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Well at least Charle's list didn't utterly suck. Other than the Heritage fellatio.

... with a quiet implication that everybody else's did?

Whoops, knew there was something I forgot to do >_>;.

Wasn't really a quiet implication. More like a guy standing on a cliff with a mega-phone yelling into a canyon full of people.

Steve does not know the art of quiet implication!

Good to see Heritage gettin the luv it deserves.

Had no idea this is our friend Steve, shows how much I know about happens around the forums.

Should have known by the 0 he keeps dropping on every review. Agreed on Heritage, good stuff.

Well, how do I put this... That was kind of depressing. I have obviously noticed that the albums reviewed have shifted from what I am interested in, so I just don't read the reviews anymore but having a single page of the reviewers' faves was kinda disappointing. I share no interests with any of you guys, besides Chuck and Zad and Chuck is rather aloof these days, rightly so.

About Chuck's list, hells yeah on the Ash Borer and I need to give that Lake of Blood a lot more listens. I don't know about the Liturgy love. I tried liking them but going back to that album after a few months, it was like listening to a janky Krallice. Subrosa is great and I apparently need to check out Fell Voices.

And whoever said Celestial Lineage was a disappointment, fuck you. The lack of mentions for Benighted was appalling. Props to Khelek, I think for having done so.

That would be me. Call me growing thin-skinned on this comment, but if I get a"fuck you" reaction for explaining my personal opinion in 2 pages of a review, why this (barely) disappointed me this year after this band consistently made Top 5 for years, then I am not sure why even bother.

Trapt, I mentioned Benighted too, fwiw. I do feel the need also to point out that the interests of reviewers shifting away from certain readers is hardly grounds for depression (and come on, mate, 'fuck you's for disagreeing over a particular album are just ridiculous)... I've been round the block a few times for it to be quite likely that I'll retread my footprints eventually! Yet it felt wrong to fill my list solely with the sort of atmospheric/extreme metal that I used to love and which Charles now covers very well indeed in my view. Where once black metal spoke to me, now prog etc does - I actually thought my list was pretty balanced, to be frank.

Oh well, no pleasing some. I hope you've all enjoyed my reviews this far, and that you'll continue to enjoy them, whether I'm writing about Evanescence or Esoteric, Foo Fighters or Fell Voices.

I would also mention that I just don't have time to listen to everything. Not to mention getting ahold of some of the albums you mention isn't always feasable for me. I spend as much time listening to classic rock and other genres as I do metal, so there is limited time, especially with having a family now. If you feel that way, why not try your own hand at reviewing? Obviously you have a passion for this music, and do not feel it is being met by the, what, six or so reviewers trying to get at least 7 reviews on the site each week? We are obviously hurting for reviewers, so why not step up and give it a shot?

I am fuming a bit of course, so that may explain the essence of this message, but would volunteer the answer on behalf of those unsatisfied, including Mr. Trapt here. It is much easier to sit there and bitch about "dissatisfaction" than step up to the plate and lift the weight. If these guys knew what is involved behind the scenes and had their own personal lives which needed to be squared away with reviewing obligations, they wouldn't send their pathetic "fuck you" messages when something is not up to their liking.

Yeah, opinions yada yada but Black Cascade was that disappointment for me where Celestial Lineage I find to be really beautiful and I really think it has something different in terms of ambience and feel that other bm doesn't have.

The 'fuck you' was not directed at the reviewing process nor really was anything I said a critique of the site. It was simply the bare realization that my interests in the music simply don't overlap with the reviewers on board. That's all my post was about plus a "WITTR is still making awesome music and up yours if you don't like it" sort of comment. It wasn't wholly serious. I'm much more loose with my fuck yous and middle fingers than most I imagine.

And as I've said before I would write reviews if I could actually devote the time to it but as it sits now, I couldn't devote more than my summer months to it due to graduate studies. I've written reviews in an attempt to send them in and it is difficult but I don't think it is such a monolithic burden as you always make it out to be but then again my life is essentially writing.

Depression is a little dramatic but it's sad. I like this site insofar as I've been here for a while but I've been kinda just perusing it as of late insofar as it isn't engaging to me. Maybe just to start more threads then...

But you review for a primarily metal website, what does the listening of classic rock have to do with apportioning time to review METAL albums? Secondly, finding the appropriate material is hardly a case, you can easily download an album or at the very least stream it from Youtube or another source for a review. The lack of output and reviewing of the multitude of albums in the rec threads, or even albums that weren't covered in 2011 is astoundingly bad. The only two reviewers who have even attempted to review the underground are Charles and Tony, and they are just two people.

I am aware that I review for a primarily metal website, since I review primarily metal albums. The apportioning of time to review a METAL (thanks for making that clarification, never would have known what you meant without the caps) album is not a huge factor, but assigning time to listen to and review said albums is more of a time consuming comittment than you and others make it out to be. Work, family, and life in general all determine how much time can actually be spent giving honest, well thought out reviews. I can certainly do more, and intend to do so in the future, but it will be what I want to review. As to the "underground", yeah I can spend more time digging into the requests list but frankly a lot of the material in there is beyond my experience. It is going to take time of listening to it and getting comfortable with it before I feel I can honestly review it, so hince I didn't take a shot at them in 2011 (which was my first year doing reviews). I welcome the opportunity to do so in the future, since I am always looking to exapnd my knowledge of music, but "The lack of output and reviewing of the multitude of albums in the rec threads, or even albums that weren't covered in 2011 is astoundingly bad" is an ignorant statement. Credit to Charles and Tony for meeting your "expectations", but you are talking about around eight regular reviewers on average doing this for free in their spare time trying to get to a "multitude" of albums that you deem worthy above all others. Can more be done? Certainly, but you should start by showing some appreciation for what exists and promoting it than wasting time bitching and complaining. Don't bitch about the "problem", find the solution. Encourage people to try reviewing, send people our way that would be interested in helping.

Oh and Trapt, thanks for clarifying man. I didn't mean to sound like I was coming down on you or anything, just venting a small bit of frustration. Although I think you undervalue the time constraints and work that goes into the reviewing process (ask Zad, he carries the bulk of the load), I also understand where you are coming from with your studies. I will try to branch out more this year to hit some more requests. Shoot me some ideas, I will be happy to listen.

Don't you think your statement is, should I say, a bit self-contradictory. To paraphrase "I can't devote time to it since I am busy with my grad studies", yet "you are making it sound more difficult than it is".
I got finished with grad studies 14 yrs ago. PhD in chemistry from a University about 4 hrs north from where you are, so I know what time constraint and devotion you need to put in to get yourself a degree which is worthwhile. Good luck for you the rest of the way, wherever you are in the process.
The "monolithic burden" you ascribe to me, however, is not with review writing itself. I can put 2 pages of my opinion phrased decently enough so others could comprehend relatively quickly. But the process that has to come before that is time consuming, and when you are 42, have a small business to run (24/7 job) and a couple of kids, one of them a teenager, trust me, it well compares with the time I had to devote to grad school when I was in one. Moreover, I think I am busier with things now than when I was in grad school. So, when somebody who decided he was too busy to do this not so "monolithically difficult" writing thing sends you a "not so harshly meant" fuck you, you think it might upset me, just a little bit?