Five.

All right, good, I'm about on par with that.

Well, they're varying on "bare bone"-ness. Looks like he's skimming up and down into good and bad zones. That Sepultura one is garbage, though.

I'm just going to nuke the Sep review now. It's clearly not good enough to stay.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/J ... autothrall

The opener is called "Judas Rising," not "Judas Priest."

Thanks for catching that, M_D. Fixed.

No problem. Easy mistake to make.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/O ... Atheist666

I like the part where he wonders why they included the "remix" of "Bullituary" but not the original.

I pretty much agree with hells_unicorn's review of Shadowmaker: not spectacular by any stretch, pretty darned average at points, but decent if you forget that this is the same guy who opened earlier albums with Riding The Storm and Black Hand Inn.

Actually, I think it's a record that aspires to "decent-ness" as opposed to shooting for greatness and falling short. The compositions are there, they do their thing, and then they clean up after themselves without trying to leave a lasting impression. It's a far cry from classic RW either way, though.

Now, I actually did enjoy the last handful of Running Wild albums, so I was expecting to like Shadowmaker more than a lot of you who stopped finding them amusing at a certain cutoff point, but I think it's just about their weakest yet (keeping in mind that I don't think Rolf has released any "bad" albums, per se).

Well, Willytank strikes again and keeps on beating Gorguts' best albums to the ground. I hate to bitch since everyone has a right to its own opinion, but it does strike me as strange how can someone say that Ulcerate is better than Gorguts. Seriously, it's like saying that Evocation is better than Dismember or that Isis is better than Neurosis.

The best part is that the review is more of a comparative essay between two bands attempting more or less the same stylistic approach and thoughts of bitterness towards the one that (supposedly) doesn't achieve it. Barely any musical description aside from it being some sort of "post-death metal".

Anyway, I just needed to vent out the feeling of wrath. And dude, if you're reading this, you have horrible taste in death metal!

Well, I guess that means that Immolation, Bolt Thrower, Panzerchrist, and Incantation are all shit bands yes?

The latter two, no. The first one is overrated and the second is pretty shit.

Oo, controversy!

Notice the tong sticking out at the end of the bickering sentence will you?!

No one has objectively any good or bad taste, as taste is pretty much the most unobjective thing you can have. Every person is different and what's good for one person is bad for another. I respect that, it's healthy and it makes the world keep turning.

With that being said I can say that I cringed about your review because it's basically a statement of "A band not being able to do something that B band did", this even more when "B band" is very much the logical continuation of "A band". Wouldn't go as far as saying that Ulcerate are a Gorguts clone, but the influence is hard to miss really. Mind you that I really like Ulcerate on their first works. It's just your reasoning that itches me you know? Not your opinion.

If you said that the album sucked while showing by some musical examples/description that they haven't achieved anything with you then I'd read and take it like a man, in a "Ok, so someone doesn't like X album I love, but he/she can make a good point/argument" way. Yours doesn't read like that sorry.

And yes, I worship Gorguts, but then again there's much more death metal in the world.

Is this irony?

No, it's an opinion, and if it isn't what he really thinks than it's a joke, or facetiousness, not fucking irony.

This shouldn't annoy me as much as it does.

I actually had to google that word, "facetiousness", pretty fancy term actually!

Well, if it's a joke and he's intentionally using it jocosely to say something that he feels the opposite way about then it could be called irony. Couldn't it? But then again why are we discussing the correct application of language on an Internet forum?! Feels pretty redundant.

The fact that "being ironic" means "just kidding" nowadays just gets under my skin for some reason. But no, that's what he thinks I'm sure, it's a valid opinion even if unpopular.

I get that feeling sometimes from very small things that I know shouldn't make me feel as irked as they do. And of course it's a valid opinion! As I said above personal, and in this case musical, taste is anything but objective.

Look at me I say controversial things!!

Now now, Wilytank is free to hold wrong opinions. The average review score isn't that important.

Still, not gonna lie, I got a pretty good chuckle out of someone insinuating Ulcerate can play Gorguts better than Gorguts can.

And please, no one tell me that you hated Gorguts the first 999 listens but loved it by the 1000th. That seriously can't be a point in its favor. Hit your hand with a hammer 1000 times and yeah you'll eventually stop feeling the pain, but you'll have seriously fucked yourself up.

So music never "clicks" for you? Your initial response to it is engraved in stone, and dares not waver no matter how much attention you pour into a musical work, or the mood you're in while listening to it?

MalignantThrone has shit taste in Death Metal? I'm shocked. Anyways, Gorguts were much better when they played "regular", riffy, Death Metal. I have no problem agreeing that everything Ulcerate did is better than Obscura.

Obscura is incredibly overrated, nor is From Wisdom to Hate a revolutionary masterpiece, but songs like Nostalgia and Inverted are really cool Gorguts songs.

In simple terms, yes. I've always had a neutral or calm mood when I'm into musical exploration. There's usually a certain level of likeness that I'll give an album on a first listen; and if it falls short of that level, I'll usually leave it in the dust while I search for music more worthy of my listening time. If I do return to an album that I haven't thought highly of, it's because I've heard something similar that I've dug immediately such as Skepticism's Stormcrowfleet that I didn't think highly of until I heard Funeral's Tristesse which I dug immediately. It does not always work out though. Case in point: Gorguts and Ulcerate.

So you gained an immediate liking towards Ulcerate's works and then went checking out Gorguts in retrospective, which ended up in you having expectations raised and not fulfilled. I get that. Now, if you could use that as an argument in the review I would've kept my mouth shut!

At the risk of repeating myself, I'm OK with people trashing my faves, but they do have to make some sense while doing so. More so I think that it's important to keep the writing style the same, be it that the album deserves a 100 or 0, either way the review should be done in a way that let's the reader understand exactly why you like/dislike the album at hand. Know what I mean?! I don't get that feeling from your review and that's probably why people bitched about it, the same way it happened when you posted Obscura's.

Don't think of me as an enemy, I think I've proven that I'm here to discuss things reasonably and not just bash away.

Actually, I checked out Gorguts first with Obscura and put it in the 2.5/5 (50% range). I did give it further listens in prep for a review and my opinion of it actually worsened to the score I gave it in my review. Ulcerate was checked out next, the first album I listened to being The Destroyers of All and got an initial score of 3.5/5 (70% area), upon later listens, I upgraded it to 4/5 (80%).

This trend is going to differ from what bands I listen to. And stuff I used to think as great such as Dream Theater (Scenes From a Memory and Six Degrees... in particular, both I have owned but recently sold) can really lose value.

As for reviews, I do find it easier to write positive reviews which is why I have more of them, and even then I often pick out a few errors that prevent it from getting a perfect score. I guess part of it has to do with forcing myself back through music I don't like to find particular things I don't like about it. There are a few negative ones that I am 100% pleased with such as my review for Torsofuck or Make Me Famous, a mallcore band that isn't on this site. I may rewrite a few reviews, including the Gorguts ones. but not anytime soon. Got other albums I really want to review.

Perception of the same music throughout time is bound to change eventually, you may find it better or worse, and in rare cases you might find yourself enjoying it as much as 10 years ago. When you do you know you have something special.

It's good to listen to other different bands, even though you may not like them, because it lets you gain a wider perspective of things, and as you rightfully say it let's you understand how good the good music actually is.

Sorry for the bitter start as I've actually enjoyed this dialogue. Now don't bash more Gorguts albums, please...

Kudos to Zodijackyl for being the first person on the archives to agree with me about Arsis We Are The Nightmare.

Congrats, you agree with someone who likes Illud Divinum Insanus.

Well, everyone likes something shitty. I've never listened to that album, and never will.
Also, I know that being patronizing gives you infinite hard-ons, but I like what I like, and nothing anybody says can make me feel like my taste is bad, so it's pretty pointless.

Can't you say anything that isn't condescending bullshit? And this coming from someone who hates both Illud Divinum Insanus AND We Are the Nightmare.

+1. Seriously, it's time for an intervention.

I agree! and that comes from someone who's always protecting and defending you, Malignant.

http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/A ... _Dei_Ameth

Is it just me or is this review really annoying?

First review of Sonata Arctica's latest yields a 91%. Let's see how long that average lasts (I'm not reviewing it).

That's about what I would give it too.

I think he went a tiny bit overboard with that one.

"'Blood In Our Wells' sees the band incorporating a greater measure of melody into their arboreal style".

Another ConorFynes gem from his new Drudkh review.