Metal Reviews

How come you get such a huge avatar Clint? :shock:

I'm not sure how??? It's the size of all the CD covers on my site, and it just works out when uploaded into forums. I use that picture as my Avatar in all the forums I frequent.

Sorry I can't give you the techinical details on how it works...

I've never been a huge fan of Kamelot, yet i have downloaded all their stuff. Dont get me started on how bad their first two albums were with that shocking singer. Once Khan arrived, their 3rd album still sucked, but at least the vocals were better.
The fourth legacy is probably the most overrated Kamelot album. In my own rating system, TFL got a score of 87.2%, which would be the equivalent to around the mid 70's/100 on metal reviews. Some of their worst Khan era tracks can be found on that album: Nights Of Arabia, The Shadow Of Uther & Alexandria. Best track: Until Kingdom Come.
I put Karma ahead of Epica. Karma is a more consistent album without the annoying interludes which Epica has plenty of.
Epica has a couple of bad tracks and i think the best song on the album is the bonus track, Snow.
With the Black Halo, Kamelot are again more consistent and the album has hardly any fillers or bad songs, but i think Memento Mori gets rather boring after the 4-5 minute mark. The best track on TBH is easily The Haunting (Somewhere In Time), followed by The Black Halo & Soul Society. Both This Pain and Moonlight are pretty good, while the rest aren't bad. With my rating system, TBH got a score of 92.1%, equivalent to around the low-mid 80's/100 on metal reviews. To compare with Karma (91.25%) and Epica (90%).
Therefore, for me, The Black Halo is Kamelot's best album, yet i dont think it's worth purchasing...not enough killer tracks for my liking....

@Trooper of Steel:

The word "overrated" has no meaning. Therefore I think most of your post is pointless. Just my opinions though

So I get it you don't care for Kamelot? Your loss. I do not care for your "rating" system (however the hell it may work). But since you think that Snow the best track on Epica (the most "standard" song they've ever done IMO) I am relieved because now I'm sure I should not take your post too seriously.

I have to agree (be it a little) on your opinion on the first 2/3 albums. Though there are some pretty nice songs on them, they're in a completely different league. Horrible is not the word I'd choose however

Oh well, everyone their own opinion...

Timmer

Yes, everyone does have their own opinions. I shared mine and you shared yours. I never said i didnt care for Kamelot. I do like Kamelot, but i mainly like around 2 thirds of each album, some only half, which is the reason i only have their songs in mp3.
Everyone has their own rating system to judge albums, thats just mine, i'm sure you have your own way too.
I consider Snow to be an awesome track, who cares if its standard? Its not the only track on that album which is a killer. There is also III Ways to Epica, Wander & Center Of The Universe.
I may not be the #1 Kamelot fan, not all of their music can impress everyone. Some enjoy just the 'standard' Kamelot songs, some like the ballads and some enjoy their more 'different' type of tunes.

Calling my post pointless was rather unnecessary, when you give opinions about something, you don't attack the writter in the process. Talk about the points raised in the post instead

I also think that snow is one of the killing songs in epica, too bad is a bonus track.

im confused about your rating system, when an album gets 90% its not worth getting? or you were being way to genearous with the ranking? just asking.

Those are the worst Khan era songs? :roll: Those are great songs, better than almost anything on boring Karma.




Interludes are awesome, makes the album more interesting and more memorable, unlike Karma which is a non-stop boredom besides the Spell.

True. I'm sorry for that. I tend to overreact whenever I hear the word "overrated" ;) (I think I heard it one too many times). Your comment on Nights of Arabia didn't help either :shock:

So you mostly like their fask kicking songs? Then indeed Karma is their most speedy record. Personally (save for a few songs) Karma bores me a lot. On the black halo they indeed cut back on the speedy songs and have more (dark) atmosphere throughout the record. The album flows incredibly well and really builds towards the climax (the last 4 songs). If it had been an "all killer" album I'd probably have been tired of it in a week. I can still play this album almost all day (it's been in my player since the day I bought it though this does not mean I do not listen to other bands).

Still your post confuses me a little. How the hell do these ratings work? There does not seem to be a connection between your arguments and the numbers (or so it seems to me). Not that numbers really matter though... though high numbers always look nice

OK, for those who asked how my rating system works, here goes. Its rather tricky, but i know how it works. Just thought i'd mention that both instrumentals and interludes (including intros/outros) are not included in my rating system as I would skip them (not a fan of instrumentals, although some are quite good).
Rating each song is as follows: 0.98-1= killer track, 0.95-0.97= awesome track, 0.90-0.93= very good track, 0.85-0.88= OK/good track, 0.80-0.83= poor/average track.
Let's do Kamelot's Karma...

Forever: 0.95
Wings Of Despair: 0.95
The Spell: 1
Don't You Cry: 0.90
Karma: 0.90
The Light I Shine On You: 0.90
Temples Of Gold: 0.90
Across The Highlands: 0.90
Mirror Mirror: 0.85
Requiem For The Innocent: 0.90
Fall From Grace: 0.90
Once And Future King: 0.90

Now, add up all those numbers and you get 10.95.
Divide by the number of tracks, in this case it is 12.
That equals 0.9125, then multiply by 100 and you get 91.25%.
For me, purchasing an album, the cut-off % would be around 93%.

So you see, Karma does miss out, but not by much. It is still a good album, but i wouldnt but it.
I'll admit, it is rather picky, but thats how important i consider my music to be.
To the person who does like those 3 tracks i said were no good from the 4th legacy: thats why we are all different and have different tastes. I didnt like them while you did, thats fine. Everyone judges songs differently and looks at different things, whether it be lyrics, the music, the structure, or the vocals.

this is the first Kamelot abulm I bought coz I saw both vidoes and I really like that stuff... however I will certainly not buy the previous ones coz what I heard is definitely not my cup of tea

I really HATE power metal in general. The clean lyrics do zero for me in a metal setting, and I usually find the music boring and uninspired. However, having seen the video for MoM, I'm impressed. Maybe not impressed enough to rush out and buy the cd, but I think I might have to be a bit more open minded towards some power metal.

With all do respect, your rating system stinks , all is doing is judging songs by technicality dude, what you think this is, the freaking Olympics. I respect your opinions but come on dont lay down a rating system , you either like it or you dont, what overall doesnt count. Ohh wait it has to be a perfect 100% masterpiece for you, jeez what else you want out of these guys, theyre one of the best bands out there and gotten better by each album and even though you give TBH a high rating you still wouldnt buy it, :shock: , theyre's something wrong with you.

That's a pretty strange rating system since it regards an album just as a collection of songs. This is also evident from the fact that you exclude essential parts. There are many listerens out there, who see an album rather as an etentity that is more then the sum of it's individual songs. So a song-by-song review could only be part of a rating-system. What about musical tension or lyrical concepts spanning over several songs? Or you can have an album which has several killer tacks, but sound totally incoherent, a.s.o.

Unfortunately MoM is the only really outstanding song on this album. The rest is pretty much what you expect from an album that is labelled power/prog. Although Kamelot brought in some fresh and new elements, they failed to create something special IMHO. If this is one of the best albums of the genre then I would say:
"Power Metal is not dead but it smells funny" (freely adapted from Zappa)

With MY rating system, in regards to the scores, i do judge on lyrics, structure, sound (music & vocals, etc) and overall how i feel about it.
Pingusthegreat, i am amazed that without me even telling ppl what i judge each song on, you assume its technicality...are you a mind reader....you know how i'm thinking with each song...i'm sure you have some kind of system when researching an album you havent heard before until that moment...
For me, Kamelot are inconsistent with their songs. Some are really good, but they have a lot of shockers. Some may disagree, but for me, some of their more "out there" songs dont grab me.

I gave The Black Halo a score of 92.1%. (cut-off= 93%)
Why?...
* memento mori is boring after 3-4 minutes (0.85)
* nothing ever dies is an average/ok track (0.88)
* abandoned and march of mephisto could have been better
* the album (to me) only had 3 killer tracks and the rest apart from the once already mentioned, were just ok/good, except Moonlight (0.92) & This Pain (0.93), which were pretty good.
All it needed was one more killer track, just one more...as i am not a huge fan of Kamelot, and havent bought any of their other albums, i was happy to keep TBH only as mp3's. But THB is Kamelot's best album to date, I'll admit.

I dont include interludes with my ratings cause they have no meaning, especially with Kamelot. They are boring and are not needed.
I could include instrumentals, but as i am not a fan of them, i would skip them no matter what...so why include it. But if i were a real reviewer for a business, then of course i would include them and comment on them. But this is for me personally...and personally, i skip them.
Most metal bands i listen to do get a high score. That example was for only Kamelot.
For me, no album has gotten 100%...i havent heard the "perfect" album yet, but some have come pretty darn close.
But like i said, to PURCHASE an album, it must have a fair few killer tracks and hardly any average "filler" tracks, or else its not worth it. I wouldnt listen to it if it wasnt that good.
It's just my way of doing things. If there are people who go out and buy cds gallore, despite it being an average to OK cd, thats fine. Some people have $ to burn, others dont.
If you wanna compare Kamelot's album scores to bands which HAVE gotten 93% or over, within the last year, here is a list....

Nightwish: Once
Pursuader: Evolution Purgatory
Edguy: Hellfire Club
Iced Earth: Glorious Burden
Cryonic Temple: Blood, Guts & Glory
Axel Rudi Pell: Kings & Queens
Primal Fear: Devil's Ground
Iron Savior: Battering Ram
Thunderstone: The Burning
Nocturnal Rites: New World Messiah
Sonata Arctica: Reckoning Night
Dragonforce: Sonic Firestorm
Entwine: DiEversity
Cans: Beyond The Gates
Twilightning: Plague-House Puppet Show

Sorry, get thar smily outta there.
nothing ever dies: 0.88

I think it is a pretty good system, album should be judged as a collection of individual songs, unless it is a concept album(increase the score) or all/most songs are in the same key (big penalty) even if they all sound good individually

Look at the end of the day, i respect your views and understand your rating system, i still wouldnt use it for the life of me, i keep it simple and i dont go around nipicking stuff, it takes away from the album, i rate individual songs this way: some songs have certain elements that make up for other not so great elements of that particular song, therefore meaning the overall quality of the song increases, simple as that and at the end of the day the overall quality is what im looking at. Other things, when i put The Black Halo in my cd player , i dont have to skip any tracks at all, also the cd flies giving more credence to a great album. If you dont have the money to buy the album, find i can respect that, but don't expect to find masterpieces all the time, if i were you and i had the money i would find THB a smart purchase. But in the end what are we arguing really, you gave a good overall review,i agree with you, however your rating system i dont like, but i can respect where youre coming from, thats why music is so great, everybody has a differences and opinions.

I get your point Trooper, buying albums just for the sake of it just promotes mediocre bands that dont give nothing new to the metal scene(Im not saying Kamelot its a mediocre band), If you feel like the black halo wasnt good enough to buy it, thats your opinion and and its a waste of money to buy something youre gona get bored with in a week or so, and i feel that replay value its a very important subject for buying albums, the black halo wasnt for me either, as a matter of fact im already getting bored for it , so now im deleting it of my hard drive. An example of that would be hellfire club of edguy i bought it when it came out,and im still listening it from time to time.
Replay value can be a tricky thing, we dont always now when an album its going to be constantly on our playlist, that hapened to me with cage - Darker than black, i toought it was an average album but i found myself listening to it almost every day so last week after almost a year of having it in Mp3 i bought it, for me that albumb deserves to be bought but thats my opinion and im not going tu judge someone that says something diferent.

I like this album. It is good.

*Insert essay here*.