Metal Reviews

My opinion: I disagree with the score, with the reasons for that score, with the tag "Album of the year". For me is a boring album with some good guitars here & there, a good but poor used drummer & an horrible singer that destroy all.
But what I'd do is simple express my disagree, put my own score (45) in tha place for it, and put a tag of "reviewer to handle with care" next to Tyler, as I've got mind tags of "really great reviewer" or similars; that tag that can change with time and more reviews, to worse "Forget about this guy reviews" or to better "Good reviewer if the review is not about Avenger Sevenfold". There's no more drama need.
Now, what if we talk about metal bands?

I never understood the hype about the band, sure they suck but the dramatically overblown proportions of hatred of the band are better reserved for hacks like Trivium.

It's not just the review, it's the author's defense in this thread that made quite a few of us question his ability.

Yeah, the only real issue I have is that there's an "actual" score for the album. If he had just not brought that up there wouldn't have nearly been as much controversy. I remember As I Lay Dying was given AOTY and while there was some criticism about that score, the thread died down after a short while.

So long as he can write reviews that is irrelevant. And like Goat, Alex, myself have said a number of times, the quality of the review is fine, the problem is a misapplication of the scoring system. Virtually all the complaints here are at the score and tag. Well, this is an error but not worth the reaction it has got here. So let's all give it a rest.

It would've garnered a multi-page thread regardless of the review, score or tag, I think

Agreed, but as I said earlier in one of my few responses in this thread - that was not the reason to destroy the kid the way some did here.

True enough, and there is no problem with that (I wish some of my reviews would get this many responses), but I do object to the personal tone of some of the stuff being levelled at Tyler. He's only just started and I think he has the potential to do a really good job for the site.

No kidding, I wish the same thing, but as much as everybody despises A7X, everybody knows about them (and I frankly admit I heard the 2 min total out of their total discography riding in somebody else's car once), while many of the bands we write about are virtually unknown to many here, and thus people have really nothing to say. They can't possibly criticize or praise the band or your review of it while they have not heard it. The unfair side of the coin when the publicity, good or bad, trumps anything else.

You remain the author whose reviews I read the most, Alex. I rarely comment on the reviews I consider to be spot-on, as there is nothing I have to add to them. And since yours are usually spot-on, you should be grateful not to receive the barracking Tyler just got

I understand, and feel free to criticize if something is off. We will argue afterward I guess what I was trying to say is it would have been nice if readers were drawn more to less known entities and checked those out instead of spending their time bashing something not worthy of their time.

Their ears are devoted to the former, and their fingertips to the latter

I would at least appreciate if the metal band doesn't dress like hipster queers... If they do, it's probably a good sign their music sucks, like in the case of this band.

Well, there's a bunch Newbury Comics sites in town, all easily accessible. But yeah, within five minutes walking distance, you have Newbury Comics and Looney Tunes. About 10 minutes away in Kenmore Square is Nuggets, and they have that kick-ass $2 section.

Good to see you resorting to personal insults. Hilarious, by the way, considering I'm a far better writer than you.

And let's not forget that I left this site because people bitched about my spectabulous Year's Best list (http://www.metalreviews.com/awards/awards.php?year=2006), saying I "broke format," or whatever it was. Of course, anyone that reads the Year's Best knows there is no fucking format, every reviewer does it differently. The real problem was that my list looked fucking awesome while other reviewers' lists looked like they didn't give a shit--which was clearly indicative of their outlook on being a reviewer (that never reviews and only stays on the team for the downloads and free CDs).

So yeah, I left.

And for the record, every single one of my reviews were honest, with honest scores that reflected my thoughts on the MUSIC. You, a douche-turned-reviewed that, as a forumite, trashed albums without listening to them and then, as a reviewer, reviewed an album with the sole intent of trashing it, shouldn't be defending anyone on the subject of integrity. And you're surely in no position to lecture anyone on how to write.

Are you having a mid-life crisis?

Nobody cares about Type O Negative, Bathory, Deftones, Danzig, or Finntroll?

And by the way, lest it need pointing out, Ken is NOT a "far better writer" than Goat. Quite the reverse in fact!