that is where they failed.


Before this he'd already said that the style of AYDY? didn't work that well, but then he criticizes the band for going back to what had been working, saying they "took the easy way out" - as if making one kind of album binds the group to making the next one in the same way. We wouldn't say that about every band, would we? (To be fair, I do that for Maiden.) In any case, it's all about perspective, because he wouldn't be writing this if he thought the songs were interesting; it's because he finds them dull that he's attached the label of sell-out.

On the other hand, I accept the stylistic direction as merely another step in a gradual evolution (plus I hadn't paid too much attention to Bodom before about 2005) and came to the conclusion that it was a good album with worthwhile songs. I admit that I rated it a little highly, but that's just one of those things you do when you're carried away by the music.

As for the whole thing about 'Tie My Rope', I utterly fail to understand what sucks about it. If the keyboard is simple, that's fine, because it fits the song well and I can't quite see where the solo has a meltdown any more than other of Laiho's leads. If one of those things is oversimplified and the other is overcomplicated, it seems a little odd to take issue with both for the same reason. However, if you think the lyrics are awful, I'm absolutely in agreement. CoB lyrics are always awful.

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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:58 pm
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Location: Where the dead rule the night
PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 12:45 pm 
 

That's a really old review anyway. I don't listen to any COB now.
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CHAIRTHROWER
Methed-burnt rogue babelfish

Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 7:10 pm
Posts: 1028
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 1:47 pm 
 

Oh man, Caspian just churned out a mighty fine (and enthused) review for Elder, a fairly obscure stoner/doom band which indeed deserves praise;

Dig these choice selections from his write-up:

"But yeah, Elder- well, these guys are different. Not hugely different- same guitar tone that about 10000 other bands have, similar vocals, but the guitar playing is streets ahead of most other bands, and the songwriting is genuinely interesting. It's genuinely psychedelic music, as opposed to a the turgid haze most stoner bands put out. (haha, he said "turgid"...)"

"Sanctuary's absolutely massive closing riff is closer to Pelican or even Boris than anything Sabbath or Sleep or Hendrix ever did; a huge transcendent floaty thing, kinda like if jellyfish could fly and if they were glow in the dark."

"It's escapist music at its' absolute finest- I wouldn't recommend operating heavy equipment while listening to this. It just sucks you in and next moment you're looking at the sky and it's got two suns" (or two noses)...

Good stuff!

oh, btw, have I yet mentioned Iron Void and Burning Saviours both have new releases lurking around the bend? (cool as fuck emoj).

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Diamhea
Eats and Spits Corpses

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:46 pm
Posts: 9275
Location: At the Heat of Winter
PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 2:58 pm 
 

Spoiler: show
gasmask_colostomy wrote:
Diamhea wrote:
Read Empyreal's review of Blooddrunk, he touches on the sell-out concept fairly well. There was a huge backlash against AYDY? at the time, with people constantly bringing up the vocals on "In Your Face," misquoting lines that Alexi said. Then Blooddrunk had a lot of anticipation, and the band released "Tie My Rope" as a teaser track, and listen right after the two minute mark. There is a guitar lead that sounds great at first, but then falls apart because it was like Alexi was intentionally trying to avoid overt hooks. Plus the keyboard intro/main theme is exceptionally lazy sounding and simple. And that's just one song, but it paints the whole picture well, even though it is one of the better tracks. I need to rewrite my review for Blooddrunk so just ignore whatever is still there now.


Funnily enough, I read a few of the old reviews for Blooddrunk prior to my last post and I was not impressed by Empyreal's at all. Apart from the hyperbolic 0% score, there's very little in the review to back up his opinion about how the band sold out except for the description of their return to their older sound with elements of Are You Dead Yet?. What that review essentially says is that the band "chickened out" (I'm quoting) and made "desensitized, bland music" by the sterility of mixing their former technical melodic style with blunter chugging stuff. The problem is that there's very little to convert those comments into an actual critique of the album that goes much beyond saying, "I smell a rat." I mean, from my point of view, berating CoB specifically for changing styles is just the kind of thing that one shouldn't do in a review if it's going to sound as incensed as this one does.


Empyreal wrote:
There was no reason to shift direction once again after the chugga-chugga tuff-guy style of AYDY? (stick with one style, idiots!), but they did it anyway. Instead of expanding on that style, as the old Bodom would've done, they took the easy way out and tried to appeal to everyone at the same time, and that is where they failed.


Before this he'd already said that the style of AYDY? didn't work that well, but then he criticizes the band for going back to what had been working, saying they "took the easy way out" - as if making one kind of album binds the group to making the next one in the same way. We wouldn't say that about every band, would we? (To be fair, I do that for Maiden.) In any case, it's all about perspective, because he wouldn't be writing this if he thought the songs were interesting; it's because he finds them dull that he's attached the label of sell-out.

On the other hand, I accept the stylistic direction as merely another step in a gradual evolution (plus I hadn't paid too much attention to Bodom before about 2005) and came to the conclusion that it was a good album with worthwhile songs. I admit that I rated it a little highly, but that's just one of those things you do when you're carried away by the music.

As for the whole thing about 'Tie My Rope', I utterly fail to understand what sucks about it. If the keyboard is simple, that's fine, because it fits the song well and I can't quite see where the solo has a meltdown any more than other of Laiho's leads. If one of those things is oversimplified and the other is overcomplicated, it seems a little odd to take issue with both for the same reason. However, if you think the lyrics are awful, I'm absolutely in agreement. CoB lyrics are always awful.


You present your argument well, but there is no way I will ever consider Blooddrunk anything more than disappointing. Tracks like "Done with Everything, Die for Nothing" have such awkward riffing. "Lobodomy" feels really strange too. I think the requisite "Everytime I Die" clone "Banned from Heaven" is great, but that's the only real standout track to me. I'll rewrite that review sometime soon.
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Metal_Guderian
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:59 pm
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 5:41 pm 
 

hells_unicorn wrote:
Metal_Guderian wrote:
A track review is pefectly fine for a single release? I guess it would be better to maybe compare the style of the single to a song from the bands previous album, and maybe, write about expections for the upcoming album release, if that single was the recent promotional vehicle for that album, I guess.


Some singles, particularly prior to downloading digital songs, consisted of 2-3 songs. They had these things called b-sides, I guess it's a foreign concept to anyone born after 2002, I guess.


I'm 40 and still prefer CDs, whereas, I know plenty of younger people who don't even buy CDs and opt. for digital because "it doesn't take up any space."

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TrooperEd
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:18 pm
Posts: 2115
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 6:50 pm 
 

CDs are indeed still the best. I get the appeal of vinyl but I don't have the money (especially not the money) or the patience to replace my entire collection

EzraBlumenfeld wrote:
you must be dedicated enough of a fan to go to their website and enter a bunch of revealing personal information, and additionally be a fanboy/girl/person at a mental age twelve years old at most. As a twelve-year-old fanboy, I fit the description and joined.


I admire your honesty. Hell you can come to house and fuck my sister.
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hells_unicorn
Veteran

Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:32 pm
Posts: 3056
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 10:18 pm 
 

Metal_Guderian wrote:
I'm 40 and still prefer CDs, whereas, I know plenty of younger people who don't even buy CDs and opt. for digital because "it doesn't take up any space."


Fair enough, I'm 38 and I also prefer CDs, however the point I was making is that track by track reviews (reviewing songs in a checklist fashion) is something that works better when you are dealing with shorter albums, as opposed to LP releases. While most single releases today are single song digital releases, historically singles tended to have 2 or 3 songs, hence the checklist reviewing approach for multiple songs in said format.
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EzraBlumenfeld
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:50 pm
Posts: 450
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:45 am 
 

TrooperEd wrote:
I admire your honesty. Hell you can come to house and fuck my sister.


I was referring to my former 12-year-old fanboy self, but whatever. Tell your sister I'm taken, just in case she already got her hopes up :D
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ThrashFanatic
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2017 4:27 pm
Posts: 36
PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:16 pm 
 

Hey guys I just wrote a review for Mercenary's 1986 demo. It is pending approval right now but as soon as it is approved, I would appreciate if one of you guys can leave some feedback in the Review Workshop forum. Thanks guys.

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EzraBlumenfeld
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:50 pm
Posts: 450
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 2:10 pm 
 

I think Metal_Guderian's review of Master of Puppets is a total rip-off of TrooperEd's, at least in concept. I wish he could have had a more creative idea than just copying that of the most recent review on the album.
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TrooperEd
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:18 pm
Posts: 2115
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 2:53 pm 
 

EzraBlumenfeld wrote:
I think Metal_Guderian's review of Master of Puppets is a total rip-off of TrooperEd's, at least in concept. I wish he could have had a more creative idea than just copying that of the most recent review on the album.



I kind of had the same idea when I saw the title (didn't read the rest of it) but that would imply that I'm the first person to introduce that concept. Hell I don't think I'm the first person to rip-off that concept.
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EzraBlumenfeld
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:50 pm
Posts: 450
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:17 pm 
 

TrooperEd wrote:
I kind of had the same idea when I saw the title (didn't read the rest of it) but that would imply that I'm the first person to introduce that concept. Hell I don't think I'm the first person to rip-off that concept.


True... yet I still find it rather unoriginal to state about an album almost exactly what the previous reviewer said, regardless of whether or not it was that person's idea in the first place.
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Wilytank
Not a Flying Toy

Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:21 am
Posts: 5861
Location: 717
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:08 pm 
 

https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/ ... erEd/21802

...people who think slow = doom metal. :nono: :snipe:
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hells_unicorn
Veteran

Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:32 pm
Posts: 3056
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:10 pm 
 

Wilytank wrote:
https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Bathory/Hammerheart/759/TrooperEd/21802

...people who think slow = doom metal. :nono: :snipe:


Yeah, that is a bit of a head-scratcher, never got a doom vibe from anything Quorthon ever put out, but especially not on Hammerheart.
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TrooperEd
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:18 pm
Posts: 2115
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:14 pm 
 

hells_unicorn wrote:
Wilytank wrote:
https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Bathory/Hammerheart/759/TrooperEd/21802

...people who think slow = doom metal. :nono: :snipe:


Yeah, that is a bit of a head-scratcher, never got a doom vibe from anything Quorthon ever put out, but especially not on Hammerheart.


people who think lo-fi = black metal or underground. :getout:

I couldn't quite decide between doom or power metal for the title. I already had a "Power Metal, anyone" headline so....yeah.
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colin040
Metal freak

Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:00 pm
Posts: 7609
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 5:01 pm 
 

I thought UltraBoris was being weird when he referred Diamond Head's Lightning to the Nations as power metal, but TrooperEd is quite something else. First calling Master's debut black metal and now this? Come on, man.

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