Disclaimer: Century Media artists and their ilk are NOT the underground. I'm talking mostly about self-released, self financed artists recording demos on 8 tracks and wot not.
So I think we've accepted the fact that people can either download or sample before they buy, but for the most part, people will only sample bands they've heard of, or perhaps it's through recommendation on a forum. I'm pretty certain that most of these bands are reasonably well established to begin with.
Reviews for well established artists are near redundant, particularly when you can just go listen for yourself.
That said, just how many recommendations cover the variety of artists residing in the underground? How many unknown artists are out there? Has anyone ever browsed through myspace, link after link after link of independent metal bands?
Who's reviewing this stuff? I'm sure zines must exist, so let us know of any reviewers out there identifying the next big hitter.
Here is a link I found from the KILLINGSWORTH myspace page: single paragraph reviews. I think I've heard of maybe 20% of those bands listed.
I'm sure so much of it is just utter crap, but there's gotta be a few diamonds in the muff. It blows my mind knowing there are GREAT bands out there that have yet to be discovered.
So I think we've accepted the fact that people can either download or sample before they buy, but for the most part, people will only sample bands they've heard of, or perhaps it's through recommendation on a forum. I'm pretty certain that most of these bands are reasonably well established to begin with.
Reviews for well established artists are near redundant, particularly when you can just go listen for yourself.
That said, just how many recommendations cover the variety of artists residing in the underground? How many unknown artists are out there? Has anyone ever browsed through myspace, link after link after link of independent metal bands?
Who's reviewing this stuff? I'm sure zines must exist, so let us know of any reviewers out there identifying the next big hitter.
Here is a link I found from the KILLINGSWORTH myspace page: single paragraph reviews. I think I've heard of maybe 20% of those bands listed.
I'm sure so much of it is just utter crap, but there's gotta be a few diamonds in the muff. It blows my mind knowing there are GREAT bands out there that have yet to be discovered.