Well it's short and kinda crappy but he backs up his point and describes the music well enough. Not very good, mind you, but not very nukeworthy either.

Right, in an insulting way. My point is, I don't write them for MA, but MA is more than welcome to them, if they want. I'm more of the Cosmo Lee school of thought, which is that good metal writing should be, first and foremost, good writing. I don't always succeed. But it is, in my humble (or not humble) opinion, better than what often passes for good writing around here. Take OzzyApu, for instance (I'm only picking on him because I recently read several of his reviews). He throws out a new metaphor every other sentence, without any cohesive overall theme or flow. Lots of detail vs. flow--I'll take flow any day. Especially when the review is so damned long and the paragraph breaks are few and far between. It's like reading a dense federal statute, with unconnected, hit-or-miss commentary on each and every line.

Reading many of the lengthy reviews on MA is like listening to a really bad funeral doom record. If it makes you feel more "kvlt" and "trve" to get through it and convince yourself to like it, then more power to you.

There are good reviewers here, to be sure, but the philosophy behind the reviews is outdated. Until such time as MA changes its policies and gets over the groupthink . . . I'll get off my soapbox. And I'll keep submitting periodically until such time as the powers that be ask me not to.

Take OzzyApu, for instance (I'm only picking on him because I recently read several of his reviews). He throws out a new metaphor every other sentence, without any cohesive overall theme or flow. Lots of detail vs. flow--I'll take flow any day. Especially when the review is so damned long and the paragraph breaks are few and far between. It's like reading a dense federal statute, with unconnected, hit-or-miss commentary on each and every line.

Reading many of the lengthy reviews on MA is like listening to a really bad funeral doom record. If it makes you feel more "kvlt" and "trve" to get through it and convince yourself to like it, then more power to you.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Horna/Musta_Kaipuu/241685/autothrall

Very short on actual musical description.

This is raw black metal, done much like any other Horna recording of the past 16 years

Autothrall does not feel human emotions such as gratitude.

Yet another barebones one off of Quo Vadis' debut. Pretty awful all round ranging from grammar, to the fact that he doesn't mention anything else about the album other than the first three tracks.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Q ... 49/Helvete

This one sort of lies in a grey area I suppose in that its EP's only review, but it's a track by track and yet again, very barebones.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/D ... /Vuurgeest

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/S ... 851/Largos

Another one here, Three paragraphs about how they're better than 'insert x melodeath band'. Then one paragraph of musical description where the reviewer pretty much just talks about the album's length.

By the way, you might want to look at the reviews for this band: http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Dark_End/103340
especially their most recent album: http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/D ... _I/329687/

The style of all three reviews is very similar . . . anyway, they read like they were written by the same person, and that person has a stake in the band, especially when you consider the accounts that wrote them haven't written anything else (except one of them, who wrote one review for a different band in addition to several for that band).

It’s past and gone when the Nordic wind used to blow from Norway, and it’s rather all kinds of rotten stenches that you can get from there now. All these innumerable projects of talented virtuoso musicians arouse only firm disgust. Apart from DARKTHRONE and TSJUDER there’s nothing to recall, no matter what band I would try to trace. And here I got a promo-CD of a band unknown to me named MARERITT. Well, it is unknown not only to me though. Browsing through the Internet didn’t give any result, so let’s pass to the music straight away. Damn, I didn’t hear such Black Metal for long time. There’s an impression that this mini-album was recorded somewhat in the beginning of the 90-es – for so raw it sounds. But this impression is false as this project is a very young one. But the way the musicians could reproduce the atmosphere of complete underground is very respectable and it’s a big plus for them. Musically, it is primitive, very raw and slow BM, quite depressive and atmospheric. It’s not on the level of ABYSSIC HATE or NORTT (which is quite natural), but the band definitely has the potential. MARERITT will find its listener, just 17 minutes is a bit not too serious.

What is with the onslaught of goregrind and grindcore bands?! These guys are a bunch of yobs who step into a studio:
1) Mutter and scream some crap into the microphone.
2) The guitarists play the same guitar riff over and over again. (on their down tuned guitars in an attempt to sound heavy)
3) The bassist does his level best to sound audible. (epic fail)
4) The drummer punches in multiple blast beats and terrible ride, snare hits.

This is absolute, incorrigible, deplorable and despicable crap. (Also known as shit) Gorerotted started off okay but have turned into a pretty appalling band who sound like another band who played that riff you just heard, who sound like yet another band who played that riff you just heard. This has to stop. This is unfortunately classified as music, which is pathetic as grindcore sounds more like a mouse, a cat, a dog and a dogcatcher thrown into a small room and a microphone was kept in there to record the ruckus. Maybe the above concoction may sound more distinct.

Coming back to the music on this album, it is just a shade short of terrible and feeble put together, added with a bit of dreadful and frightful. And the song names?? ‘Stab Me Till I Cum’ – is this a frail attempt to copy Cannibal Corpse. Just because both bands lyrics are gory and about zombies doesn’t give Gorerotted the right to take a CC song and desecrate its name. ‘Cut, Gut, Beaten, Eaten,’ is three minutes and twenty four seconds of your life you're not getting back; it’s shoddy and pretty depressing simply because you can’t get jack of what’s going on. If these guys think that they can be the CC of goregrind they have another thing coming. ‘Mutilated in Minutes,’ and ‘Bed 'Em, Behead 'Em’ are both tracks running on a lost cause and so are the other tracks.

Final Verdict – 1% for sitting and wasting 26:06 minutes of the producers’ time and for their “attempt” to write an album called ‘Mutilated in Minutes’.

Right. What have we here? Gorerotted is certainly a band with a very so-so image, painted red on stage and all. Actually when I think about it, I really have to see them live someday...... He he. Nonetheless, what we have here is descent gore metal. Mondo Medicale or Necroticism this isn't, still not bad though. The vocals are on pretty much all the time, and you really must admit that the two vocalists work together with their different vocals. More often than not, you will here them both working at the same time, and that undeniably sounds very cool.

The lyrics are standard gore metal. So if you're into that sort of thing, (or you just don't really care about lyrics, like me) theres plenty of violence, slitted throats and decapitated civilians to be found on this record. Gotta admit that the whole thing is pretty damn catchy, as is most gore metal really. Oh yeah, if you dig "UUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" type growls, theres plenty on this album.

As said though, if you're the type that want technical solos and stuff like that, this probably ain't what you're looking though. I must admit, the lack of solos really hurts it a bit though, and it therefore can't achieve a better ranking in my book. The band has great potential, methinks. Guys, throw in some solos on your next, and I'm gonna send you a love letter. Yeah.

At the Gate of Sethu - 100%

At the Gate of Sethu, another solid release from the South Carolina death metallars, Nile. This has to be the most atmospheric album Nile have released so far. Their previous releases are pure death metal, speed and sheer brutality with a pinch of Egyptian atmosphere. While this album delivers the same speed and brutality, it delivers even more. In this release, you are up to a darker more haunting atmosphere; as it doesn't only focus on the speed but also focuses on some slow riffs that amazingly go with the Egyptian ambiance. All that, along with the brutality of death metal are what make At the Gate of Sethu one hell of an album.

Having spoken of the amazing atmosphere of the album, let's tackle the memorability of most of the songs. The guitars are very solid, technical riffs here and there with quite some really great atmospheric Egyptian-like sound. I have had some quite hard time remembering most of the songs, some parts of them being a little monotonous. Nevertheless, the atmospheric riffs kind of break the monotony and make the songs quite memorizable. There are two instrumental tracks on this album, Slaves of Xul and Ethno-Musicological Cannibalisms delivering the atmosphere being created here, a very dark and evil one.

The production on this album is actually great. The guitars are very solid as I have mentioned, very heavy delivering the sheer brutality of death metal. The drums are really amazing, their great sound does George Kollias's playing justice. I personally love the vocals on this one, not much to say really. A great production done here nonetheless.

In my opinion, this album is a must-have for Nile and death metal fans. It is another great release by the band through Nuclear Blast. It is the best death metal can have, in my opinion; brutal and fast yet slightly melodic riffs, with fast yet solid drums, and amazing death metal growls. What are you waiting for, go ahead and buy the damn thing.

Track suggestions:
Enduring the Eternal Molestation of Flame
The Fiends Who Come to Steal the Magick of the Deceased
The Inevitable Degradation of Flesh
The Gods Who Light Up the Sky at the Gate of Sethu
Supreme Humanism of Megalomania
The Chaining of the Iniquitous

From track one all the way to the last track, you immediately recognize the same trusty Heidevolk sound that made the band well-known and brought them success! After listening to the album, we did noticed that the album itself is a bit darker and stronger than what we are used to from them, especially for folk metal standards. If you listen closely, it also contains lots of doom, black and heavy metal references. Is that bad? Hell no! In our opinion, it actually fits perfectly on this album. We would even go that far in saying that Heidevolk captured their energetic and the engaging aspect they have on stage very well on this cd, something we personally think was never too well captured on earlier cds and is, as many bands know, very difficult to do. But you can only make that decision if you have seen the band perform live, I guess.

There are heavy parts, mellow parts, and an epic, dramatic finale. Everything that an epic should have. It is in fact, the first epic that I fell in love with, and undoubtedly the precursor and influence that drove suceeding band's like Dream Theater to write their epics.

The rest of the songs range from being just alright to great. 'A Passage To Bangkok' is a great song, with oriental influences. The only really forgettable song on the album is 'Lessons.' The rest of it is actually really good.

But it's too hard-rock oriented to stand the test of time