Which Reviews on Royal Carnage do you dispute?

[Papa Josh]

This should be an interesting, long lasting thread I would think. I'm curious to see how our opinions weigh against others.

So, which reviews on Royal Carnage do you just flat out disagree with and why?

 

[Erik]

Mark's review of Burzum "Filosofem" because that 25-minute ambient track is really among Burzum's best tracks.

 

[Nate The Great]

I wasn't in total agreement with the Negura Bunget review. No offense, but I thought that CD was a little out of that reviewer's range. Mentioning Opeth in a review of something like Negura just shows his lack of knowledge of the style of music being reviewed. Overall the review was OK, though.

Also, Mercyful Fate 'Don't Break the Oath' was a good review, but COME ON! That album deserves a 10/10 . . . not 9.5/10.

 

[JayKeeley]

Good thread idea. But let's all stay friends ok?

Also, Mercyful Fate 'Don't Break the Oath' was a good review, but COME ON! That album deserves a 10/10 . . . not 9.5/10.

You know, the scoring is impossible. One man's trash is another man's treasure (and all that), heh.

I find it really hard to give an album 10/10 unless it has moved me in some symbollic way. There are probably only about 25 albums that I've heard in my life that would deserve a 10/10 (and a good portion of those would not even be metal related).

 

[Nate The Great]

I try to reserve 10/10 for something that I think has been a significant milestone in music. In other words, I think 10/10 should be reserved for something that will someday be a classic . . . or already is a classic.

 

[NAD]

I find it really hard to give an album 10/10 unless it has moved me in some symbollic way.

Same here, there won't be very many 10/10 ratings from me. My first qualifier is that I have to have owned the album for at least 3 or 4 years, to me an absolutely perfect album takes a long time to digest, or even realize its perfection. I take into account musical significance as well, but an album does not necessarily have to have an impact to be perfect.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

I realize npearce was joking around, but for others: if you're going to dispute a review, say something that shows you actually read the review, like Erik did w/ my Burzum review and Nate did with the Negura Bunget review.

Just saying "I can't believe you gave that album a 7 out of 10!" is not very credible. And for the record, I do think an album can be a 10/10 and not be a necessary ingredient to curing cancer.

 

[Dark One]

I wasn't in total agreement with the Negura Bunget review. No offense, but I thought that CD was a little out of that reviewer's range. Mentioning Opeth in a review of something like Negura just shows his lack of knowledge of the style of music being reviewed. Overall the review was OK, though.

Whatever you say dude. This thread is to disagree/agree with the reviews themselves. You fulfilled that. I certainly have no problem with someone feeling differently about a piece of music than I do and enjoy discussing it. You know, alot of people DO believe (myself included) that Opeth have large, complex song structures (certainly moreso pre-My Arms Your Hearse era than afterwards, but the current song structures are still vast and much more complex than say, your basic Carnal Forge or even average radio song and such.) I wasn't comparing the sound of the two bands at all, just their ambitious and complex songwriting natures. And you're comparing Opeth's complexity to something superior only to bands like Slipknot??????? Yeah, um, ok.

Moreover, this thread is not about commenting on the reviewers' abilities. Quotes like "Out of that reviewer's range" and "...just shows his lack of knowledge of the style of music being reviewed" are unnecessary and serve to take away the credibility of the reviewer. Plus it makes you look like a complete know-it-all. I'm sure your knowledge of the style of music Negura Bunget is playing is unsurpassed and that YOUR opinions are the ones that are right. Try reviewing an album (particularly one as complex as Negura Bunget's when you have maybe 2 chances to listen to it because your under deadlines and so forth) and see how easy it is. Yup, easy task indeed.

Well, since apparantly I have no idea what I'm talking about I may as well just quit then and leave the reviewing to those that actually have credible opinions.

 

[Nate The Great]

Hmmm . . . he took that well.

That's too bad you only had a brief chance to listen to Negura. I reviewed it after MANY listens, and I still don't think my review captured what it was all about.

I sure don't know everything about the style of music Negura is playing. I'm kind of wondering why Phyre didn't review the thing. He has probably listened to it very thoroughly, and I think he knows more about that style of music than almost anybody else I know of.

Remember: Your review was good. Don't give up. People are going to criticize you no matter what you say.

 

[Erik]

I thought the Negura Bunget review was good as I've said earlier. I had that minor thing with the Opeth comparison but that's been discussed in another thread.

Why didn't I review it? Well, we got a promo sent to RC after I had already bought myself the nice handmade digi version, so the logical thing to do was to have someone else pick up the promo and review it. I might review it later too, who knows? More likely I'll do the rest of NB's catalogue though since I felt DO's review was more than adequate. Besides, we wouldn't want to have me review ALL BM releases, now would we? That'd be a bit onesided.

 

[Papa Josh]

I'm kind of wondering why Phyre didn't review the thing. He has probably listened to it very thoroughly, and I think he knows more about that style of music than almost anybody else I know of.

QUOTE]

Perhaps it was to get a different perspective on the cd, since a review is just that, a perspective.

And for the record, I gave Cradle Of Filth a 10/10. In relation to all of their output, their peer's output and just the sheer scope of the album, it deserved it.

If you don't like it, get in line to suck my balls..

 

[Dark One]

Hmmm . . . he took that well.

That's too bad you only had a brief chance to listen to Negura. I reviewed it after MANY listens, and I still don't think my review captured what it was all about.

I sure don't know everything about the style of music Negura is playing. I'm kind of wondering why Phyre didn't review the thing. He has probably listened to it very thoroughly, and I think he knows more about that style of music than almost anybody else I know of.

Remember: Your review was good. Don't give up. People are going to criticize you no matter what you say.

You didn't say "good" before you said "ok", but thanks anyway. Besides, I don't mind "good" or "ok" or "sucked" in terms of what people think of my reviews. Criticism in the form of disagreeing with the review is fine. It's the questioning of the ability of the reviewer themselves that I think is uncalled for. If you had ONLY said "well, I for one disagree and think that Negura Bunget's complex songwriting isn't even comparable to Opeth's because I feel Opeth's songwriting is much, much simpler.", I wouldn't have even come close to having a problem with it.

 

[Nate The Great]

You didn't say "good" before you said "ok", but thanks anyway. Besides, I don't mind "good" or "ok" or "sucked" in terms of what people think of my reviews. Criticism in the form of disagreeing with the review is fine. It's the questioning of the ability of the reviewer themselves that I think is uncalled for. If you had ONLY said "well, I for one disagree and think that Negura Bunget's complex songwriting isn't even comparable to Opeth's because I feel Opeth's songwriting is much, much simpler.", I wouldn't have even come close to having a problem with it.

OK. This is getting quite anal, but I just felt Opeth as a comparison to Negura was funny. It just didn't fit. However, I'm sure other people out there actually benefitted from this small comparison . . . and it was a small comparison. Personally, I'm wondering why a comparison to Enslaved wouldn't have fit a little better. Enslaved maintains that complex progressive nature that Opeth and Negura have, but Enslaved is at least in the realm of the music Negura creates.

Anyway . . . I only thought your ability as a reviewer for Negura was questionable. Not your ability as a reviewer. If I said otherwise, I apologize.

 

[Dark One]

Personally, I'm wondering why a comparison to Enslaved wouldn't have fit a little better. Enslaved maintains that complex progressive nature that Opeth and Negura have, but Enslaved is at least in the realm of the music Negura creates.

UGH! See, there you go again. You're saying that at least Enslaved is in the realm of music Negura creates. I won't argue that, but it's irrelevant because I was never trying to compare Negura to anyone from a musical sounding standpoint. Again, I only brought up Opeth to compare them to Negura from an "ambitous nature" standpoint in that they both create long complex progressive musical passages. You even say yourself in the paragraph above that "Enslaved maintains that complex progressive nature that Opeth and Negura have...". Well guess what? That was EXACTLY my point in the review to begin with.

Anyway . . . I only thought your ability as a reviewer for Negura was questionable. Not your ability as a reviewer. If I said otherwise, I apologize.

Sigh, look, I know you're trying to be nice here and I do appreciate that, but you're still coming down on me for my ability to review Negura Bunget. ANYONE HAS THE ABILITY TO REVIEW ANYTHING. If you disagree with what they have to say (whether it be because you are more informed about the genre or because you simply hear the music differently) then fine. But don't sit there and say that I'm not qualified to review something or that my ability as it relates to a particular genre is questionable. Baloney.

Movie critics review movies after only 1 viewing. Most movie critics do not specialize in genres, they review movies from ALL genres. Maybe it's their first time reviewing a comedy or a horror movie or whatever, but they're not any less qualified to review a comedy because they've never reviewed one before. It's all movies. Just like it's all music. I hear a cd, evaluate it and give an opinion. And that's all it is, an opinion. I either like it or I don't. If I give erroneous facts, like "This is Negura Bunget's debut" or something, then yeah, you'd have a valid point about a misinformed, unqualified review. But to question someone's ability because your opinion is simply different is wrong on any level.

 

[Nate The Great]

OK. I'm not arguing. What else have you reviewed? I'm just curious. I won't make any bad remarks about any of your reviews. I just want to see what else you are interested in.

 

[Papa Josh]

Stand your ground, 'ol Dark One... I'm sure those boys over at AA get criticized a bit...

 

[JayKeeley]

Stand your ground, 'ol Dark One... I'm sure those boys over at AA get criticized a bit...

...even though npearce writes for UM.

And I would dispute a review on UM right now - Mark's review of the new Katatonia....I like it, but it aint no 10/10 homeys.

 

[J.]

Stand your ground, 'ol Dark One... I'm sure those boys over at AA get criticized a bit...

Like you wouldn't believe. But the truly great ones always draw criticism.

 

[Dark One]

OK. I'm not arguing. What else have you reviewed? I'm just curious. I won't make any bad remarks about any of your reviews. I just want to see what else you are interested in.

Alright. Opeth - Morningrise, Dew Scented - Inwards, Sentenced - The Cold White Light, Godgory - Resurrection, Stratovarius - Elements Pt. 1, the Negura Bunget, Imagika - Fallen God Demo, Pagan War Machine Demo, plus my top 10 list and About Me page should give you some idea.

And there's nothing wrong with saying something bad about someone's review, just about the reviewer. If you noticed, your comments didn't bother me until this thread. I appreciated them.

 

[Dark One]

Like you wouldn't believe. But the truly great ones always draw criticism.

Man, finally something to smile at today (and believe me, this thread isn't the real reason I'm down).