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Sweetie
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 1:19 am
Posts: 1091
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:14 pm 
 

I've found in the past month or so that I struggle with writing negative reviews, a lot more than positive ones. I recently submitted one (Dark Star self titled) and almost didn't submit it because I myself thought it was pretty bad, but figured it was still pass-worthy. I think part of it is because the reasons why I dislike something are generally for the same reason from one album to the other, so it's tough to be original. Does anybody have any suggestions on attacking albums that you dislike? Feel free to use the Dark Star review as an example / rip it to shreds. I'm fully aware that it's way worse than any positive review I've written. Cheers!
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TrooperEd
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:18 pm
Posts: 2115
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:06 am 
 

It helps if you went into an album thinking it's going to be awesome and are let down by it,
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TheWaltzer
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:07 am
Posts: 651
Location: Slowfuck Republic
PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 2:09 am 
 

The review in question, in my opinion is fine. I never listened to the Dark Star album, but I do get a good idea of why you wouldn't like it: the songs are mostly the same, nothing really sticks out except the moments you pointed out. That's a good start, the musical description is there. You could've maybe added a description of the production or put it into a broader context: you said "I can see why Dark Star got left behind" - well, tell us then. Why is album XYZ much better than Dark Star? You did the "hard" part (writing about music), now you have the space to present your opinion based on that.

Although, to be honest, you gave that album 53%, which is not exactly "negative", but more like "average, yet forgettable". Those are hard to write, because it's usually about the fact that nothing catches your attention and/or the musicians are just repeating themselves.

One more thing you can try is taking an album of the same genre that you think is a good (not the best) example of the style and look at what does work for it and doesn't work for the album in question. For example: I'm reviewing an obscure NWOBHM record from 1980, I'll just see what is it that, say, Saxon or Diamond Head did better (or differently). Hope this helps.
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Sweetie
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 1:19 am
Posts: 1091
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:44 pm 
 

Thank you! And yeah, maybe I should have worded it better, rather calling it a negative review.
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Dembo
Dumbo

Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:58 am
Posts: 2182
PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2017 8:26 pm 
 

TrooperEd wrote:
It helps if you went into an album thinking it's going to be awesome and are let down by it,

A problem with that is that it's more of a review of the expectation rather than of the thing you're disappointed by. For example, people tend to get angry at artists who change genres from one album to another, and will give a bad review of the later just because they for some reason expected the band to stay with the previous genre, even though history is full of bands changing genres from one album to another.

It can also be more of a review of the marketing than of the album. For example when a label releases two full-on thrash songs from an album of ten songs, and those two turns out to be the only thrash songs of the album, some people get angry and gives a bad review of the album because of that, even though it's got nothing to do with the actual album.

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DreamOfDarkness
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:09 pm
Posts: 271
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sat Oct 28, 2017 7:30 pm 
 

Since I don't want to submit all-positive reviews to prevent score inflation, I sometimes seek out for albums that

1. should have a review (when no or only bad ones exist)
2. I dislike for a variety of reasons - mostly being generic
3. I can actually properly review, because I know the sub-genre and "get" what the band is trying to achieve

And this has really turned out to be harder than I thought! Of course there are albums that I really don't like, but it's the third point that often keeps me from writing a negative review. I don't want to be that "but it's not what I expected!"-guy. I have thought about ranting a bit about questionable developments in "modern metal" in a Sabaton or Powerwolf review. But honestly, all this would ever do is pointlessly upsetting fans of said bands ("you don't get it"), yet giving more seasoned metal fans nothing more that a slight chuckle for stating the obvious. Oh, and also I'd have to repeatedly listen to these bands.

Maybe I'll try to form a clear impression of attributes I don't like in albums, either generally or when combined with other attributes. Example: I tend to be somewhat skeptic about very cleanly produced metal albums, and there are both sub-genres where I think it fits well (tech-death, SYL-like industrial metal, some power metal), while I truly despise it in other genres (thrash, grind, black, most death).

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GOOFAM
Metal newbie

Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:06 am
Posts: 162
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Oct 29, 2017 1:59 am 
 

DreamOfDarkness wrote:
Since I don't want to submit all-positive reviews to prevent score inflation, I sometimes seek out for albums that
3. I can actually properly review, because I know the sub-genre and "get" what the band is trying to achieve


This really is the key. If you emerge from the listening experience pretty convinced you knew what the band was trying to do, and you would've liked it or at least respected it if they'd accomplished their goal, that's really your starting point for a negative review. Which then leads you down the path of explaining what didn't work and why it didn't work.

I'd say it's also important to remember that just because you don't give the album a good score doesn't mean you can't recommend it to anyone. There's nothing wrong with saying "Given what I value in music, this didn't work for me, but if you value elements X and Y more, this might work for you."

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Sweetie
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 1:19 am
Posts: 1091
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 8:03 pm 
 

Yeah, I never take the "not what I expected" approach, because I try not to create expectations in the first place, which is why I like a lot of hated albums by bigger bands. I think part of the struggle is having to listen to something I don't like multiple times, enough to know what I'm talking about. Plus, most of the time I will admit that it isn't bad, but can't explain why it doesn't sit right with me.
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