Happy holidays and a merry, satanic Christmas to all!

It's that time of the year again - time for our classic MA Virgin Reviews Challenge! First hosted almost a decade ago, the Virgin Reviews 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). This challenge is meant to encourage people to make reviews for albums that don't have any! 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.

Here’s the week for the challenge: from Friday December 18th @ 12:00AM EST to Thursday December 24th @ 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 384. That was the total from December last year!

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





This time we're gonna try something new, especially given the timing this year. I'm not sure how well this will turn out, but hell, might as well give it a try. In addition to the challenge, you can opt-in to the Secret Santa (Satan?) bonus round. In this Secret Satan you will be matched up with another reviewer by yours truly. You will exchange with one another a virgin album for review (explained below) and will commit to reviewing that album for the challenge. I will try to make sure that the matches reflect reviewers' genre preferences, though that is not guarantee. Please continue reading for an explanation how this will work.

1. If you are interested, please contact me through PM on the forum. Please indicate your top three genre preferences. Avoid being too specific.

2. Prior to the start of the challenge I will match individuals up with one another based, as much as possible, on their genre preferences.

3. Once matched, get in contact with one another. You are required to provide a link to the album you want the other person to review.

4. Please keep in mind the following rules for what albums we consider acceptable for this Secret Satan:
- 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.
- It SHOULD be an album that fits with your genre preferences (and therefore the genre preferences of the other person you're matched with).
- 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.

5. 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.

6. And, 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.

7. 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.

I'll do my best even if the dates aren't quite optimal for me, I'll try to write 5 to 10 reviews.

I'll see what I can do.

I might be able to do some damage again, but I have to go through my stragglers and see how many I have.

Hooray! Raptor Light Saber Jesus is teaming up with Santa Claus! I'm down. I'll do my best to slay some virgins for the glory of father Krampus.

I will throw in some as well ...

I don't know if this challenge is directed mostly towards the regulars (going by the replies in this thread I'd reckon it is), but I think I would like to at least try to participate. So far I've managed to write two reviews in two months, so expect one fourth of a review.

No, it is a free for all thing. No need to sign in somewhere, announce your participation. Just post a review on a release without a review and you get your share of ... something ...

Cool beans, I'll definitely put in a few for this challenge. The secret Satan thing sounds interesting!

why not...
skipped last challenge too and ill do the secret santana too.

As my downloading/streaming capability is virtually nil, I will have to skip the Secret Santa and focus on the no-names already in my collection.

This seems like fun. I'll give it a go.

Who knows what I will contribute? I probably have a few, if I haven't already reviewed them before this.

I'll pray I get internet before this (I've been using the site entirely from my phone for a month now), if I do I'll hit you up for Secret Satan.

I must participate.

This will be fucking cool. I might just do the Secret Satan too.

Won't have a lot of time to participate in this one (exams and then going to my girlfriend's hometown to meet her family), but probably down for the Secret Satan. The review swaps I've done with MutantClannfear and Bastardhead were really fun. Seems like a great idea to make the challenge more interesting.

I'd like to see a good turnout this time around. The last few challenges were a lot of fun. I got fourth last challenge, so I'd like to move up to the top three this time. We'll see what happens, though.

One of the best parts of this is creating the list of virgins knock out.

Edit: Having Christmas Eve and Christmas day as part of this week will definitely hinder my output, but I'm still shooting for 25-30.

Great timing for me! Hopefully I can do a few reviews this time around. The Secret Satan idea is really cool too.

I'll try

Keep in mind that if you want to do the Secret Satan, you need to PM me with your top three genre preferences.

I'm going to give the regular challenge a try this year, sounds pretty fun.

I don't know when I last took part in one of these challenges. I just might...

I've been writing up some reviews without submitting them because I haven't written a music review before (without counting the aforementioned practice reviews), but I might give this a go.

i dont see myself beating my best of 21 reviews. I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel by the end of it and it took years to build up that list.

I've got a mountain of albums I've wanted to review for quite some time, it's just a matter of not spewing out quantity over quality as you said tomcat, and I've had ideas for several of these albums running through my head for years. I'm actually really excited to try this for the first time.

I'll try to hammer some out. I'm at the point where even my shit to do has shit to do, but I'm sure I'll do some.

I will probably post one or two that week then, just for old times sake! Lord knows I have enough crap laying around without reviews.

Additionally, a handful of Contaminated Tones releases are virgins so if anyone would like a promo of any of my releases for review, please don't hesitate to PM or Email me: orion_metalhead@hotmail.com.

I'll be on holiday for this whole period, so this would be something nice to keep me busy (other than drinking). So sign me up. I'll do Secret Satan, too.

I'm in! I've been wanting to do some reviews anyway, so this will be a good motivator.

I never skip a reviews challenge. Never. The period is far from convenient, but I'll be there.

I will try to write 2-3 as well.

Cheers from Greece
Tzitzis

Think I'll give this a go. Have already jotted down some possible candidates in my collection that don't have any reviews yet, could be fun to do over the holidays!

I'll see if I can get hammered out by then. I have a couple albums that I haven't reviewed yet that I've been meaning to.

I'll try to do 2. I would like to do the Secret Satan thing as well if that's cool.

I'm in again. Like others the time is a bit on the inconvenient side but I'll do my best. Also down for the secret satan santa.

Edit: for those of us who for whatever reason (be it technological ineptitude or just personal preference) don't do a whole lot of streaming could some examples of good sites to look for the albums we'll be wanting to swap be provided? I know there's bandcamp but beyond that I'm kinda in the dark.

Remember you need to message Derigin if you want to get in the SS thing.

EDIT: Yeah I can't contribute like last year, or even close really. I have maybe 3-5 I can pitch in.

I'd like to give this a go. I've not written many reviews, and none for this site, but there's a few albums that I've enjoyed this year that haven't got a review so I'd like to rectify that.

Bit of a dumb question perhaps, but I've not reviewed before...is there a list someplace of albums without reviews? Can this be generated through any of the search tools? And I guess it's only those without reviews on 18th Dec?

Keen to be involved- always thought I should do some reviews...

Pipin_Took, I just look through the archives at the albums/bands I have available and see what hasn't been reviewed yet. I then make a huge list, because someone always writes a few of them between the time I make a list and the time for the challenge. That way I have a stack of virgins ready to go when the clock strikes. If there was a list of unreviewed albums, it would dwarf the list of reviewed albums by a huge margin.

I want to post at least 5 (beating my oh so high score last time of four)... though most of my listed virgins are singles from a certain punk band.

Please no hate ;_;

I did a few Ministry singles last year, but I went into great detail.

If you are going to do more than one or two singles, I strongly suggest you do the same. Remember, quality over quantity. One of the earlier review challenges had people racking up close to 100, but the quality wasn't really there. Since the standard has increased across the board since then, matching that number would be damn hard. Let's see if we can beat last December's total, although iamntbatman and myself made up about 35% of it lmao and I don't think either of us will be contributing that much.