I can't possibly be the only one that hates giant samples of the lyrics in the middle of reviews, can I? I mean, even I'll maybe drop one line in the beginning time to time, but man that is so visually unappealing.

You're not, if I see a big break at any point in a review that is followed by entire verses of a song's lyrics I will pass up on reading the review on general principle. A single phrase or line and some quotation marks does the job sufficiently for whatever gripe someone has about the quality of the lyrics.

BastardHead's review of Obscura is great.

So how would you quote lyrics if you were talking about them at length? Just bunch them all in a paragraph? I don't talk about lyrics very often myself, but surely the only way to quote more than one or two lines and then discuss them is to leave them as a separate quote. That's the done thing in academic writing with very long quotes too.

This, for this reason, as soon as I read a couple of his reviews and started to see his scores and his lack of analysis of classic works, I knew that he is purely an attention-seeker, a troll.

And also seeing the response he has had around here has made it more obvious, I would ban someone like that from writing reviews but since that is not possible the best one can do is to ignore everything he writes and never mention him.

Liking hells_unicorn's take on the recent Tony Martin album. Good write up on how great it is to get something this good from one of metal's sorta unsung heroes.

Both of those reviews seem to cite my favorite parts of it, the bluesy/folk tracks, as weak points. Oh well. Lol. They seem to cover it well enough though.

Oh, I like those, but maybe it's that they're not as flashy as the rest, haha. Guess people are very excited over getting to hear Tony Martin wailing it up again in stuff like No Shame at All

On the one hand I really like this album but there's some stuff I'd bring up in a review personally. I'll probably review it in a week or two.

I know that this practice occurs in academic works, and if I'm reading a lengthy chapter in such a publication about a classic work of poetry it's a different matter, but in a review it's a massive eyesore. Part of my problem with it is more often than not, the person who has made such an elongated quotation tends to be droning on about lyrics to the point that the commentary about the accompanying music comes up short. Admittedly, I don't really get into lyrics too often, and when I do, I speak in general terms and make general comments about the quality of the lyrics rather than pulling down a quotation. If I were to adopt the practice of quoting lyrics, I'd stick to doing a line or two and stick them into a paragraph with commentary about the lyrics.

With the way the site is formatted, it can be a bit of an eyesore if the passage quoted is too long - but yeah I mean I don't see anything wrong with the general practice of quoting lyrics if you've got a point to make. Of course many metal albums don't really have a lot to talk about with the lyrics, but some do.

I'd say a paragraph of lyrics is fine, as long as you can use it as a general example to illustrate a point. More than that gets a bit tedious though.

Does any one else here, among reviewers, feel they've lost their voice somehow? Or simply run out of steam? Admittedly, I'd gotten used to writing in a certain zany style, to the point where I lost track of what's important; namely the music itself, not all the wordy window-dressing propped up in a slack, hollow manner.

For instance, I tried to make a comeback this week by hailing Italy's Bastet, yet find myself unable to extrapolate in words and descriptions beyond mere adjectives and an all-too rehashed formula by now dead in the water. (Suffice it to say, I'm impressed with MA's fresh crop of writers, of late...New blood!)

However, I think I've reached a point where I'd rather get back into actually playing music than simply consuming it, like a voyeuristic minstrel. Having turned 43 last month and suffering a sort of mid-life crisis, went out earlier today and impulsively (without a second thought) bought an off-white Kramer electric axe at Long & McQuade for roughly 250$, soft case and tax included...the cheapest in the store, but hey! (As well, I'll only procure an amp once I deserve it i.e. re-honed past skills long dormant due to addiction, homelessness, lack of belief in one self or simply disillusionment from all the guitar wizards - female included - out there on y'tube, splaying their chops for all and sundry to gawk at in novice envy.)

Ah, I found a doomster there who does Pentagram, Witchcraft and E.Wiz tutorials...it's worth checking out, especially for his lesson on "When The Screams Come".

Btw Night Demon's slated to release a new LP this coming FALL...can hardly wait.

\m/\m/\m/!

Dug the Spell reviews, autothrall...right on about their better release, For None And All; it's great you reeled them back to the forefront like that!

Sort of. I've moved on to making my reviews a bit more efficient to write, though as for the latter question, I do feel myself getting some burnout. There are days where I try to motivate myself to write a review, but I end up not feeling like writing a review at all.

Thanks for responding!

To be honest, I've sobered up a lot over the past year and struggle to find a sober writer's voice, here, now, as before I'd be blasted on god knows what, typing away incandescent thoughts like a manic...I'm trying to reconcile myself to a reality where I sense I'm more neutered or tempered or some shit. Anyway, I'd rather not write any reviews at all than post claptrap!

For instance, now, I'm head, heels and everything else over Doctor Smoke's Dreamers And The Dead, released last fall...They're a psyched out doom act in vein of Uncle Acid and Bone Church and lemme tell ya, that album is a corker...kind of in league with Wolf's The Black Flame or Pentagram's Day Of Reckoning. I've been wanting to write it up with a perfect 100% score for months now, but feel put off out of sheer loss of words for how great it is!

You dig?

(Although, yeah, I smoked a bowl or two yesterday before writing all that!)

CHAIR! However old you are, just do what you feel like in terms of your hobbies, unless you think they're hurting you. You're a creative bloke and I imagine that even if you hang up your old style of writing, you might find a new one, and that will somehow express where you are better. Also, if you're starting to play music again, maybe that will change your perspective on reviewing. It's hardly a coincidence I think that the period when I stopped playing guitar was also the period when I began to heavily get into writing.

Just hearing someone say the names Wolf and Pentagram has me feeling good! Don't let the sign of the wolf bring you down!

I'm into all the discography runs that autothrall has been doing for these newer bands lately.

It's nice to see Maul getting some attention. As much as I enjoy their recorded music, they are simply unbelievable live, and I've had the pleasure of sharing the stage with them. I don't know how they manage to make slow, stripped-down death metal be so energetic, but they do.

Ah! Monsieur Gaz, comment allez-vous?!

Thank you for the message of hope and positivity (which isn't even a word, apparently!). You never know what the future holds, eh?

Btw my fingers nubs are deathly raw already! I definitely need to learn something by Duel, which actually released album number 4 last year. What a novel surprise! Also, The Ossuary aka Bone Parlour has a new one out too.

Happy chemtrails!

https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/ ... on/230999/

From 2009 comes the Indonesian answer to Bitterman! Also not many reviews end with a "fuck you cousin!"

Definitely what I expected from a MA review from 2009. Also, that fuck you cousin line was absolutely golden

I'm not too shabby, old bone. Been moving house which is tiring as hell, but a new one from The Ossuary...I really overlooked that.

It's funny you posted this yesterday, as he namedrops Lord Symphony at the end and I just received Lord Symphony's The Lord's Wisdom on CD in the mail yesterday.

I really dug thewalkingdeadpan's first review, for Pentagram's eponymous release; it's inspiring me somewhat to finally write up the First Daze Here collection...(especially since the band might do a 50 year reunion tour!) I have to admit, I'd relapsed (on speed) last week, and now, I find I can't write properly at all when sober, and obviously, a much saner state of mind. I'm trying to write a review for Galaxy's On The Shores Of Life, which certainly deserves accolades and praise, as it hasn't been reviewed yet, but just can't seem to put such in words which won't appear trite or contrived. How ironic is that?!

Anyhow, yeah, big hail to buddy above and just to say that new Galaxy, as well as Tempelheks' Renegade, rule!

ps your Scorpions review, felix, made me laugh.

For every bit of hair I tear out in annoyance every time I see a piece of bold type in Annable Courts' reviews, I'll be going bald long before I reach middle age.

For real. I don't understand why those reviews haven't been taken back so that Annable can get rid of them. They are horrible to look at for the eyes!

@Chair, that's great, then we are two who like this review. That's one more than I expected, hehe.

Felix and Scorpions is always a good combination.

I like how both Edmund's have done a review for Hunted's Deliver Us.

I guess if we check carefully, there are probably a few more that me and Sackbauer have covered together. I dunno if he's affiliated with any zine or something but his output is incredible.

Looks like Sarcófago's Black Vomit demo is finally getting some reviews this year. I might actually check out the demo myself and give it a different perspective in a future review...

Nausika is about to hit 2000 reviews in a week or two, just the third person to do so on this site. And, probably shortly following that, Bayern seems poised to overtake her. Wow guys.

That's awesome, in a busy-as-a-bee-can-be sort of way; I'm duly amazed by such relentless output...It's as if they've a limitless, never-ending flow of creative juice(s), never hitting writer's block, stag or wane!

Felicitations!

(Since we're on the subject of milestones - not the restaurant - I finally managed to beat/complete XCOM2 after many months of frustrating and painstaking trials and tribulations...and that was only on Veteran mode! To those rare and elusive digital freaks yonder who've won it on Commander/Legendary, on Iron Man mode, to boot, I salute ye! As well as tip/scarf my hats!)

*I could even sense the spirit of my dearly departed pal Dave (who'd steered me towards this monumentally challenging game back in the day) cheer me on during the gruelling-as-F endgame, which saw me curse my head off at every bojangling, nail-biting, race-against the clock turn!)

I'm back again, albeit in a more appropriate fellow praising mode as opposed to self-indulgent vid gamed back patting (although I have to say, finishing that slog of a warring chess match was no easy feat, crikey! It took me about twenty failed runs prior to hitting my (st)ride!)

Bah, just wanted to thank Sweet man for the timely nod to JP's thirst quenching Rocka Rolla condensation i.e. greatly titled review, as said line is inherently mine own fav quip from the classic, which I've long earmarked as "next" (urf, eventual but no guarantees) Priest write-up...Oh shucks also Sanhedrin has a new album (its third) out in March. Phoque me, 2022 is best trad metal year I can recall, no-how -- keep ears peeled now for upcoming Sin Starlett, Venator and Fostermother albums...Word! (to the vingintillioneth power!).

Yes man, I've earmarked a lot of chair-quality heavy metal in the next couple of months! Off the top of my head I'm excited about Luzifer, Sanhedrin, and especially Wooooolf.

Er, do what now?! Wolf has another on the mend? Christ on a Triscuit, I'll have to keep a nose out for that one - let's hope it's of Black Flame/Evil Star(ling)/Black Wings quality!

I forget to note, Blackslash is also rounding the almighty proverbial bend with full-length number four. Great gravy and all that entails, like I said, it's unreal how many killer, wicked acts are reembarking on ye old (unhanded) glory road.

I just finished listening to Flower Tower 's latest, whilst taking time to peruse Bastardhead's overlooked (until now) review in its edacious (but not sagacious), toothsome regard...

On my end, I don't remember the last time I pumped out three in one day; I'm literally all burnt out (after writing up Burning - !)

Appreciate it greatly!

You're "bienvenue", my Eastern friend; Oi, gas, loved the Ty Morn review - I'd pranced around it at nwothm's tube channel a couple days ago and left it on as background muse...Highly pleasant stuff. (Agree with comparisons to Gamma Ray and Ignitor!)

Additionally, what a great, soul-edifying read is BastardHead's Tower nod (to tenth power!)

Had an interesting read with robotiq's review on Pitchshifter's "Industrial".

While the album is blatant Streencleaner worship, I actually found it pretty neat since it does elaborate more on the themes and elements Godflesh had in their debut. While I can kind of see why that could be a problem for some, I personally don't mind it.

Why on earth does every negative review for Drawing Down the Moon make the claim that its not a black metal album, I mean, I don't give two shits if someone doesn't like it, but I just think it's objectively black metal, people saying it makes me think they're going into it with different expectations than what the album actually is, i.e. if it doesn't sound exactly like Darkthrone it's not black metal, which obviously isn't true so idk just something I noticed