On a final note, this challenge ushered in my 1,000th heavy metal album review per the currents stats now up on empath, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one to have done so since the closest to that number other than myself is CHAIRTHROWER with 674 (I think autothrall is 3rd with 654), so in that sense this particular challenge turned out to be a special one for me despite my comparatively meager showing. Maybe by next challenge I'll be able to get my total number of thrash and death metal album reviews over the 1,000 mark, since they'd be next on the chopping block. lol

Thanks for clearing this up still glad to have been part of this for such a long time, despite my long break inbetween.



Incredible!

PS: Hells, you are a freak!

managed to squeeze in 2 reviews which is my best in several challenges but still wanted to write more originally.
Surprised nobody else went for the new Ares Kingdom though.

Holy crap Hells, that is nuts. Congrats man, that is some dedication. Browsing your reviews, especially when ordered by band name, is friggin mindblowing.

Also a big congrats to The Burning Gasmask. You both were unstoppable, every review I read was entertaining, and averaging nearly 8 per day is absolutely bananas. Well done on your joint-win! I'm pleased with myself that I could contribute every day, even if it was only 1 per day. It just feels great to get back into reviewing in general. Thanks again for hosting, Burning!

It's been an interesting ride since 2005 when I first started writing here, started off as just a random hobby during free time and just grew over the years into what is now a second paying job. Back in my school days English and writing were actually two of my weak spots, and I went through a rough patch through my first 2 years on this site where I struggled to get reviews approved at times. The site has changed a lot over the past 17 years, a lot of the users I was competing with back in the early days of these challenges are gone or are only occasionally present.

That being said, I still have some work to do before I finally catch up with autothrall, who still has a little over 1,2000 more reviews than me and has me pretty thoroughly beat in terms of extreme metal sub-genre numbers (his death metal review count is dangerously close to 2,000 and his black metal total is over 1,500). These challenges have been my primary motivation for continuing to churn out more content, and will continue to be so until I finally run out of words. lol

P.S. - It's been a thrill reading all of the new reviews I managed to peruse thus far from this challenge, looking forward to taking another shot at surpassing that magic 609 cumulative number next time.

You're the man for taking the time to read them! Hosting was truly an immense pleasure as well.

Nah, I wasn't really held back, that was just the best I could do this time, so all victory should be sweet. However, I consider the fact that you have one of my quotes in your signature a bonus point for me, haha. Why that one in particular?

Haha, no particular reason I suspect. It made me laugh the first time and it still does, so I never thought about changing it, with the only exception of some days ago, about Monday morning... wonder why?

Jokes aside, I rarely frequent other forums outside of this, so I don't come across many things more apt or I just don't think about it when I do. Although the most important part of it is arguably the Dissection quote, which has stayed for all this time mainly because its blue color makes it incredibly easier to quickly find my comments around lol.

That color makes brain buzz, haha. I think that it's starting to distintegrate my neurons.

Just imagine the effect it's had on me during all these long years...

Is there going to be a review challenge at some point soon? I've been AWOL from the site for most of 2023 but I do plan on contributing.

It's most likely gonna be held sometime in June.

Indeed. I haven't spoken with Derigin yet, so there's nothing official per se, but I'm gravitating towards choosing one week out of the month's latter half.

I'll still be at the helm, but I strongly doubt I'll be able to defend my throne as well...

Well, don't worry; once again, achieving organization and first place together was a feat which is now forever settled in MA's History.

Glad to read the next edition is under way. Now all I have to do is convincing my new boss the MA Reviews Challenge is essential to the general improvement of humankind, so that he leaves me enough time for participation.

In a perfect world, that shouldn't be too hard to believe...

fuck i have finals until next week, thus unable to participate

Ah, you don't need my permission! You're the host now, go ahead and start things up whenever you feel like it.

Got it! I'm gonna decide the exact week soon after I figure out some real-life stuff.