Controversial opinions on metal
- Thread starter The Ozzman
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no country for old wainds
Active Member
- Nov 23, 2002
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ShredHeadJHJ
oh noes itz a opinionn
Well, I'm very much skeptical about overrating albums. My ratings go very deep. Anything that gets a 90% or more from me I'm going to be calling an amazing album probably for the rest of my life (or my rating is wrong).
If there's a song on an album I don't particulary care for then that album is not worthy of a 100% because it's not 100% amazing all the way through. If there's something with the production or vocals of an album it will hold it back as well. I'm so through that I would even go far enough to say a shitty guitar solo or chorus would hold an album back from getting a 100%.
Not everyone is like me when rating an album, however, & I think there's a problem with that. Some people will listen to an album twice & say it's teh best album evar giving it 100% & the same thing happens with the 0% too. I honestly do not ever recall hearing a metal album that I hated so much I would give it a 0%.
Zephyrus
Tyrants and Slaves
My favorite album of all time, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk doesn't get 100% from me because there are still very minor flaws, especially in Ihsahn's clean vocals.
ShredHeadJHJ
oh noes itz a opinionn
Metal-archives is pretty biased in accepting bands. For whatever reason though they have Moi dix Mois. 
And though I do think 100% ratings are given out far too often, I don't see what's wrong with giving an album a rating that high. It's obvious that there isn't such thing as a perfect album and there's nothing even close to a perfect album - so you might as well throw out any remotely high ratings in the process if "perfection" is part of the evaluating process. We are all evaluating music on a subjective level anyhow.
Low-end ratings like 0% are the mark of a childish or ignorant reviewer. Nothing more really needs to be said. It's remarkable how metal-archives is open to accepting so many poorly written reviews.
And though I do think 100% ratings are given out far too often, I don't see what's wrong with giving an album a rating that high. It's obvious that there isn't such thing as a perfect album and there's nothing even close to a perfect album - so you might as well throw out any remotely high ratings in the process if "perfection" is part of the evaluating process. We are all evaluating music on a subjective level anyhow.
Low-end ratings like 0% are the mark of a childish or ignorant reviewer. Nothing more really needs to be said. It's remarkable how metal-archives is open to accepting so many poorly written reviews.
SouthernTrendkill
Super Normie
- Aug 22, 2007
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I still had disagreements, but I used to think MA was pretty solid in their decisions until I found out about Soundgarden and AIC. I've always been one who feels that grunge's connection to metal gets underrated, but it's still not metal. If MA has Rush then they need to add Dillinger Escape Plan and Atreyu ASAP.
However, even if MA is random and senseless, I will still continue to use it as a counter against Wikipedia in the various arguments I get into on Classic Rock boards where people claim that Zep and Styx are metal.
However, even if MA is random and senseless, I will still continue to use it as a counter against Wikipedia in the various arguments I get into on Classic Rock boards where people claim that Zep and Styx are metal.
Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
Replace Anthems with Dimension Hatröss/The Sham Mirrors/Terria and "Ihsahn's clean vocals" with some minor flaw of the album in question and yes, I agree.
Belligerent
Greekus Urungus
V.V.V.V.V.
Houses Ov Mercury
Belligerent
Greekus Urungus
I'd go so far to say Symbolic is not only Death's best album but in the top 5 best DM albums of all time.
Belligerent
Greekus Urungus
Orion Crystal Ice
Rider of the Astral Fire
King Richard
Hello there
You know what I think the problem is? The entire 0-100% rating system. That means there are 100 different possible ratings you can give any given album (or 101 if you count 0). How is that supposed to work? "Well, this record would get an 85%, but that I didn't like that trill in the solo on track 4 at 3:36, so I gave it an 84%." IMO, the more ratings you have to choose from, the more thorough and in-depth your analysis must be to effectively decide on a final score. Not that there's anything wrong with that principle in general, but in this case it seems excessive for the purposes of an album review.
In the few cases where I've reviewed there, I could only ballpark my rating to within 10 points and basically picked a random number in that range as my final choice. There are plenty of reviews posted that seem considerably less thought-out as you suggested, so I can't imagine how arbitrarily they go about choosing a rating. Perhaps some people are capable of nitpicking that much, but I'm not and don't really see a need to. But if I was, I'd definitely agree that almost no record, no matter how awesome, would get a 100% from me under that system. It's not like grading an exam, which is more objective and systematic. A 1-10 scale with the possible option of half-points seems sufficient for the purposes of creative art forms.
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