The bit about Exodus versus the Big Four is more just me scratching an itch than trying to take anything away from the record. It's very trendy for historical revisionists to claim Exodus would somehow have been anointed King Thrash if they'd only shipped their album a bit earlier, which isn't the case.

I agree with the bulk of that. And yet, in spite of people claiming not to care about popularity (and knee-jerk spurning anything that is popular, regardless of quality) there are many who keep trying to insist that their pet bands coulda woulda shoulda been huge.

"Locked", which for the most part consists of a really loud, really bassy "DUSSSSSSSH" thing repeated over and over again finally gets it's, erm, "Riff" on in the last few minutes of the song, and it quite an excellent part that makes you wonder WHY on earth that part didn't come earlier. It seems that much of this album would just be so much better if Stijn wasn't so freaking fond of FORCING you to eat your vegetables before you get any desert, or giving you a little taste of what could've been.

From caspian's latest Fall of the Grey-Winged One review:



http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=12124#23414

...but now they have incorporated the weakest clean vocals i have ever heard. It sounds like someone from Blue Man Group talking through his dick.

Well I assume you meant that he only gives up brief snatches of anything remotely interesting. Having listened to some of his work, it certainly seems consistent with my experience.

But what many people fail to see (or perhaps refuse to believe) is that King Diamond sold out too by releasing this album, yet in a somewhat different way. For KD lost the innovativeness that he had previously with Mercyful Fate. Instead of songs about Satan and drinking goats blood, we get songs about Halloween, as well as other typical 80's power metal lyrical content.

Now I really have grown to like Danzig a lot. His self-titled debut and its successor are two classic albums that I listen to a lot. I even like his industrial tinged stuff on 6:66 – Satan’s Child, which is another album I listen to quite a lot. All his stuff is sort of the same but very good musically and lyrically. All the songs on here sound like your typical Danzig tunes and it’s easy to see what albums they come from.

with weird headlines about Hilter

It was released in 2004 so, even with a optimal production for a "beginner" band, expect a big surprise for their next album which I think it's gonna be terrible.

I'll attempt to do this album proper justice since the previous reviewers obviously didn't understand what they were listening to.

The music is supposed to sound very animated with a lively almost..pop edge to it. That's just the style. It's not meant to be grim. Get over it and get on with your life.

The new review for Moi Dix Mois - Dix Infernal is really irritating me.





The whole "the other reviewers just don't get it" part comes off as incredibly smug and obnoxious. I mean, if you're going to claim that the other reviewers "just don't get it," then you should at least provide a decent argument - instead, the reviewer decides to whine about the negative scores the album got. It's also implied that the other reviewers don't like the album because it's not "grim and true."

The second of the three prominent "trademark" weaknesses are the occasional unintentional (or so I think, or hope) upbeat/cheerful sounding parts, that are not only ridiculous but also entirely out of place. A classic all-time "favourite" of mine in that department would be the semi-clean vocal part in "Carnage in the Temple of the Damned" that almost sounds like Ice-T. So terrible.

I assume we're talking about the "When we meet again it will be the promised land..." part. The ecstatic shouted chorus that makes that song so memorable... How you get "upbeat/cheerful" or Ice-T (solo or Body Count?) out of that I have no idea.

Actually upbeat I could almost see, since the album does often have a sadistic pleasure sort of vibe, it's a fairly enthusiastic and excited tribute to the sick and satanic I'd say. But unintentionally cheerful? I don't hear it, does anyone else?

This can probably double in the 'what I hate in reviews' thread, 'cause it bothers me when ratings and overall views of albums are threatened by bonus tracks that really had nothing to do with the original product.

Agreed. I have no problem with awarding a few extra points based on some really good bonus tracks, but giving a lower score because a record label tacked on a few demo versions, or something? Weak.

What do you think about something like Pleasure to Kill, in which the bonus tracks are usually considered to be a part of the album and flow very naturally from the main album? Should the reviewer exclude the tracks from Flag of Hate EP when reviewing it?

I even have a problem with people putting on points for that, espeically when it makes a drastic change in the score. Like in UltraBoris's Like An Ever Flowing Stream review, he said his favorite song on the album was a bonus track, and that most likely increased the score by at least 5 points.

I even have a problem with people putting on points for that, espeically when it makes a drastic change in the score. Like in UltraBoris's Like An Ever Flowing Stream review, he said his favorite song on the album was a bonus track, and that most likely increased the score by at least 5 points.

Agreed. I have no problem with awarding a few extra points based on some really good bonus tracks, but giving a lower score because a record label tacked on a few demo versions, or something? Weak.

Right, they're bonus tracks. The record company is trying to give you more bang for your buck, so even if what they hand you isn't all that remarkable, at least they're not taking stuff away, like some cd releases of Omen's Battle Cry and Exciter's Violence and Force where they substitute one song for another, which doesn't make much sense to me.

What do you think about something like Pleasure to Kill, in which the bonus tracks are usually considered to be a part of the album and flow very naturally from the main album? Should the reviewer exclude the tracks from Flag of Hate EP when reviewing it?

My version of Battle Cry has both.

Yep, the final group is pretty freakin' hard to understand. I have no problem with people disliking Metallica over Napster and St.Anger, and if Megadeth fans want to show their solidarity with Dave by making the "Mustaine was Metallica" claim then that's OK with me. But to deny the life affirming beauty that are the first four albums of this great/once great (circle whichever you think applies) band is frankly bizarre and quite masochistic, somewhat akin to those monks who eat only bread and water in an attempt at increased piety.

Yeah, I probably could've just gone with the "compare the lyrics in the title track to Motley Crue's 'Girls Girls Girls', big difference eh?".

Good point, really. I don't really think it's a 'what the christ' moment, though. But sure, it's too long.

True, true. I could've sworn that it looked better when I posted it though. And i'm not normally one to waffle endlessly, either.

It's pretty close to a 'what the christ moment', it's a 33 line comparison