Welcome to the 19th MA Virgin Reviews Challenge!

This challenge is a time-honored tradition among our reviewers here. Every winter and every summer reviewers are encouraged to spend a week writing and submitting as many quality reviews as possible, with the aim to focus on albums with no reviews so far (ie. virgin albums). Every day, the reviews submitted and accepted are tallied, so that participants can see how they compare with one another and whether or not, altogether, we've been able to surpass previous challenges' totals.

This challenge will run from Monday June 5th @ 12:00AM EST to Sunday June 11th @ 11:59PM EST.

The magic number to beat is 609. That was set in May 2009. It's high but we can beat it.
The second magic number to beat is 486. That was the total from the last challenge!

The MA Reviews Challenge Rules

1. The focus is on virgin albums.
The only albums that count are those that had zero reviews prior to the challenge.

2. Every release listed on the main site is valid including singles, videos, boxed sets and so on.
However please try to refrain from mass reviewing singles for this challenge. That's lame.

3. Eligible releases have to be virgins at the beginning of the challenge.
Multiple people can review the same virgin. There’s no bonus for getting to it first, so no need to hurry – focus on quality instead.

4. Value quality over quantity!
Everyone is welcome to participate, but keep in mind that the mods won't be more lenient during the challenge.

5. The challenge abides by the default time of the site (Eastern Standard time or GMT-5).
Please ensure that you are posting your review(s) within the right time frame in order for them to count.

6. The total number of reviews written will be tallied once a day (under normal circumstances).
Derigin (myself) will kindly do the tallying as soon as possible. Please don't nag him (me).

7. Stay cordial and respectful with one another.
Don't hijack this thread with petty arguments or whining. Remember that the mods are watching (and waiting)...

8. The only reward is our eternal appreciation.
The only prize is knowing that there is an album that previously didn't get any love... that now has a review to call its own.

The MA Reviews Challenge Hall of Fame





Based on its success we will be continuing with the SECRET SATAN bonus round...

... BUT with a twist! I'm NOT gonna try to match anyone with others that share similar tastes. It will be completely random, so beware that you may be matched with someone who does not share your tastes and may have you review an album outside of your comfort zone. If you CANNOT accept this then please do not put your name forward for this.

As always you can opt-in to SECRET SATAN. You will be matched with another reviewer by yours truly. You will exchange with one another a virgin album for review (explained below). You will commit to reviewing that album for the challenge. In order to participate, please contact me through a PM on the forum OR mention it in a post in this thread ASAP. Be forewarned, I will not be accepting requests to join once the challenge begins. As I receive requests I will match people periodically. I will put matches in contact. Once matched, you are required to provide a link to the album you want the other person to review. Please keep in mind the following rules:

- It MUST be an album on this site with no reviews at the time it is shared with the other person.
- It MUST be available for FREE online and in either a QUALITY DOWNLOAD or QUALITY STREAM. It should be EASY to acquire without using third-party software.
- Ideally, please avoid sharing your own band's album. There are better avenues for promotion.
- It is best to provide a backup album for the person you're matched with just in case they have problems accessing it.

Once you receive a link to an album, please review it and submit it during the challenge. That way it will count for this challenge.

Please remember this is done in good faith. If you get an album you don't want to review, fine, but don't be a party pooper for others. And, lastly, if you have any problems with the person you're matched with, let me know. I have spare albums for review just in case it doesn't work out.

Signed up for Secret Satan (as of June 5th 2017):


Have fun! Looking forward to your participation!

Sign me up for Secret Satan, please.

I'm ready!

I'm not doing the Secret Satan though, sorry

sign me up!

Awesome, looking forward to this! I'd also like to sign up for Secret Satan, please.

Secret Satan here we come. Note: whoever gets paired with me can be assured they will receive some form of gnarly speed/thrash/black/death metal, most likely from South America.

Nice, been out of the game for a while but I'm trying to start doing reviews again so this might serve as some extra motivation. I'm game for Secret Satan as well.

Sign me up! I'll do Secret Satan too.

I think I'll throw my hat in for the Review Challenge, but no Secret Satan this time around. Maybe for the Holidays!

ill try to do the secret satan. I am going to try do my last secret satan as well when i suddenly ran out of time midway through the challenge to review it.

It's been a while, but my creative juices are flowin' again! Give me a secret satan this time around

I had a lot of fun last time and I would really love to participate, but I'm rather busy that week.

Well, crap... I'll be in Monaco from early 6th to late in the evening on the 9th. This is the worst timing, like, EVAH. Like, crap, like, totally.

Still going to write at least one, though. Never skipped a challenge so far.

Now I feel like a douche for starting a new thread asking when this was happening. Anyway, that sounds like a good week for me, just gotta start making the list and try to beat my total from last time.

Secret Satan me please, Derigin!

Damnit, this lands directly on finals week! I'm gonna try and put out more than 1 review this time, however. I've been listening to a lot of albums recently and many of them do not have any reviews yet.

Say hi to the Prince for us.

He's probably not going to pay us a visit, but I do have a ticket for a 300 euro gala dinner. I expect roasted specimens of endangered species on the plate, full-contact sword-fighting as entertainment, and grapes fed by wholesome ladies of lower nobility as dessert. And one of those Cleopatra-themed maidens wafting an ostrich feather fan to keep my earthly shell comfortably ventilated.

Have fun, Napero. If you can, see if the Barbary Leopard Survival Fight is still going on. You could win a stuffed panda!

I'll be on vacation, too, (although not so exotic) during that week, but I will try to get at least one in for the challenge.

I actually think for 300 bucks you get the right to do that for the lowest nobility sorry.

Secret Satan list is updated. We're currently at 10 participants.

Hmm...maybe I can do a few but I'll pass on Secret Satan this time. I'll be traveling for part of this and will be pretty busy the days leading up to that.

Heads up, I'll be coupling people up for secret satan tonight.

I'll be reviewing, but not in secret satan this year. I wholly recommend the experience (thanks EoH for turning me on to some nice Chicago metal) but I don't want it to throw me off my rhythm since I've already got a couple virgins I've spun a couple times already. Looking forward to it!

I'm in the same boat, I'm not sure how much I'll contribute, but I've been listening to several albums on my list for the past week and I plan on hitting the ground running and at least getting something in each day, which is what I did last time. Never really took the plunge on the Secret Satan thing, maybe next time.

Too bad this isn't a week later, since I'm getting laid off my job then. Might just call in sick tomorrow so I can crank a few out.

And so it begins!

Welp, my hat's in the ring now. Three short reviews for a band no one cares about that are hardly even recommendations in the first place. GET HYPED!!

Let's go, troopers!

Wow I totally missed this. I've never been a big participant, but might try to crank a couple out.

Has the 5 pending reviews limit been raised for this event?

Well in just one day, I managed to meet my personal record of the last challenge: 2. Got another one to be worked on in my notebook. Then I got to scour my library for some shit.

It has not been lifted. Most staffers are checking the review queue a little more often than usual during the challenge in an attempt to keep things running smoothly.

Zodi convinced me to get in on this, now hopefully I can get my submitted review up to standards, since I haven't done any real writing in fucking ages.

I had some trouble thinking of what to review this challenge but i finally decided to review hardcore oriented stuff.

Daily Tally for June 5th 2017
Total Reviews: 114 / 114
Total Virgin Reviews: 97 / 97
Percentage (VIRGINS/TOTAL): 85.1%

Participant List for June 5th 2017
Total Participants: 31 / 31
Today's Totals per Individual:



So, compared to the start day of the last two challenges, our numbers are up for both # of virgins (97 compared to 85 and 63) and # of participants (31 compared to 27 and 28). A great beginning!

"It's the Review Challenge so I guess I'll review Mercyful Fate" -TrooperEd

(the review is staying in the queue forever)

^

Somehow I've gotten drawn into participating again... just had two albums that had zero reviews that I already wanted to do anyway!

Well it's a good thing my post got overlooked for secret satan because I'd have to drop out anyway. Between now and my post several things came up that require my attention xd

I'll do my best to write some reviews this week, regardless!

lol @Napalm Satan for reviewing Crack the Skye during the challenge. Come on guys, we don't do those things often...

Conveniently the two albums I've reviewed for SFM since this challenge started are both (1) released and (2) virgins. Especially surprised that nobody had touched that Secret Sphere album.