TheSpirit
Brandon Scott
Emeritus

Reviews 161
Approval 95%

Soundoffs 782
News Articles 72
Band Edits + Tags 334
Album Edits 1,121

Album Ratings 3408
Objectivity 68%

Last Active 10-04-22 3:24 pm
Joined 10-13-09

Review Comments 30,304

 Lists
09.30.22 He is Legend ranked09.27.22 lets see those last.fm stats (6mos)
09.23.22 Death and Dying in 2022 Pt.409.22.22 Death and Dying in 2022 Pt.3
09.21.22 Death and Dying In 2022 Pt.209.20.22 Death and Dying in 2022 Pt.1
09.09.22 Correct Metallica Ranking08.23.22 TheSpirit's 30k Comments Special ♦
08.11.22 Controversial? Carcass Ranking08.09.22 Were Children of Bodom melodeath?
08.05.22 VOTE: Big 4 of Melodeath ♦08.03.22 Breaking Benjamin Ranked
07.27.22 Seeing Eighteen Visions Tonight07.07.22 Metals*cks 10 Best from New Wave of Dea
07.06.22 What's Your Vecna Saving Song(s)?06.17.22 Ask Me Any Music Opinion
06.04.22 Sput’s fave?? Mirrors vs. Controller 06.01.22 Pre-Ecailles de Lune blackgaze
More »

TheSpirit's 30k Comments Special

After 13 years on Sputnik, I have finally hit 30k comments. I probably would have hit it sooner if I had kept posting like the maniac I was in 2010, but you know life happens. In celebration, here is an assortment of random, mostly Sputnik related thoughts, which will be quasi-wholesome, quasi-cringe, but all Spirit baby (getting the cringe started early).
1Gonemage
Mystical Extraction

Sputnik legit changed my life for the better. It feels weird to say that and be genuine about it, but if it weren’t for cutting my teeth on this site, I would not be where I am today in terms of my writing career (if you can call it that). I get paid to write about music now? Like, what???
2Deafheaven
Sunbather

Former Sputnik users bullied me into liking raw black metal! I’ve actually become cool with many of those people since, but I remember first digging into the genre here and getting flamed for my tastes. I led me into discovering the most unlistenable black metal I could find and well here I am. It also kind of solidified the user I wanted to be. Much better to write about music and lead people into it that way than pushing them by being a meanie.
3The Hope and the Failure
The Lights Are on But This Dance Never Ends

This is an exceedingly underrated skramz album and even though we’ve been treated with both Gospel and City of Caterpillar reunions this year, if this band got back together and put out a new record, I would genuinely lose my shit.
4Woe
Quietly, Undramatically

If you’re a new user/writer, my biggest advice would to be to RUN FOR THE HILLS if someone suggests music criticism (or, criticism in general) should be objective. People read reviews for opinions on how things sound, not for a bunch of technical jargon describing the sound itself. For a lot of us, this feels like common knowledge, but I wish someone had told me in my earlier days writing.
5Mastodon
Blood Mountain

“YES A MASTODON GUITAR SOLO” is still one of the funniest things to come from Sputnik. In fact, the site is full of these little nuggets, just hiding in plain sight embedded in track-by-track reviews and 110-page comment lists.
6Odz Manouk/Tukaaria
Split

It’s been interesting to see the staff shifts over the year and how that has effected the site in the longterm. When I first joined Sput, it was certainly still rock-based, but moreso in the direction of indie than anything else. Many of the staff then (think 2008-2009) were kind of unapproachable. Correlation maybe? No but for real, every subsequent generation has been friendlier and I, as a metal fan, am quite happy with the representation the genre gets with our current crop of writers.
7Cradle of Filth
Cruelty and the Beast

Cradle of Filth is my most listened to band of all-time currently w/4885 scrobbles. I’m kind of saddened by the relatively muted reaction to Stuart Anstis’s passing; despite his brief tenure in the band he played a huge role in CoF’s becoming the most popular black metal of the late 90’s/early 2000’s.
8SZA
Ctrl

You used to be able to insert images into comments. I’m pretty sure the function is not longer active thanks to certain users using it to post pr0n. Good times!
9The 1975
A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships

If you care about writing at all, you really do just have to keep pushing during those days when you feel like you can barely form a sentence. Trust me, I know it’s easier said than done and a lot of days I can’t live up to my own advice, but there is nothing better than breaking down a mental block like continuing to write, even if it’s bad or not up to (your) par.
10Carved Cross
Futile Reflections of a Failed Existence

Unless I am posting something in the meds thread (which is not often), I pretty much always forget about the forum portion of the site and that, like the review side of Sputnik, has its own social ecosystem.
11Motley Crue
Shout at the Devil

A lot of people like to reminiscence on the “good ol’ days” and lordt, I am one of them, but I think we need to appreciate the community we currently have. I don’t think the site is *as* active as I’ve seen it in the past, but we have a strong userbase and are experiencing some great camaraderie these last few years. It feels like a silly thing to mention, but if I am being honest, I chat and communicate with some of you more than I do my own family. People cultivate strong relationships with others online nowadays. Embrace and enjoy it while you can!
12fun.
Aim and Ignite

I was listening to this last night and I can’t believe it’s been over a decade since it came out. I very vividly remember how big this record was around here. Now, it’s thread gets bumped every couple of months. Product of all the indie staff leaving???? Who knows!
13Veela
2233

Sputnik was the first site to take a chance on my writing. I got promoted to contrib during the …. 2016 cycle? Maybe? I don’t recall. Anyway, even though I fell off rather quickly (bad mental health, substance issues, burnout, etc…) I will always appreciate the powers that be for giving me the contrib tag and the confidence that I was a pretty good writer.
14Carcass
Swansong

I wanted to do specific shout-outs, but there are too many people I’d want to name, half of them don’t even use the site anymore, and I would feel bad if I missed anyone. If we have a relationship, you know who you are. I will however name Maniac! and Inveigh as they are my bois and the two best friends I’ve made from this site. I genuinely love them and am grateful that Sputnik introduced us.
15SeeYouSpaceCowboy
Fashion Statements of the Socially Aware

Lastly, I need to give a special shout to my OG Pervert the Church crew --- you know who you are, and I miss working w/ya'll so much! One of the best times in my life was running that blog and it was camaraderie I experienced played a huge part in that.
Show/Add Comments (54)

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