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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nightfly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Sep 2020 at 2:48pm
A few negative reviews are fine, after all we can't love everything and if all our reviews were 4 or 5 stars they'd lack credibility. Having said that I don't like being too harsh when a band has put a lot of effort into making an album, even if it is shit. With only having limited free time though if i stumble across an album I'm not enjoying I struggle to even listen to it all so never get as far as a review.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Sep 2020 at 4:37pm
Originally posted by UMUR UMUR wrote:

Originally posted by Vim Fuego Vim Fuego wrote:

Negative reviews can become a bad habit though. Sometimes I have to stand back a bit and look at something I can review in a positive light because I've just ripped several different things to shreds. Sometimes you have to turn away from the darkness...Evil Smile
 
I don´t enjoy writing regative reviews, and I don´t consciously seek out bad quality albums, but sometimes I stumble upon them, or sometimes when going through an artist discography (which I often do from front to end), there is a turd or two in there, and for the sake of completeness I´ll write a review although I can´t stand the album in question. Sometimes the same applies when I review an unknown artist who has sent me a promo or I find something on Bandcamp that I decide to review.

That King Diamond review which I did a few months back which several people disagreed with (LOL) was because I'd stumbled across it and it was so surprisingly bad to my ears that I just HAD to write about it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote UMUR Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2020 at 8:12am
Originally posted by Vim Fuego Vim Fuego wrote:

Originally posted by UMUR UMUR wrote:

Originally posted by Vim Fuego Vim Fuego wrote:

Negative reviews can become a bad habit though. Sometimes I have to stand back a bit and look at something I can review in a positive light because I've just ripped several different things to shreds. Sometimes you have to turn away from the darkness...Evil Smile
 
I don´t enjoy writing regative reviews, and I don´t consciously seek out bad quality albums, but sometimes I stumble upon them, or sometimes when going through an artist discography (which I often do from front to end), there is a turd or two in there, and for the sake of completeness I´ll write a review although I can´t stand the album in question. Sometimes the same applies when I review an unknown artist who has sent me a promo or I find something on Bandcamp that I decide to review.

That King Diamond review which I did a few months back which several people disagreed with (LOL) was because I'd stumbled across it and it was so surprisingly bad to my ears that I just HAD to write about it.
 
I don´t remember which King Diamond album you tore apart, but naturally I´ll disagree whichever it was LOL. I´m a huge fan.


Edited by UMUR - 18 Sep 2020 at 8:13am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2020 at 8:31am
I did a scathing review recently for Pain of Salvation's The Perfect Element Part 1 (which got far less reaction than expected). My main motivation for it being that I absolutely despise that record. My excuse for it being that people do often ask me how the hell I can have a 0.5 on such a 'masterpiece'. Now they know. 

In general I don't write many reviews now. I lost the motivation, especially for promos (a few people still send me promos but I don't download them even if its a band I like). If I start forming words in my head I'll get them down and if its good enough I'll publish but I'm not actively bothering. I can't see there being many reviews below the four star mark (The PoS one aside) unless there's a release I was really hyped for that I end up disliking, then I'll probably write something. 

The only upcoming release I actively expect to review will be Ayreon's new one. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Unitron Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2020 at 9:14am
I used to write some negative reviews, but I don't bother anymore. Why should I write about something that I don't like? Just seems pointless considering I write for fun and usually something I've been listening to that I want to talk about.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BitterJalapeno Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 5:54am
Thanks to everyone for their input - much appreciated indeed.  I may do some negative reviews if I feel that strongly about something being rather poor in particular but likewise to the above, I will sometimes not endure an album to the end if not enjoying it which would fall way short of the criteria required to give a fair review. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote UMUR Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 10:41am

One thing I find a bit annoying is reviewers purposedly seeking out famous/highly regarded releases, to write negative reviews about. Especially if they include sentences like: "I don´t understand why this releases is so highly regarded, because to my ears it´s a turd", or other phrases like that. I know it´s tempting like hell...and I´ve probably stepped into that hole myself a couple of times, but IMO a well written negative review, which points out why the reviewer feels the release in question isn´t a high quality release to their ears is a much better way to write a regative review, than a regative review basically just bashing a release and spending time wondering why other listeners enjoy the release...

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 11:44am
Yeah that's an easy trap to fall into without even meaning to go there. I certainly used such a line in my Pain of Salvation review: 'Nothing heard so far in any way justifies the kind of regard the album has.' Embarrassed

Also sometimes there's no nice way of expressing yourself when you feel like you're listening to a load of crap. You can avoid actually using words like 'crap' and 'shit' but that really does limit your substitutes. Personally I don't find trying to be more eloquent when you're bashing something an effective strategy. I think it may just come across as convoluted. Bad deserves blunt, if you get my meaning. 

I do see your point though about reviewers purposely seeking out the high rated to try to take it down a peg. I often get the feeling (which is not limited to music by any means) that some reviewers go into something having already decided that they won't like it. Unfortunately I have seen that happen here as well as other sites. 

But personally the thing that makes my blood boil in a review is when it's obvious that the reviewer just doesn't know what they're talking about, such as blatantly not having done any research into the release, the group or even the genre. If nothing else it just kills the reviewers credibility if they're going on about a release's quality as a thrash metal album when they're reviewing a famous power metal album. 

I also dislike the assigning of ratings that in no way correspond to the tone of the text - that just looks to me like they're trying to push the average rating toward what they'd find acceptable. I don't know how many times I've seen reviewers that say nothing but good things and then the reviewer sticks like 2 stars on it. Confused
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote UMUR Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 11:54am
I actually have another gripe LOL...I don´t like it when reviewers say Things like "this is the first release by the band that I have listened to, or I usually don´t review power metal releases, but this one I found in a bargage bin, so therefore I´ll give it a try, or similar Things, which show that they aren´t that familiar with either the artist or the music style they are reviewing. I know we all have to start somewhere, but my advice is to lie Cool, like your life depended on it. Or at least just don´t tell the Whole truth. You´ll lose credibility from the readers, if they don´t trust that you know what you´re talking about. I know from personal experience that I stop reading immediately if I read comments like that. I simply don´t trust the reviewers opinion...
 
...it´s the image you project which will either mean the readers trust your opinion or not.
 
Of course you can´t ramble on about Things you don´t know shit about, but as I said above, then just stick to what you know, and keep it simple. Don´t ever let the readers know that your knowledge is limited.


Edited by UMUR - 21 Sep 2020 at 11:57am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 12:04pm
Actually one big thing I have with people (whether they are rating only or reviewing) that really pisses me of is to do with power metal. And that's when they rate it down just because it's power metal. RYM'ers are extremely guilty of this with a few particular users more openly vocal about it up to and including marking snarky comments toward those who rate power metal higher than they do (one such user referred to a 'power metal club' earlier this year). So lets call it pre-prejudice. I'm sure it exists everywhere, but its especially noticeable where power metal is concerned. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 12:45pm
Originally posted by UMUR UMUR wrote:

One thing I find a bit annoying is reviewers purposedly seeking out famous/highly regarded releases, to write negative reviews about. Especially if they include sentences like: "I don´t understand why this releases is so highly regarded, because to my ears it´s a turd", or other phrases like that. I know it´s tempting like hell...and I´ve probably stepped into that hole myself a couple of times, but IMO a well written negative review, which points out why the reviewer feels the release in question isn´t a high quality release to their ears is a much better way to write a regative review, than a regative review basically just bashing a release and spending time wondering why other listeners enjoy the release...


I have done this. It's one of the reasons I haven't touched Dirt by Alice in Chains (and cos I really REALLY don't want to listen to it!LOL).

I wrote a review like this for a very highly rated album here (not saying which one), and it took a huge dive down the ratings, which shocked me somewhat as to how much of an effect my review and rating had. I just deleted the review a few minutes ago, because reading this I realised it was unnecessary and was me being contrary, and the album has just jumped back up the ratings again. I really don't like the album in question, and it's well outside what I usually listen to, but a lot of other people do like it, and it's no skin off my nose if I don't have a review of it here.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 12:48pm
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

Actually one big thing I have with people (whether they are rating only or reviewing) that really pisses me of is to do with power metal. And that's when they rate it down just because it's power metal. RYM'ers are extremely guilty of this with a few particular users more openly vocal about it up to and including marking snarky comments toward those who rate power metal higher than they do (one such user referred to a 'power metal club' earlier this year). So lets call it pre-prejudice. I'm sure it exists everywhere, but its especially noticeable where power metal is concerned. 

A power metal club is something you might see a dude on a Manowar album cover waving around.LOL

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote UMUR Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 2:32pm
Originally posted by Vim Fuego Vim Fuego wrote:

Originally posted by UMUR UMUR wrote:

One thing I find a bit annoying is reviewers purposedly seeking out famous/highly regarded releases, to write negative reviews about. Especially if they include sentences like: "I don´t understand why this releases is so highly regarded, because to my ears it´s a turd", or other phrases like that. I know it´s tempting like hell...and I´ve probably stepped into that hole myself a couple of times, but IMO a well written negative review, which points out why the reviewer feels the release in question isn´t a high quality release to their ears is a much better way to write a regative review, than a regative review basically just bashing a release and spending time wondering why other listeners enjoy the release...


I have done this. It's one of the reasons I haven't touched Dirt by Alice in Chains (and cos I really REALLY don't want to listen to it!LOL).

I wrote a review like this for a very highly rated album here (not saying which one), and it took a huge dive down the ratings, which shocked me somewhat as to how much of an effect my review and rating had. I just deleted the review a few minutes ago, because reading this I realised it was unnecessary and was me being contrary, and the album has just jumped back up the ratings again. I really don't like the album in question, and it's well outside what I usually listen to, but a lot of other people do like it, and it's no skin off my nose if I don't have a review of it here.
It´s not a crime and of course every member of this site is fully allowed to review whichever release they want to at any given time. I´m only questioning the motive for writing that sort of review, and not agreeing on that motive.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vim Fuego Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2020 at 4:33pm
Originally posted by UMUR UMUR wrote:

Originally posted by Vim Fuego Vim Fuego wrote:

Originally posted by UMUR UMUR wrote:

One thing I find a bit annoying is reviewers purposedly seeking out famous/highly regarded releases, to write negative reviews about. Especially if they include sentences like: "I don´t understand why this releases is so highly regarded, because to my ears it´s a turd", or other phrases like that. I know it´s tempting like hell...and I´ve probably stepped into that hole myself a couple of times, but IMO a well written negative review, which points out why the reviewer feels the release in question isn´t a high quality release to their ears is a much better way to write a regative review, than a regative review basically just bashing a release and spending time wondering why other listeners enjoy the release...


I have done this. It's one of the reasons I haven't touched Dirt by Alice in Chains (and cos I really REALLY don't want to listen to it!LOL).

I wrote a review like this for a very highly rated album here (not saying which one), and it took a huge dive down the ratings, which shocked me somewhat as to how much of an effect my review and rating had. I just deleted the review a few minutes ago, because reading this I realised it was unnecessary and was me being contrary, and the album has just jumped back up the ratings again. I really don't like the album in question, and it's well outside what I usually listen to, but a lot of other people do like it, and it's no skin off my nose if I don't have a review of it here.
It´s not a crime and of course every member of this site is fully allowed to review whichever release they want to at any given time. I´m only questioning the motive for writing that sort of review, and not agreeing on that motive.

My motive was to review all our top rated albums, but I've since decided not to do it to albums I know I don't or won't like because my review as an admin can make a big difference to how an album rates. It wasn't deliberate, but I still felt guilty.Embarrassed
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 9:27am
Saw an example of what I meant about people not knowing their shit yesterday, wasn't a review but an article on a website about female musicians in metal that aren't vocalists. I was scrolling through it and couldn't help appreciate the irony considering what I'd written earlier that day about 'someone talking about thrash metal when it's power metal' which was meant to be a hypothetical example rather than something I'd actually seen someone do. Well now I have. The article kept going on about the thrash metal band Lovebites. 


I'm sure we all know here that Lovebites clearly plays power metal. 

Bad journalism whether you're writing an article or a review IMO. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BitterJalapeno Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 10:15am

You must have psychic powers Adam…

While we are on the subject of bad journalism, I was recently reading a Metal Hammer article containing a list of upcoming metal releases for 2020 and they managed to make two bad mistakes when discussing the imminent release of Mastodon's "Medium Rarities” compilation album and a new studio album planned for release in 2021.  They state the 2021 album will be the “follow-up to 2016’s One More ‘Round the Sun” – actually released 2 years earlier in 2014.  To make matters worse, they completely missed the fact that the follow-up to this album already exists in the form of 2017s Emperor of Sand.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote UMUR Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 11:03am
^Yeah mistakes happen, but the least people can do is do their research. Don´t fuck up songtitles, albums titles, band names, or other basic facts. It just looks sloppy and Again, it´s just one of those Things which Hurts a reviewer´s credibility.
 
I´ve made a couple of bad mistakes along the way, and it still happens sometimes, and I´m very greatful when some friendly soul gives me a hint, that I should change something in my review Thumbs Up.
 
He he I once called Procol Harum an American band in a review Embarrassed. I was so embarassed I could have climbed into a hole...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BitterJalapeno Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 11:12am
I hope my reviews have been reasonable enough in their content thus far as I'm certainly not up to scratch on my metal knowledge to anywhere near the same depth as you fine people. I like to think i wouldn't consider reviewing something unless I felt comfortable enough to at least do it justice and report with some degree of accuracy.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Unitron Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 11:23am
Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

I also dislike the assigning of ratings that in no way correspond to the tone of the text - that just looks to me like they're trying to push the average rating toward what they'd find acceptable. I don't know how many times I've seen reviewers that say nothing but good things and then the reviewer sticks like 2 stars on it. Confused

That's such an RYM thing to do, and whenever people do it they come off as acting holier-than-thou and are just too cool for giving high ratings.

Originally posted by UMUR UMUR wrote:

I actually have another gripe LOL...I don´t like it when reviewers say Things like "this is the first release by the band that I have listened to, or I usually don´t review power metal releases, but this one I found in a bargage bin, so therefore I´ll give it a try, or similar Things, which show that they aren´t that familiar with either the artist or the music style they are reviewing.

Personally I disagree, I think it brings a different perspective. It's nice hearing someone's thoughts on an album, band, or style of music they haven't heard before, and can spark some great conversation and fans can direct the person to more that's similar. Also sometimes it can be more helpful to others who aren't familiar with it. Say someone's never heard a power metal album, and comes from a thrash background, and they say this first power metal album they've heard is really good. That would tell other thrash fans that they should maybe check it out, possibly more so then a fan of power metal talking about it. Meanwhile a power metal fan talking about a power metal album being really good, may be more helpful to other power metal fans.


Edited by Unitron - 22 Sep 2020 at 11:30am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adg211288 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 12:02pm
Originally posted by Unitron Unitron wrote:

Originally posted by adg211288 adg211288 wrote:

I also dislike the assigning of ratings that in no way correspond to the tone of the text - that just looks to me like they're trying to push the average rating toward what they'd find acceptable. I don't know how many times I've seen reviewers that say nothing but good things and then the reviewer sticks like 2 stars on it. Confused

That's such an RYM thing to do, and whenever people do it they come off as acting holier-than-thou and are just too cool for giving high ratings.

The five rules of RYM:
  1. Do not give high ratings. Trust us, it's not that good. 
  2. If you 'must' break rule one (we say with a sneer of utter contempt), you better make sure you cap your next rating no matter how good you think it is. Even if it's better than the album you broke the rule for. Even 4 stars would be pushing your luck at this point. 
  3. It's just better if you don't break rule one to start with.
  4. But if you must break it it had better not be for fucking power metal. 
  5. Actually just be a miserable stick in the mud and never enjoy music ever again. 

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