Haha, bloody well hope so!

Ooh are the staff all going to do year-end retrospectives like they did last year? I hope so as they were all really good reads, although with the amount of detail that went into a few of them I don't envy you the task of having to write one.

Album Rating: 3.0

Not 100% sure Ross, but I do NOT think they will be as extensive as last year.



Just noticed your dig. Initial thoughts/rating?

Aww thats a downer, like I said I really enjoyed them, they were great reads.

Haha I haven't actually listened to that Thrice album in a while. I gave it a 4 and I pretty much stick by that...for now. At the minute I'm still stuck with the initial leak with the Vagrant Records voice-overs which is somewhat annoying. I have pre-ordered a copy in physical format though and I'm eagerly awaiting it, it will be interesting to see how good the new downloadable content is.

Album Rating: 3.0

"Aww thats a downer" Nice pun. Electric City will be pleased. Haha.



"like I said I really enjoyed them, they were great reads." Ditto, but I believe the work that was put into them was astronomical.



Thanks for the Thrice opinion. I have heard good things about it, even if reviews are mixed.

I very nearly put "thats an (Adam) downer" but I thought it would be too un-subtle. I don't know how you feel about Thrice but if you enjoyed The Alchemy Index, especially the "Earth" EP, then I think there is a good chance you'd like it. Its a very natural progression from that EP and contains a more alt-rock style than anything they have previously done, with a larger influence from Dustin's solo work.

Album Rating: 3.0

That's a pretty good 'Beggars' sound-off right there Ross.



On the whole, I really like Thrice. 'Vheissu' is either a 4.5 or 5 for me. The first half of 'The Alchemy Index' disappointed me a little (a weak 3.5 at best), while I liked the 2nd half (probably a 4). So yeah, I'm thinking my opinion of 'Beggars' will be similar to yours.

I was thinking that as I wrote it, I might just buff it out a bit now and post it as one. I don't write enough soundoffs really. I mean I know I don't write enough period, but soundoffs are generally pretty relaxed and in turn aren't exactly hard to write. Ehh I'll go do a few now, ta for giving me something to do.

Oh also have you heard much of The Decemberists album, I hear its quite good but I'd rather like conformation on that before I check it out.

Album Rating: 3.0

Yeah, I'll be writing much more sound-offs now that my reviewing output will be dropping.



As for The Decemberists, I have not heard it... And I doubt I will get around to it by the end of the year unfortunately.

Well I buffed those two sentences out rather more than I had intended, but I'm happy with the soundoff - even if it is a little late in getting posted. Whats all this about you dropping your review output, may I ask why?

Album Rating: 3.0

It's difficult not to drop the outpit at least a little as staff predominantly concentrate on new releases and there is a dibs system in place, so I can't review Muse one day & Moneen (new review plug) 3 days later. Don't worry, I still plan to be doing 3-4 per month.

Ahh I guess I understand, still you'll stay at about 2/3 times my output, which isn't that hard in all fairness. Another review I totally missed, I'll go check it out now.

Album Rating: 3.0

Come on Ross... Take it as motivation to try & put out more reviews than me per month!



And yeah, I've had a few users tell me that finding my reviews is now somehow more difficult now that I'm staff. It sort of doesn't make sense since the review should stay up longer than before, but I guess it's possible in a strange sort of way. Although, it's more likely that it's only been recently since September is one huge month for new releases! We had 6 staff reviews posted in the space of 20 hours yesterday!

September sure is the month for the most new, relevant releases. Both Ross and I fail to put out reviews as often as we should. I still only have three and am working on too many at once and hating how all of them have turned out.

Album Rating: 3.0

Oooh gyro... One of my golden rules of reviewing; Work on one review at a time. You don't want to get confused & end up calling Muse the best metal band of all time or something like that!



But yeah, September is a huge month. There still should be staff reviews coming of Muse, Dizzee Rascal, Saosin, Brand New and a couple of others. And that's just over the next few days!

"You don't want to get confused & end up calling Muse the best metal band of all time or something like that!"

lmao! thanks for that laugh, having a somewhat crap day so far. I'm not impressed with my writing recently, it seems like it's so hard for me and I don't know why. There's a certain flow to everyone else' reviews but mine seem too jam packed and full of unnecessary sentences. bottom line, I write a review and then disregard it and end up throwing it in the garbage. I keep saying how I want to aim to maybe be contributor by December, but at this rate that will never happen

Album Rating: 3.0

Hmmm, that sounds familiar gyro. Seriously, it's the same issue I had... not even 6 months ago. You just got to keep at it and sometimes do away with sentences that aren't necessarily integral to the review. I'd love to write 10 paragraph reviews & give readers that much info, but it's not practical. Want proof? Just go to my new Moneen review where I use a comment to write down some of my notes on lyrics from the album that would have amounted to one entire paragraph.



As for putting targets on yourself for reaching contributor status; Don't. You're only putting more pressure on yourself.



If you're really struggling to get yourself going, I'd suggest reviewing an album you know back to front. You'll probably get the occasional "unnecessary review" comment, but stiff. If it gets you on a roll, it will be worth it... for everyone!

Thanks man, I appreciate the advice. I wrote one for new Mew and I'm still tweaking it. For some reason I'm not too impressed with it. I think my Cynic review will forever have me known on this site... for all the wrong reasons, lol.

Album Rating: 3.0

No probs gyro.



And the Cynic review was a long long time ago. I'd forgotten that it was even you that wrote it, tbh.

lol, this is probably for the best. it was a pretty bad review.

Album Rating: 3.0

The problem is... you have reminded everyone now. Then again, you were wise to do it in a review of a house music album, which not many will read. You might be safe. Shhhhh.