what's to agree on? "The banality of modern life is often at its most powerful when it’s completely stripped down and examined in its starkness." flat-out doesn't make sense. i see it as an irrefutable point. you can try to explain what you intended it to mean, but that doesn't change how it reads in your review

"and as such its possible to interpret what I've written differently (as you've clearly done). "

in this case, i would try to make my writing less open to interpretation, as it's clear to you what you meant to say but not as apparent to your readers.

your point about criticisms being more severe than constructive is something i constantly struggle with. tact isn't my strong suit these days. i don't believe it's necessary to tell you what a good job you did elsewhere to restore your confidence, or to beat around the bush and say stuff like 'well, i think maybe this isn't right. could it be that you meant to say...' when i'd rather be more direct. i apologize for calling it terrible though

As someone who has been on the receiving end of Matt's criticisms before, let me just advise you to try and get as much use out of it as possible. He means well, and though I don't see as much issue with your first paragraph as he does, he makes good points nonetheless.

I say this from having come from a place where criticism was hard for me to swallow. Such comments teach you innumerable things about writing if you let them, though their bite certainly isn't pleasant to deal with in the interim.

Gyro is nowhere near as bad as Atavan was back in the day though

That dude used to rip people new assholes. He laid into one of my reviews during my first year with the site and I didn't write again for like 8 months.

But yeah what Omaha said - any criticism is a good tool.

Album Rating: 4.0

this rules

this was pretty cool

Yeah, I gotta agree with Gyro on that first paragraph. It's tangential, it feels redundant (and somewhat pretentious) and reads in a very awkward manner. Not gonna go into detail as Gyro has already done so.

Tbh, that's one of the things that often don't make me want to read any further because it makes me feel like it's just gonna be followed by vague and hyperbolic adjectives thrown around that aren't really good descriptors of the music. (for that matter, I also don't really care for laid out interpretations of music)

Album Rating: 3.5

Fair enough, points taken. Will keep them in mind for the future. Probably wont attempt such a style again, still, it was worth trying something different.

Just stopping by to say good review (again!). Love your writing style, man.

Still haven't checked this :P

Neither have I; been too obsessed with Brand New and Darkest Hour.

Not sure if a post-rock album has ever aged for me as well as this one has. I remember when this dropped and thought it was a 3.5 at best. Over ten years later and it still brings me back in. So many great moments here, and the pacing is just incredible. The riffs in Monuments, the weeping strings toward the end of Reverie, the breakdown in Dreams -- It's so good and I just wish the follow up would have been better. Miss these guys a lot.

Guess what? Still epic.