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Threads like these are exactly the reason why I usually don't respond to review reactions. Not that I have thin skin -- I certainly don't -- but I also don't write to garner a certain response from readers at large. It is literally impossible to please everyone in this business, and it would serve as nothing more than a frustration to try.
What we as reviewers write, or attempt to write, is an accurate portrayal of the album and how the musician or band comes across to the listener. When it comes to applying a score, speaking only for myself here, I try to take into account not only the immediate effect of the sound and lyrical content, but also the band's overall impact and influence on its genre or the metal industry at large. Slanting a review or its score simply out of personal preference is not only absurd, it wouldn't be tolerated by the MR staff.
A couple of perfect examples are the Rhapsody and Saxon reviews I wrote several weeks back. Rhapsody, on one hand, is unquestionably the founder of the modern symphonic speed/power metal movement as we know it today. These guys are HEADLINERS -- that is, other bands open for THEM. A great many bands today that incorporate orchestral elements on an in-depth level can attribute this to Rhapsody. What I happened to review was what most fans of the band would consider to be their best album. Take the best album from one of the biggest and most influential bands in a particular genre (and some would argue, in all of metal), and how could you not end up with a high score? Yet every reaction indicated that the score was WAY too high.
On the other hand was Saxon, which was apparently scored WAY too low. Now Saxon is a great band, but hardly a groundbreaking, chart-topping act. They have stuck with the basic sound of British heavy metal for many years, and while they produce solid albums, they are hardly of such an astounding, earth-shattering effect that they should garner an extremely high score. In particular, the album I reviewed was quite good, but not their best. How could a decent score be too low?
And so we come to the band currently under discussion -- the apparently very controversial Conception. The facts are these:
1. This band was young, very talented, mature beyond their years, and capable of nonchalantly cranking out phenomenal albums every two years like clockwork.
2. During this time period, very few acts produced music of this quality. Symphony X was barely put together, Queensryche's best years were arguably behind them, and Pagan's Mind or Seventh Wonder's members were probably still in high school. Only Dream Theater and Fates Warning were successfully defining the progressive power metal arena when Conception came along, and technically Images And Words was released AFTER the first issue of The Last Sunset. This is not a band that simply blended into a massive background.
3. Sales figures and fanbase or popularity do NOT equal influence or relevance in the world of metal. Conception's relatively minimal following cannot be considered a reflection of whether or not they were an amazing band. Therefore, the fact that some or even most readers of this particular website may not have heard of them or heard any one particular album is irrelevant with respect to this band's status or review score.
Again, to simply write a review in favor of my personal opinion or to try and cater to popular viewpoint would be a futile and childish effort. The changing of the Parallel Minds score from 90-something to CLASSIC status after the review was published was my doing, simply because I had forgotten to do so before-hand. In all honesty, the first time I heard Conception, I wasn't particularly impressed. However, after many repeated listens the level of musicianship and talent I was hearing just floored me. In my opinion as a reviewer, the final two albums of this band deserve a CLASSIC status, based solely on excellent musicians performing at an excellent level in a time when such music was rare indeed.
I am by no means a renegade, and if any MR staffer objects with how I score my reviews, of course they are welcome to change it -- this is their website. While this is, naturally, an open forum, I can only hope that a wandering passerby will read the reviews presented with a grain of salt, as I did before becoming a writer, and realize that while they are written with the very best of intentions in mind, they are not to be taken as gospel truth . . . and also realize that the comments section is simply that, rather than a negative reflection on the album being discussed.
- Erik
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