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 Post subject: Woodtemple - The Call From The Pagan Woods (#2669)
PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:31 pm 
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Woodtemple - The Call From The Pagan Woods
Pagan Black Metal
Quoted: 75 / 100


Click here to see the review.


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 2:53 pm 
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Metal Lord
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Great reviews, Misha, but at the same time they had a few draw backs too, imo. Therefore I want to count all pluses and minuses:
+
1. Your reviews are very deep, you spend your priceless time writing them and for that a BIG THANK YOU!
2. You also give a lot of mostly RIGHT comparisons so it's quite easy to understand in what style the band plays.
-
1. Misha, it's great that you write long reviews, but try somehow to shorten them, for the reader to better understand your opinion and to grasp the essence of the review (hell, even I myself sometimes skip a few lines). As we say in Russia: "Brevity is Talent's sister".
2. Sometimes your language slightly reminds me of ANUS's one. Don't try to make a very complicated sentence, use ordinary grammar structures/words more often.

Nevertheless you make a hard and awesome job! Hails!

P.S. No offence meant, I was just trying to give a few suggestions.


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 4:05 pm 
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Thanks Desolate, such criticism is always more welcome than the usual stuff. About the remarks you made, the ones you mentioned as positive are my main aim, I always try to give a good impression on how the band sounds. However, in order to do that, I feel like I must take every aspect into consideration, and dig into them as deep as possible, which regularly results in a review between 1 and 2 pages in word. Jay once said that for a review to get an extreme score, one needs at least 2 pages of back-up. About to grab the essence, I always try to sum it up in the last paragraph, but I don't feel like I'm repeating everything all the time. My English is not that good, so I need long sentences to transmit the amount of information I want the reader to recieve. I'll try to shorten them in the future, but I don't want them to lose on info, I hate reviews that just say "the production is great" on the matter, and keep it at that. Finally, about my reviews sounding like ANUS' reviews, I could easily write shorter and easier sentences, but the problem is that I do not want to. I actually really really like the ANUS reviews however they sometimes stay short on actual information. I personally don't think a review should sound like the bedtimestory book, but I can imagine that some people find it easier to get to the core that way. Thanks a lot!

Hails


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:05 pm 
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Gast1 wrote:
Thanks Desolate, such criticism is always more welcome than the usual stuff. About the remarks you made, the ones you mentioned as positive are my main aim, I always try to give a good impression on how the band sounds. However, in order to do that, I feel like I must take every aspect into consideration, and dig into them as deep as possible, which regularly results in a review between 1 and 2 pages in word. Jay once said that for a review to get an extreme score, one needs at least 2 pages of back-up. About to grab the essence, I always try to sum it up in the last paragraph, but I don't feel like I'm repeating everything all the time. My English is not that good, so I need long sentences to transmit the amount of information I want the reader to recieve. I'll try to shorten them in the future, but I don't want them to lose on info, I hate reviews that just say "the production is great" on the matter, and keep it at that. Finally, about my reviews sounding like ANUS' reviews, I could easily write shorter and easier sentences, but the problem is that I do not want to. I actually really really like the ANUS reviews however they sometimes stay short on actual information. I personally don't think a review should sound like the bedtimestory book, but I can imagine that some people find it easier to get to the core that way. Thanks a lot!

Hails


You know ANUS' reviews are great, but usually I can't read more than 2 or 3 reviews by them: I sit with the dictionary all along and in the end I'm tired to death.
In the morning - yes, your review sounds fresh, interesting, inspiring you to buy the CD, but damn, if I come home in the evening then it's a real torment to read such review (and reading just the conclusion is missing some great points - the same as to open a book and read only the epilogue)...
Agreed that you need a big backup for a Classic or an opus 90<, but for a casual album I think it isn't that vital.
Well, I guess I don't need to read in the evening (only books before I go to bed :D ).
Hails


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:19 pm 
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Hahaha, dictionary, it's not that hard is it? use an online dictionary :wink:


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:30 pm 
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I hate reviews in ANUS, they're pretentious and after you finally translate everything with your diccionary it ends up meaning nothing. Misha's reviews tend to be a bit....complicated, but actually manage to say something.

Misa :twisted:
ANUS :evil:


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:34 pm 
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Thanks Daniel, I think the language in the ANUS reviews is great, but in the end they indeed lack info, the desriptions can't really be turned into a sound described...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:47 pm 
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Gast1 wrote:
Hahaha, dictionary, it's not that hard is it? use an online dictionary :wink:


I forgot to say "an online dictionary" :)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:55 pm 
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ANUS reviews are but a reeking pile of verbal masturbation with little to zero substance, most of it consisting of blindly biased opinions. In other words, they're crap, which is not surprising since they are on a site whose acronym means asshole.

Good review, I think it describes the album pretty damn well.
I got both Woodtemple albums on lp and I must say they are very good! Yes, this is a recommendation ;)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 8:03 pm 
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Lord Jotun wrote:
ANUS reviews are but a reeking pile of verbal masturbation with little to zero substance, most of it consisting of blindly biased opinions. In other words, they're crap


Amen to that.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:18 pm 
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I didn't come across any words/language in this review that required the use of a dictionary

I haven't read any of the ANUS reviews, so I can't really comment on those, but I thought this review was well written and it did "give a good impresson of how the band sounds."


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Mar 18, 2005 5:09 pm 
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deathkvlt wrote:
Lord Jotun wrote:
ANUS reviews are but a reeking pile of verbal masturbation with little to zero substance, most of it consisting of blindly biased opinions. In other words, they're crap


Amen to that.


:lol:

Sad.... but trve.... 8)


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:11 pm 
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Good to see someone agrees. That shitty community seems to a lot more respect that it actually deserves (= way less than zero) among the internet folk.

This site and many others have much better reviews and information.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:13 pm 
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I read some again and it indeed sucks, just some meaningless words put together in an even more meaningless attempt of a review...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:15 pm 
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...not to mention albums are rated (wait... what ratings? there are none!) according to the 101 rules of Black Metal :lol:


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 2:36 pm 
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Well, I by no means intend to intrude on the conversation, I just have a comment to make.

I felt that the review definetely gave me an idea of what to expect, it was well described; that can't be denied. I think the one thing you may improve on is shortening certain more "unnecessary" sentences (again, I don't mean this to be taken negatively).

For example:

Quote:
Especially in black metal they are too often just a bunch of unkeyed synths, that wanker around for too long while wasting literately valuable time.


and

Quote:
The Austrian Woodtemple is a one man’s project by a guy calling himself Aramath, he released one album before.


These sentences for example could have been cut down and worded a little bit better, giving a better overall impression.

Well, just a suggestion:) and by no means an attempt to criticise. I thought, as I mentioned above, that you definetely did give a good description of what to expect.


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 5:29 pm 
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Uhm, that's for the advise, but I don't really see how the second sentence could be left out. It is fairly important to know that the band is one man's project, for a lot of people like me think that adds some creative value (they are usually the best projects). Mentioning the guys name is also important for the rest of the review because I can then just say "Aramath did this and that", in stead of saying "the one guy in the band" each time when I want to point something out he does. I also don't see why mentioning the country and howmany albums were released before is not useful. I actually liked the first sentence you mentioned (due to the paradox), but it could indeed be left out. The review would have been a little more boring then however, I just wanted to point out that the intro is cool compared to other black metal intros. Thank's for the criticism though, the problem you have I think is mainly that when another reviewer says "the intro sounds cool", I want to explain why and how too.


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 19, 2005 6:01 pm 
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I think you may have misunderstood :) I don't mean leave the sentence out, I meant revamp it so that it is a little more together, to make it tighter/more interesting to read.

Quote:
e Austrian Woodtemple is a one man’s project by a guy calling himself Aramath, he released one album before.


Woodtemple is the Austrian one-man project of Aramath, founded in (insert date) with only two releases to date. ...not the best "substitute", but I hope you get my point. It would just read better if certain sentences were a bit tighter. Just judging from overall impression. As I said, it gives a good idea, so good review;) Its just a suggestion, as I said:) No attempt to offend.

edit* and its definetely great that you're explain why the intros are so much more interesting! My suggestion was just how it was worded.


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:40 am 
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Your version is longer :wink:
Anyways, I don't want short and simple sentences, I want the review to look a little bit more sophisticated than that...
Maybe if you could come up with better examples I would take you serious. I can accept criticism, but I'm 100% sure that what you mentioned can be applied to every review on this site.


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