BlackwindMetal presents: Stratovarius

[Rebel]

So, the site I write for (Blackwindmetal) has been doing a series of "Artist Rewinds" reviewing the complete catalogs of famous metal bands, and I've been drafted to write the Stratovarius rewind, I figured I'd post this here for you guys, I've reviewed everything up to Episode so far, Visions should be coming soon.
http://blackwindmetal.com/?page_id=1697

[hiro23]

Awesome, thanks for posting these up

[Balu]

Read Episode and Dreamspace so far. I'd have probably given them somewhat lower ratings, but well written nonetheless. Thanks for posting this. :>

Oh by the way, I couldn't help noticing that your last name is Nagy. Hungarian origins?

[Rebel]

Read Episode and Dreamspace so far. I'd have probably given them somewhat lower ratings, but well written nonetheless. Thanks for posting this. :>

Oh by the way, I couldn't help noticing that your last name is Nagy. Hungarian origins?

Indeed, both my great grandparents on my dad's dad side were off the boat Hungarians.

I think some people might think I go high with those two, but they'll probably think I'm being a bit mean to Polaris and maybe Destiny.

[adrian9]

Read Episode and Dreamspace so far. I'd have probably given them somewhat lower ratings, but well written nonetheless. Thanks for posting this. :>

Oh by the way, I couldn't help noticing that your last name is Nagy. Hungarian origins?

Indeed, both my great grandparents on my dad's dad side were off the boat Hungarians.

I think some people might think I go high with those two, but they'll probably think I'm being a bit mean to Polaris and maybe Destiny.

on the other hand , I would totally give the same rating you did, both dreamspace and episode are masive records from a to z

[Beast_Pete]

Read Episode and Dreamspace so far. I'd have probably given them somewhat lower ratings, but well written nonetheless. Thanks for posting this. :>

Oh by the way, I couldn't help noticing that your last name is Nagy. Hungarian origins?

Indeed, both my great grandparents on my dad's dad side were off the boat Hungarians./quote]

I was wondering about your Hungarian origins too just by looking at your name.

[Rebel]

my review of the self titled album just went up, I think Polaris should be up next, but we might move Visions up in the line, but when stuff gets posted is out of my control. If you guys would like to see a band get reviewed, just let us (me) know.

[AAAAAAAAAA]

my review of the self titled album just went up, I think Polaris should be up next, but we might move Visions up in the line, but when stuff gets posted is out of my control. If you guys would like to see a band get reviewed, just let us (me) know.

Although I have mixed feelings about you (:roll:), your reviews are actually great!

I eagerly await the rest.

[adrian9]

This is worthwhile for dedicated fans to explore, sure, but for anyone else I would recommend checking out some of the above mentioned songs first. The album has the potential to be a grower, but even as I appreciate the album, it probably wasn’t worth the time I had to invest in it to “get” it.

Dagg’s Rating: 2.25/5

I agree , but you are missing that this album contains the best drum sound ever! can you please make it 2,50:D¿¿?

[Rebel]

This is worthwhile for dedicated fans to explore, sure, but for anyone else I would recommend checking out some of the above mentioned songs first. The album has the potential to be a grower, but even as I appreciate the album, it probably wasn’t worth the time I had to invest in it to “get” it.

Dagg’s Rating: 2.25/5

I agree , but you are missing that this album contains the best drum sound ever! can you please make it 2,50:D¿¿?

Except the best drum sound is on Episode

[adrian9]

This is worthwhile for dedicated fans to explore, sure, but for anyone else I would recommend checking out some of the above mentioned songs first. The album has the potential to be a grower, but even as I appreciate the album, it probably wasn’t worth the time I had to invest in it to “get” it.

Dagg’s Rating: 2.25/5

I agree , but you are missing that this album contains the best drum sound ever! can you please make it 2,50:D¿¿?

Except the best drum sound is on Episode

nah, too triggered, this (stratovarius drums) are more solid and organic, you can almost feel the hit in your face.

[Rebel]

This is worthwhile for dedicated fans to explore, sure, but for anyone else I would recommend checking out some of the above mentioned songs first. The album has the potential to be a grower, but even as I appreciate the album, it probably wasn’t worth the time I had to invest in it to “get” it.

Dagg’s Rating: 2.25/5

I agree , but you are missing that this album contains the best drum sound ever! can you please make it 2,50:D¿¿?

Except the best drum sound is on Episode

nah, too triggered, this (stratovarius drums) are more solid and organic, you can almost feel the hit in your face.

Episode is just so loud and aggressive.

[icecab21]

l'd be more interesting with each person rating the albums and giving their review. the review depends so much on the one person that i don;t see how it works to have review teams where each person does different albums. there are albums where the person gave a 4.5 where rebel has gone on here and been a lot more negative about.

[Rebel]

l'd be more interesting with each person rating the albums and giving their review. the review depends so much on the one person that i don;t see how it works to have review teams where each person does different albums. there are albums where the person gave a 4.5 where rebel has gone on here and been a lot more negative about.

I have a much stricter grading policy than some of our writers. Arno, Dan (The Protagonist) and myself take our ratings very seriously, and I'll only assign a 4.5 to something that I believe will stand the test of time. There is far too much good music in the world to give those scores out like candy.

I know you struggle to accept this, but there IS such a thing as bad music. As a critic, it's a waste of my time, and my readers time, to assign everything a good score, because then there's no point. I've assigned two scores that have gotten 1 or less out of 5, and a couple others in the 1-3 range, and it honestly kind of disappoints me that the majority of my scores are probably in the 3.5-4.25, what that usually says to me as a reviewer is that the overall "health" of music is good right now, and I need to expand some of those scores downward, because a 2.5 should be an AVERAGE

[icecab21]

reviewers on same album
review 1
this is good songwriting/music,
review 2
this is bad songwriting/music,

does not really matter what score they give the albums, they are still on opposite sides about whether it's a good album or not.

what system is used to determine who gets to do the review?

[adrian9]

reviewers on same album
review 1
this is good songwriting/music,
review 2
this is bad songwriting/music,

does not really matter what score they give the albums, they are still on opposite sides about whether it's a good album or not.

what system is used to determine who gets to do the review?

you got to remember something...the eye of the beholder.
with all due the respect to my homie rebel (and keep in mind that I agree with him in his reviews) he is a fan/rock journalist (as far as I understand) of course a rock/metal historian or a magazine editor, a music producer, a songwriter would rate the same thing in very different ways...

....and!, that loudness rebel refers its almost impossible to recreate without a little pro tools / trigger magic, an acoustic drum set would never be that loud for itself.
if you compare the fourth dimension drums with the episode ones is almost the same patch just a little more loud and mixed on the top. I prefer fourth dimension of course.

[Rebel]

reviewers on same album
review 1
this is good songwriting/music,
review 2
this is bad songwriting/music,

does not really matter what score they give the albums, they are still on opposite sides about whether it's a good album or not.

what system is used to determine who gets to do the review?

Way to oversimplify. I get that you think that everyone is a special snowflake and all music deserves hearing, I happen to disagree, completely. As far as our system to review? It depends, it's a mix of stuff I'll claim for myself, stuff that's assigned to me, and stuff that's recommended to me, since the writer team (I think somewhere around 10-12 of us) all know each other well enough to know each others tastes, we usually assign stuff based on what people would be most qualified to review, for example, I write the majority of the promos on more eclectic and technical prog, (A lot of that stuff comes from Lion Music, who I'm a big fan of) power metal stuff is usually split up pretty evenly and randomly, though it's been awhile since I've had a really great power metal album to review (Merging Flare's Reverence is the most recent I can think of), as far as the rewinds, that was my brainchild a few months back and that's 100% volunteer, I chose Stratovarius to start with because of familiarity, I'll probably do Black Sabbath next.

you got to remember something...the eye of the beholder.
with all due the respect to my homie rebel (and keep in mind that I agree with him in his reviews) he is a fan/rock journalist (as far as I understand) of course a rock/metal historian or a magazine editor, a music producer, a songwriter would rate the same thing in very different ways...

....and!, that loudness rebel refers its almost impossible to recreate without a little pro tools / trigger magic, an acoustic drum set would never be that loud for itself.
if you compare the fourth dimension drums with the episode ones is almost the same patch just a little more loud and mixed on the top. I prefer fourth dimension of course.

Sometimes it's about the skill put in, but sometimes, in the case of Episode, I think it's just remarkable for how enjoyable it is. As far as the rating, a 2.5 is an average score, and I think that, looking at this independent of other Stratovarius albums, it's a fairly OK piece of "Dark Metal", however its held back because the band just doesn't fit the style quite well. They're out of their element and it shows, drums are great sure, as are the vocals, but the guitar and keyboards are really uninspired.

[icecab21]

http://blackwindmetal.blogspot.com/2011 ... grays.html

Truly where this album shines is in the song writing.

However having eight killer tracks and four less amazing, but still great songs is not bad by any stretch.

It’s not about the performances of each individual member that makes this album; it is the combination of them all.

I love this album; it is one of my personal favourites, as well as one of the best albums I have ever heard.

I connect with it on a deep emotional level

anyone should see the immense value within this.

it does not seem oversimplified. on this forum you have been the antithesis of this guys review.

[Rebel]

http://blackwindmetal.blogspot.com/2011 ... grays.html

Truly where this album shines is in the song writing.

However having eight killer tracks and four less amazing, but still great songs is not bad by any stretch.

It’s not about the performances of each individual member that makes this album; it is the combination of them all.

I love this album; it is one of my personal favourites, as well as one of the best albums I have ever heard.

I connect with it on a deep emotional level

anyone should see the immense value within this.

it does not seem oversimplified. on this forum you have been the antithesis of this guys review.

Days of Gray is a divisive album, and that writer and I have discussed it at length. I guess since music is controversial, I shouldn't ever bother writing any reviews? Listen, if you don't find value in music criticism, then that's fine, but I enjoy what I do, and we've got a good enough readership to justify our little corner of the internet.

But because I know this is a waste of time, here's something that'll give you an ulcer, the most well read review I've written for the site.
http://blackwindmetal.com/?s=andromeda&paged=3

Anyways, can we stop wasting time discussing the fact that Icecab doesn't think anyone should be allowed to insult any music ever and get to something worth our time?

[icecab21]

i did not say to not write reviews, i said it would be interesting if the albums got reviewed by a few people on the website instead of the band being at the whim of whoever gets selected to do an album and their random criteria. divisive albums can have their bad reviews and good reviews from different reviewers, but it gives a fuller picture if there are a few reviews rather than one.

yes, trashing a band or album will get metal heads to read it.

[eternity_strato]

Good Dreamspace review!

[Rebel]

i did not say to not write reviews, i said it would be interesting if the albums got reviewed by a few people on the website instead of the band being at the whim of whoever gets selected to do an album and their random criteria. divisive albums can have their bad reviews and good reviews from different reviewers, but it gives a fuller picture if there are a few reviews rather than one.

yes, trashing a band or album will get metal heads to read it.

Bigger sites tend to do multiple reviews for one album, if we had 15 to 20+ writers, we might, but with the number of promos we get, and the fact that this is a hobby for all of us, it's pretty difficult as well. Between the promos I get (maybe one every week and a half or so) and this Strat rewind, I know I'm pretty much full booked.

[AAAAAAAAAA]

Adrian and Rebel are the music gurus of the forum.
I ignore most music reviews but I take their recommendations very seriously!

[adrian9]

Between the promos I get (maybe one every week and a half or so) and this Strat rewind, I know I'm pretty much full booked.

sorry man I had too

[Rebel]

I recently finished writing all the reviews, and I'm just waiting on the site to post the Elements reviews, other than those 2, all of the studio albums are posted, I'm about to embark on a Black Sabbath rewind next, but as I have time I'll fill in stuff like Intermission, Visions of Destiny, Polaris Live and such

[brought2ubyletterC]

^Is it required that you write all of the reviews, or do you accept contributions? Because I wrote a review of the self-titled album back in '05, if you'd like to have it. Maybe it could cut down a little on your workload?

[Rebel]

^Is it required that you write all of the reviews, or do you accept contributions? Because I wrote a review of the self-titled album back in '05, if you'd like to have it. Maybe it could cut down a little on your workload?

For the rewinds, I write all the reviews myself, at least for the individual "Rewinds", (We have a number of different contributors), the Stratovarius stuff is already done and I have the first 3 Sabbath reviews written. As far as workload goes, the rewinds are really nice, because I usually can crank them out no problem when I sit down to write them and can be really helpful in combating writers block

[brought2ubyletterC]

Ah, OK. Cool!