Great album that I keep coming back to. Disagree wholeheartedly with the review.

Won't listen this on the regular bases, but then again might be isolation album, money making idea where they left, then again Esas solo album is worst, sounds same and had overated vocalists...

Written by NavyMetal on 27.04.2022 at 02:08

Great album that I keep coming back to. Disagree wholeheartedly with the review.

Good for your but how long has it been out to be coming back to the album? Isn't it rather typical to be having an album on repetition after a release?
Every band has some weaker efforts in their discography that aren't re-visited just as often but that is only apparent after some time has passed. Time since release validates whether there is anything to rave about any album.

I can typically tell fairly quickly if an album is worth the price. This album by the my asessment and the preponderance of reviews has earned better than what you give it. Anyway, your opinion is just that as is my own.

Written by NavyMetal on 30.04.2022 at 03:29

I can typically tell fairly quickly if an album is worth the price. This album by the my asessment and the preponderance of reviews has earned better than what you give it. Anyway, your opinion is just that as is my own.

That's the problem with many of the reviews, they're too cautious. I realise many reviews might avoid slamming a band like Amorphis for releasing poor stuff (for its standard of musicianship). Or it could be to avoid releasing an unpopular opinion. Whether not to upset the usual audience or the label, who sent them a pre-release copy. Fandom reviews are just as bad, lacking perspective (many of them on this site). For many reviews on this site anything new that comes out from a big band like Amorphis has to be a 7 at least, undeservedly or not.
I've known this band for over 20 years, and am looking at this as a casual listener, not as a die-hard fan, with the stuff they had released previously in mind. Many reviewers are keen to look past flaws or they plain miss them. It's especially true for progressive releases, where the overall lack of composition is attributed to them being prog releases. Well, I beg to differ. There is good prog stuff and bad prog stuff and this one happens to be a low moment for Amorphis. I don't read reviews straight after a release to avoid getting preconceived ideas about what it might sound like. Many reviews are spur of the moment thing and lacking any degree of objectivity. I know what ails this release and try to name possible reasons WHY a band like Amorphis released this collection of B-sides. I used to have plenty of poor albums on repetition after releases only to come to a realisation they were poor stuff and what made them great for me on initial listens was novelty. Since then, I've matured enough to be more analytical and look more critically at a release. Some poor albums I still like, calling them guilty pleasures. A poor album like this still has some merits, it's just that I know I won't be that keen on coming back to it, in contrast to other releases from Amorphis. The review points out exactly what I find substandard. You are welcome to disagree by all means.

Imagine this is the only Amorphis album you have ever heard... Is it still a 4? Imagine the reader has never before heard an Amorphis album and this is what they have in front of them to listen to. Do you imagine that they would listen to this album and agree that it was "bad?" Would listening to it, rather than to Queen of Time, put them off of Amorphis forever?

Written by Tuonelan on 04.05.2022 at 20:50

Imagine this is the only Amorphis album you have ever heard... Is it still a 4? Imagine the reader has never before heard an Amorphis album and this is what they have in front of them to listen to. Do you imagine that they would listen to this album and agree that it was "bad?" Would listening to it, rather than to Queen of Time, put them off of Amorphis forever?

No work exists without context as you seem to wish me review it. No review is ever done with a clean slate mind, where the listener has no prior experience of other works, in this case the band's. Were this release by a new band, I'd still stick with poor composition, perhaps allowing for other factors.
But since it is Amorphis that released this collection of B-sides, it is still a 4.5. I gave my arguments. Even good bands release such albums, for monetary reasons or to part ways with a label. It needn't have all listeners raving equally about them though.

In my view this album makes for a poor introduction to the band. I wouldn't want someone to make the wrong impression about the rest of the band's works based on this one (poorly structured, haphazard composition etc). I cannot speak for other listeners but in my view Halo simply isn't the album to be introduced to Amorphis with.

Besides, a 4.5 is just a single score. I'd be more concerned with too many reviews giving albums post release inadequately elevated scores solely on novelty grounds (or not to disturb a working relationship with a label). A review that does not come from a pre-release reviewer that is on point about what is wrong is still worth more than one that finds little or no flaws. I don't quite understand why there is any expectation for reviews for big bands to be in favour, no matter what they release.

Observe how staff reviews miss their community score after a year has passed. Mark my words, today's score of 8.25 (rounded up to 8.3 unnecessarily) will trail off to 7.3, which it still does not deserve in my view, contrasted with other 7.3 works. It's not memorable unfortunately, nor groundmarking in any sense.

Written by mdx54 on 05.05.2022 at 00:43

Observe how staff reviews miss their community score after a year has passed. Mark my words, today's score of 8.25 (rounded up to 8.3 unnecessarily) will trail off to 7.3, which it still does not deserve in my view, contrasted with other 7.3 works. It's not memorable unfortunately, nor groundmarking in any sense.

So what you are actually saying is that you view the album as being a disappointing (to you) 7.3 and you are purposely trying to deflate the community score by rating it more harshly in order to get it there, trying to make one opinion count for more than one vote.

And there are probably a few 10s in the batch that would have been 9s except that the raters saw your 4.5 (rounded down to a 4 in your community album rating) and a few other outliers and were trying to counterbalance that.

Throw out anything below a 6 and an equal number of 10s and we'd probably have something closer to an accurate consensus score that hovers between 8 and 9.

Which seems fair.

Written by Tuonelan on 05.05.2022 at 02:58

So what you are actually saying is that you view the album as being a disappointing (to you) 7.3 and you are purposely trying to deflate the community score by rating it more harshly in order to get it there, trying to make one opinion count for more than one vote.

This isn't what I've said. I review the album on its actual merit without a reference to the community score. Mine is only an observation on score work around here, how inadequately elevated post release scores can be. The power of my vote is not as strong as you think. It's the community itself that will see the score get fairer in time. Right now, it's driven by an overhyped audience.
If anything, the scores that are given aren't harsh enough to tell a groundbreaking piece from a big band from a mediocre piece by the same band due to the factors I gave you.

Written by Tuonelan on 05.05.2022 at 02:58

(...) an accurate consensus score that hovers between 8 and 9.

Which seems fair.

It's hardly that. Albums tend to get a fairer and harsher score down the line, not straight after a release. I understand there may be folks like you wishing otherwise but the fact remains.
And I do understand how labels may wish to influence the scores in some way we are not privy to, to make them high enough to garner more attention of new audiences arriving here. Their album panned in a review is not exactly what they might sit well with.

I think the review is a bit harsh (and it was bound to be controversial since Amorphis is a band that is adored in this community) but I respect and agree with much of what you say. This album is definitely inferior to the two that came before it. I find your score to be low, but I don't really care about scores, I am more interested on what the reviewer says. I mostly agree with all your comments here on this thread too.

Congrats on your first review and welcome to Metal Storm!

Thank you, scores are subjective, I don't expect agreement. It's all about the constitutive elements that a reviewer finds. The fact a band is admired should not preclude harsh reviews, as long as there is merit for that.
Exactly my thoughts about the last two albums. I'm relistening to this album alongside their earlier releases and find one another odd thing about this album: the way many tracks finish without a meaningful coda (or with a very cliched one on the tonic). It's a style of concluding a song I'm not particularly into.

P.S. I have already posted here as tsd, but lost access, giving what may seem as harsh reviews to other bands I'm into.

Written by nikarg on 05.05.2022 at 11:28

This album is definitely inferior to the two that came before it.

I think this is the real spice in this thread. No way "under the red cloud" is near this one. Queen of Time is debatable maybe, personally I find that one a bit more monotonous tbh.

Completely agree with the reviewer. I found this album boring and uninspired. I can never listen to it entirely in one session. Gave it a merciful 7 just because I love Amorphis.

Written by cubanmetalguy on 11.05.2022 at 15:21

Completely agree with the reviewer. I found this album boring and uninspired. I can never listen to it entirely in one session. Gave it a merciful 7 just because I love Amorphis.

That is precisely why scores for popular bands tend to have an unfairly disproportionate scores for any new release. Such scores don't make it a level playing field between unquestionably great or innovative albums and those that are mediocre like Halo.

Great review, I mostly agree with it. It felt like QoT part 2 to me, an album I liked, but it was already long enough. Amorphis albums are usually a bit more varied between releases, but this one is just a continuation and I doubt I'll revisit it. In fact I don't really go back to QoT anymore either

Written by Tuonelan on 04.05.2022 at 20:50

Imagine this is the only Amorphis album you have ever heard... Is it still a 4? Imagine the reader has never before heard an Amorphis album and this is what they have in front of them to listen to. Do you imagine that they would listen to this album and agree that it was "bad?" Would listening to it, rather than to Queen of Time, put them off of Amorphis forever?

I have only listened to Amorphis' first 3 albums, which I fairly enjoyed, but I had absolutely no expectations for this record and I have no idea of what recent Amorphis records sound like, and I would also give this a 4, although maybe for completely different reasons.

Written by Roman Doez on 06.06.2022 at 21:40

I have only listened to Amorphis' first 3 albums, which I fairly enjoyed, but I had absolutely no expectations for this record and I have no idea of what recent Amorphis records sound like, and I would also give this a 4, although maybe for completely different reasons.

I have no problem with that assessment because the logic is consistent. I also have no issue with a gap of a couple points between Halo and the two albums that preceded it if the reasons are consistent. I'm suspicious of assessments that rate two very similar sounding albums very differently and complain about the high ratings. I think it shows a lack of a consistent critical perspective.

But that's like... my opinion, dude.

Kudos for speaking your mind on an album review, particularly one that goes against the grain.
i'll have to respectfully disagree with almost everything in here. I like the symphonic elements that they included on this and Queen quite a bit. They don't dwell on them. It's not a symphonic melodeath album, but they bring them in to add depth to the experience. I'm a big fan of this one myself