i thought it was a bad review, and here's why. you're not giving an indication of the album's impact as a separate entity; your opinion of it seems entirely dependent on the rest of the band's catalogue

Album Rating: 4.5

oreverendeared, i have actually bought the other albums first (well, except Von (which i can't find) and the EPs), but i'm thinking i'll give them more time to sink in before i get this one.

Album Rating: 3.0

Oh I know, that was something called sarcasm. It's clear you are only here to go around bashing other people's reviews. I'm sure it is because you are better than everyone else though, and not because you know you couldn't write a good one.

My point was that he gave it a rating he didn't even think it deserved just to be eligible for the contest.

[quote="ilikemusicthatsucks"]^Of all the reasons to neg it you choose a reason that by your own admission "most people do"?[/quote] "popular" does not correlate to "best." and no, i'm not going to go through the whole site, read, and rate, each and every review. that's ridiculous. i rate the ones i read, if i think they merit one of those two ratings. so far, i've only given one or two negatives(i think). i haven't given a lot of review ratings either way, though

[quote="Minus the Flair"]istaros, after reading the review again I can see why you'd think that actually. I might edit in another paragraph to make it clear why I think this is boring without mentioning the earlier work, just one of my main issues is that it's too reliant on what they already know. Thanks for the advice. Shame about the neg, but at least there's some help with it.[/quote]
i'm glad to see you understand my point. i don't rate anything out of spite(except maybe limp bizkit's albums) or fandom(except maybe dead can dance's albums); in ratings, i try to be honest to and reflective of reason and fact - i don't need to use a ratings system to broadcast my own emotional preferences/reactions. which is another thing most people do

[quote="WillieFisterbut"]How can you have an opinion of something without something else to compare it to? This album does not exist in a vacuum. If Simple Plan was the closest thing to the punk genre that existed then people would love it, but thankfully we can compare it to other albums and realize it is crap. Which is what he did by comparing this album to the body of other albums by this band that do exist and shouldn't just be ignored.[/quote]

there's more than one way to look at reviewing other peoples' works of art. mine is that - someone who is familiar with the artist(band in this case) doesn't have any pragmatic use for such a review. in my own estimation the purpose of a review should be to incite those unfamiliar with it to either familiarize themselves with the work(album in this case), or to continue ignoring it. there is nothing wrong with making comparisons, but if that forms the extent of your review, the review has failed to be informational to anyone but those who already have the information. if you say 'this album is no good because all these other albums are better,' and the reader goes on to listen to those other albums, and forms a bias against the one being reviewed, hating it before even having listened to it, then the review has failed to become a medium for education. instead, it has served as a brainwashing tool. real education involves letting the student come to his own conclusions, not hammering preformed opinions into his head

these are rather extremist statements and do not relate to this review specifically. i'm just illustrating my mindset.

someone who is familiar with the artist(band in this case) doesn't have any pragmatic use for such a review. in my own estimation the purpose of a review should be to incite those unfamiliar with it to either familiarize themselves with the work(album in this case), or to continue ignoring it.

what's this "contest" every1 keeps talking about? did i miss something here?!

i think that is normal. or perhaps you were being sarcastic. either way, i do it too - there's nothing wrong with doing it, and nothing wrong with writing in a way to feed that - but it is, in the end, cheap entertainment and nothing more. that kind of writing does nothing to advance anyone's knowledge or experience. i'm not saying it should be forbidden or even sneered at; but i'm not ever going to say it's exceptional.

it would be like calling Fields of the Nephilim an exceptional band... they were great fun, good at what they did, extremely enjoyable, yes to all three. but in objective terms, their impact was limited entirely to 'easy music' - easy to make, easy to like. and there's nothing wrong with that; i like them a hell of a lot more than Bauhaus. but objectively i'm still able to recognize Bauhaus' innovation and contributions as significant. so regardless of how much i ENJOY Nephilim, calling them 'exceptional' is just plain old bullshit fandom

as for the second paragraph. like i said before, there's nothing wrong with referencing other albums by the same band in a review. done well, it can even be instructional. but also as i said before, if it forms the entire basis of what you're saying, you might as well not have any opinion on that specific album at all. it should be related to others, yes; but it should primarily be seen as its own entity, because that's what it is. if it doesn't have its own unique identifiers, that should DEFINITELY be criticized. if it sounds exactly like other albums the band's made before, it can't stand on its own, and is probably nothing noticeable. but that's obviously not the case with this Sigur Ros album, it's *very* different for them. and i'm not saying it should automatically be praised for that; but comparing it to the rest of their catalogue, without saying much of anything else, comes across as misled to me. because it *is* so different from the rest of their catalogue

its in the forums, spoon_of_grimbo

I wasn't being sarcastic; I do read reviews for albums I know, own, and love for the reasons I already said.
I agree with your third paragraph, and apparently just didn't notice a large amount of direct comparisons simply because I am familiar with their other works.

Album Rating: 2.0

Right, I've added another paragraph (wasn't quite sure where to place it) which, I think, describes why I didn't like the album, regardless of previous work. I also think it enhances my negative stance on the album, but again, feel free to point out any issues you may have.

I think it explains things well... but I'm not the one that negged you ;)

Album Rating: 2.0

Well thanks, here's hoping that extra paragraph gets that neg changed to a pos. Not holding my breath though...

i think 'complete void' of variation is a little severe, but yes, that was a great addition. impressions of the music itself are a lot more cohesive and functional than comparisons of the music itself to other music, but it's best when both are present. i also liked the reasoning you gave for forming those comparisons; too often people make statements without providing any validation for them

i gave another vote(positive), i dont know if that changes the neg to a pos though

i gave another vote(positive), i dont know if that changes the neg to a pos though

Album Rating: 2.0

Oh awesome, the vote and the review criticism are much appreciated istaros. Definitely improved my review style, thanks a lot.

no problem, i enjoy talking about things like that

Album Rating: 4.5

its not happening

Album Rating: 2.0

good catch, thanks. yeah, i am a bit of a perfectionist

Album Rating: 4.5

same. i need to grow out of that. i mean i guess i'd rather be a perfectionist than have half-assed grammar