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Post by Thomas Eversole on Jan 31, 2015 6:53:34 GMT -6
I had another site post a review of the Ankou Awaits - Oberour Ar Maro album. ( metalcrypt.com - its still towards the top on the front page, probably for another day or two) Pretty consistent across the board between all three places that reviewed this album. I'm at peace with multiple venues having an "its above average" opinion on this release. With one place (blackmetalreviews.com) giving a little bit above that (for all 4 Ankou Awaits albums actually) I think if multiple places (for some pretend reason) thought this release was "a masterpiece", "best of anything" or other over the top synonyms, I wouldn't be pushing myself to grow in my writing, production and performance. One dude on YouTube did a video review of the album and gave it a 10 out of 10 but I think he was definitely on drugs. Likewise, if they said it sucked, I'd be more apt to recoil from them and maybe even music... for a while. (Happened with GRIM) Definitely (and luckily) not forever... For you musicians here, have you had any formal reviews of your art? How does it make you feel? How do you accept their criticism?Back in the days of GRIM (when I had a GRIM website) I also had a reviews page where I reviewed Christian releases. I remember giving Antestor's Return of the Black Death like a 10 out of 10 of course (when it first came out) but my criticism was I thought the drumming was the weakest link of the album. I think I remembered saying it sounded like he was struggling, like it could be smoother and more natural. When I saw them play and talked with the band, the drummer had OBVIOUSLY read the review and we had a brief face to face conversation about it. ...which he wasn't inappropriate or mean, but it was an awkward conversation and it was clear he wasn't happy with my opinion. Another scenario, the guy from Kohllapse send me an e-mail, subject: excuse me????????????? because of something I said in my review of his self titled album. I've taken some criticisms to heart in the past. When I first did the GRIM - Scepter of Blood album, I felt like everyone hated it (all because of the poor sound quality), but my personal demons were starting to bloom and the glass was half empty. I'd listen to the album and TORTURE myself with what was wrong with it. I was surprised when I "came back" and some people actually liked it. When I listened to it after years, I started to hear the music again instead the production sucks here, here and here. I made a mistake here, here and here. Etc. Thoughts? Opinions? ___________________________________ By the way, an offer for this forum's members ONLY: metalcrypt.com has a "user review" function - you do not need to register to their site to user review the album. Just pick the star and you're done! If you have Oberour Ar Maro, please rate it honestly! If you don't have the album and would be willing to rate it on that site and let me know your opinion of the album, (via e-mail, pm or post) I'd be happy to PM you a direct download of the Ankou Awaits - Oberour Ar Maro release. ZIP file with 320kbs MP3s. The actual metalcrypt review link is here: metalcrypt.com/pages/review.php?revid=8911You can also stream the whole album if you go to the music section on my site. (banner is the sig below) Thank you!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2015 8:37:58 GMT -6
I like to think all PR is good PR. So every reviews is welcome. always great to read other opinions. much to learn from that, both good and bad. but what I don't like if you can tell by reading a review that the person writing it has not take the time to actually listen to the music. just doing the reviews in a hurry.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2015 13:06:19 GMT -6
do you guys send around physical copies of your music for reviews? or just digital files?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2015 9:01:51 GMT -6
To be honest, I don't think, that reviews are still that important. Before the internet became that important, reviews in your favorite magazines were one of the few ways to get an impression of new releases (besides visiting a record store for metal, if there was one). Nowadays you can simply listen to some songs, instead of searching for reviews. With that said I'm not that keen on sending physical copies anyway and I really have to say, that I haven't noticed great effects on releases, that got some reviews, so far.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2015 10:47:24 GMT -6
To be honest, I don't think, that reviews are still that important. Before the internet became that important, reviews in your favorite magazines were one of the few ways to get an impression of new releases (besides visiting a record store for metal, if there was one). Nowadays you can simply listen to some songs, instead of searching for reviews. With that said I'm not that keen on sending physical copies anyway and I really have to say, that I haven't noticed great effects on releases, that got some reviews, so far. I see you point. Guess you have right in what you write. I think response and PR is more important for the musicians. To get a sense of recognition / achievement or something.
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Post by Kerrick on Mar 31, 2015 11:25:45 GMT -6
Reminds me of a song by Victor Griffin:
Wired to the world, a loaded gun in hand Your profile image, is power you’ve never had On the keys your king, in wired life you reign And no credentials to speak of in your digital domain
Face reflecting pixels, you plan your next critique And rape the powerful pen, perfecting your technique Senseless evaluation, of an artist’s heart Where you’ll never get what you judge in their art
Your weak and crooked fingers tap out a soulless beat Searching for the letters of how you’re displeased A broadband of signals gives power to words Another digital critic feed on the feces they stir
I couldn't find a studio version of the song on Youtube but found this live version. I can't listen to it (since I'm at work) but hopefully it's decent:
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Post by Thomas Eversole on Mar 31, 2015 11:51:56 GMT -6
Rape the powerful pen... I guess music reviews wouldn't mean much to me either if I was forcing sex onto writing utensils.
Although is it really forced? Pen's don't say no. Brown chicken brown cow.
The penis mightier than the sword.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2015 12:26:23 GMT -6
The funny thing is, that the 'pen' doesn't seem to be as powerful as he once was. I mean, you no longer have 'that' magazine, that just HAS to review your music. There are countless online mags / blogs, that post their reviews. That's why I think that being featured on some youtube channels or facebook pages might have a bigger effect than getting ten reviews. Of course I understand what you, DDD, said, that it's always cool for an artist to get some 'deeper' or thought-out feedback for his/her work.
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Post by Thomas Eversole on Mar 31, 2015 20:48:32 GMT -6
I like site e-reviews because it gives me a direct outsider perspective of my music that I can reference to others.
I'll gladly send out CDs/physical merch for review, if the site looks like its been around for a while, has content and gets updated.
Not a huge fan of video reviews. I had a video review of Oberour Ar Maro (I think the guy took it down? ...because I can't find it anymore - the guy had Zombie in his name I think) and even though he gave the album 10 out of 10, he was: clearly wasted thought I used a "piano" said he couldn't stand the piano parts, then said the piano parts were pretty cool sometimes
Published text on a published site, I would consider to be more prestigious, informative and reliable ...moreso than any wasted goober with a smartphone and a working knowledge of YouTube.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2015 3:53:45 GMT -6
Yeah I see...should have explained it a bit. I wasn't thinking of video reviews, but of these channels like "full [...] albums" - the music gets quite a lot of plays there.
Of course what I've said so far came from the perspective of running a small diy label. When I'm releasing 25-50 copies (most of the time) of an album or ep I can't really afford sending around physical copies (besides the copies for the artist, naturally) all of the time. In other words: I might send a physical copy for a review (and have done it a few times), but there should be some kind of chance, that the review reaches quite 'a lot of' people. Would probably handle it a little bit differently, if I was just releasing my own music on No Sleep.
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Post by Thomas Eversole on Apr 2, 2015 0:04:09 GMT -6
Oh yeah! If someone has like a review "vlog", then of course - I'd put that on par, perhaps above par, regarding reviews. I think I messaged a few YouTube accounts that had review collections - but never heard anything back.
I think its awesome that you've sent out other band releases for review before. Literally every other label I've been involved with has told me, "uh, you go ahead and do that..."
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Post by tolencual on Aug 27, 2015 22:37:48 GMT -6
I've gotten very little feedback on my music as a whole, though I can understand why. Not all of it is everyone's cup of tea. Though the little feedback I've received on Magical Garbage Machinery has been mostly positive, so that's good.
For the recent grindcore 8-way split, The Slaughtered Lamb, I've heard good things said about the Deophobic Necrosis material as well. On Discogs, there were a couple of people who gave it a low rating, but they never left any actual reviews, so I don't know what to think there. Probably doesn't matter.
The weirdest is Hell Bovine. It's always been a project of mine that has excelled in making the dumbest noises with MIDI instruments that I can possibly make, but I rarely get any feedback at all. Maybe people are afraid to hurt my feelings? I don't know. It's dumb, and I make it sound that way because I think it's funny. I get a kick out of putting organ hooks into nonsensical noisegrind tracks.
What's frustrating is when I get people who never listened to it saying that they did, then saying it's "amazing". Like, I know you didn't listen to it because there hasn't been any plays on Bandcamp for over a week. Just be honest about it. lol
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Post by blake on Aug 28, 2015 8:25:32 GMT -6
I've gotten very little feedback on my music as a whole, though I can understand why. Not all of it is everyone's cup of tea. Though the little feedback I've received on Magical Garbage Machinery has been mostly positive, so that's good. For the recent grindcore 8-way split, The Slaughtered Lamb, I've heard good things said about the Deophobic Necrosis material as well. On Discogs, there were a couple of people who gave it a low rating, but they never left any actual reviews, so I don't know what to think there. Probably doesn't matter. The weirdest is Hell Bovine. It's always been a project of mine that has excelled in making the dumbest noises with MIDI instruments that I can possibly make, but I rarely get any feedback at all. Maybe people are afraid to hurt my feelings? I don't know. It's dumb, and I make it sound that way because I think it's funny. I get a kick out of putting organ hooks into nonsensical noisegrind tracks. What's frustrating is when I get people who never listened to it saying that they did, then saying it's "amazing". Like, I know you didn't listen to it because there hasn't been any plays on Bandcamp for over a week. Just be honest about it. lol I know what you mean. I frequently get emails from Reverbnation saying Amelioration is in the Top 10 for my area. And I just laugh and say to myself "Yeah...right". I never had any delusions that people would love the music I make in Amelioration, I just try to make fun, creative music. But I have had a couple people who have emailed me saying how much they love it which came as a shock to me. But aside from those few people I haven't really heard much either. I feel the same way as you when people tell me they like it though. I think "Did you listen to it?" For the record although I haven't listened to all of your material I did enjoy the Hell Bovine tracks on the Slaughtered Lamb Split
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2015 23:03:50 GMT -6
Sometimes negative reviews or ratings will work as well as positive ones in getting me to check out a band, particularly on a site like Rate Your Music where they are user reviews. There are certain people I know on there where if they give an album 1 - 1.5 stars, I will definitely give it a listen because I know my personal taste in music is so very different from theres. "Ghosts" got a review on a site that I can't remember and it was positive, though I swear Mazzie paid the guy off or something. I do find it funny when someone will claim to like Cephalophore but it's just painfully obvious that there is just no way in the world that they even could like it. People whose favorite music is Petra and Stryper and Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line or whatever and they are saying "Oh yeah, I loved 'Dogslaughter', I listened to it all day yesterday!" ... no, no you did not. I've noticed that noise projects tend to get that a LOT, people claiming to be their biggest fans whilst every other band they listen to is pop or light rock. I know that in reality they are just friends of the guy making the recordings and they want to be supportive, but it's blatantly obvious that they don't even like the genre in general. Necro, from The Aussie Hour apparently once played an entire Cephalophore album, or something like that (not a review, but it was still tacit approval, I guess), even I found that insane. His wife said it puts her to sleep, which sounds kinda negative, but I used to fall asleep to it all the time too.
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Post by Thomas Eversole on Aug 28, 2015 23:20:50 GMT -6
I love the music I fall asleep to personally, though anymore, I just let YouTube wander specific channels on my TV and pass out listening to that at low volumes. Some favorite music for me to fall asleep to are Karjalan Sissit and Sophia. That's old school right there.
I also like to fall asleep to Brighter Death Now's "Necrose Evangelicum" and Gnaw Their Tongues "All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity", but only those two albums from those two artists. ____________________________________
I know I alluded to people complaining about the sound quality of the GRIM "Scepter of Blood" album... If there wouldn't have been multiple complaints, the music I make today wouldn't have the quality of sound it does, and I wouldn't be conscientious of the mix/production.
Oh, and I felt like on the Blabberboard, that most of those guys probably never even listened to Hguols, but still said it was awesome because I was "huggles".
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2015 7:39:18 GMT -6
I know I alluded to people complaining about the sound quality of the GRIM "Scepter of Blood" album... If there wouldn't have been multiple complaints, the music I make today wouldn't have the quality of sound it does, and I wouldn't be conscientious of the mix/production. Oh, and I felt like on the Blabberboard, that most of those guys probably never even listened to Hguols, but still said it was awesome because I was "huggles". Funny, I was actually listening to Scepter of Blood as I read this. I like the low production of the GRIM debut a lot.
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Post by tolencual on Aug 29, 2015 10:22:58 GMT -6
I know what you mean. I frequently get emails from Reverbnation saying Amelioration is in the Top 10 for my area. And I just laugh and say to myself "Yeah...right". I never had any delusions that people would love the music I make in Amelioration, I just try to make fun, creative music. But I have had a couple people who have emailed me saying how much they love it which came as a shock to me. But aside from those few people I haven't really heard much either. I feel the same way as you when people tell me they like it though. I think "Did you listen to it?" For the record although I haven't listened to all of your material I did enjoy the Hell Bovine tracks on the Slaughtered Lamb Split I used to get those a lot as well for Hell Bovine, though I imagine there aren't that many noisegrind artists where I live, lol. I really like Amelioration! I enjoyed the tracks on that split, and I was pleasantly surprised and excited when I heard all the material of Admin Rights. I'm glad I was able to get a copy from you. It's really creative, and crazy enough to suit my palate! And I appreciate that man! I did notice that you played Hell Bovine a couple of times on your Metal Blessing Radio podcast. Thanks!
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