My first review ever! Even if you have no interest for the album, I'd like some feedback on the writing if possible guys.

Your first review is pretty good; you keep some sort of "theme" throughout every paragraph, don't meander much and you're quite descriptive. I haven't heard this release yet, but yours and jup's review combined give me a pretty good picture of what should I expect if I ever get to listen to it.

And how could I forget, my first review also had a 9.5 mark on it

Written by Milena on 06.03.2012 at 00:04

Your first review is pretty good; you keep some sort of "theme" throughout every paragraph, don't meander much and you're quite descriptive. I haven't heard this release yet, but yours and jup's review combined give me a pretty good picture of what should I expect if I ever get to listen to it.

And how could I forget, my first review also had a 9.5 mark on it

Well, thank you lady
Yeah, I chose one of my favorites records ever to do my first review. I figured out it would be better to do it with a record that I pretty much remember everything from so many listens.
I guess it is a lot harder to do it accurately when, for example, you are asked to do one for a record that just came out or something like that.

Written by Milena on 06.03.2012 at 00:04
I haven't heard this release yet, but yours and jup's review combined give me a pretty good picture of what should I expect if I ever get to listen to it.

One of the better things Niege took part on if you ask me., Probably because it felt like a band instead of a dude with session musicians. The strentgh of this albums lies in the vocals and nice bass sound. I love the pop vibe here.

Written by Unhealer on 06.03.2012 at 00:27

Yeah, I chose one of my favorites records ever to do my first review. I figured out it would be better to do it with a record that I pretty much remember everything from so many listens.
I guess it is a lot harder to do it accurately when, for example, you are asked to do one for a record that just came out or something like that.

That's a pretty good thing to do

there is no "accurate" way, you just describe what it sounds like, and praise/scorn it depending on the level of your like/dislike... about the description-part of the deal, it's just practice, and some attentive and extensive listening, the only thing tricky is properly putting it within the context within that year's/that genre's perspective in order to offer some more useful information. So it is nice to be well informed.

And about the jdging-part, it's just your opinion... obviously, you'd have to learn to be more "resilient" to the charms of some genres/artists you really like, or to listen to something regardless of what you've previously disliked... kinda just place yourself out of your own box for a moment there to see how it would work for a completely neutral listener. But no one can criticize you for writing you dislike an acclaimed release, or liking something not a lot of people like - it's just your opinion

I always try to transfer my enthusiasm for some release, and if someone is mislead by it - hey, they know what type of stuff I like and review, and if they don't, they've learned now and they can avoid it from now on, as they wish but, as you can see in my latest review comment thread, I do like arguing over facts and the points of why someone dislikes something I liked, for the fun of it

Whoops I got carried away, but lengthy comments are better than no comments

Written by X-Ray Rod on 06.03.2012 at 23:18

Probably because it felt like a band instead of a dude with session musicians.

That's probably the reason why I've only partially liked Alcest releases, despite the beauty of the music... there's a lot of one-man-domination in a lot of music I listen to normally, so when I find the same thing when I go outside the box, I kinda get frustrated a bit because you can clearly see what is a band effort, noticing the diverse ideas and progression in a band's sound, and what is one man trying to achieve his vision... obviously, I'll like some of those visionaries, but some I won't like that much.

Written by Milena on 06.03.2012 at 23:51

Whoops I got carried away, but lengthy comments are better than no comments

Don't worry, it's nice to get some advice from you

Written by X-Ray Rod on 06.03.2012 at 23:18

One of the better things Niege took part on if you ask me., Probably because it felt like a band instead of a dude with session musicians.

Absolutely! Alcest isn't even a dude with sessions musicians. It's just him doing everything
Only Winterhalter is taking the drummer spot lately, on a wild guess it's just because Neige probably can't do blastbeats.

There is a difference between Neige and guys like Daniel from POS or Mikael from Opeth; who are some kind of "benevolent dictators" (As Steven Wilson said) in the sense that they write 95% of the music, but then they present it to the band and they add their own personality to the music.

Written by Unhealer on 07.03.2012 at 15:33


There is a difference between Neige and guys like Daniel from POS or Mikael from Opeth; who are some kind of "benevolent dictators" (As Steven Wilson said) in the sense that they write 95% of the music, but then they present it to the band and they add their own personality to the music.

ANother differenc ebing that guys like Daniel and Mikael are infinitely more talented than Neige and totally not a one-trick pony.

Written by Unhealer on 07.03.2012 at 15:33

There is a difference between Neige and guys like Daniel from POS or Mikael from Opeth; who are some kind of "benevolent dictators" (In Mikael's own words) in the sense that they write 95% of the music, but then they present it to the band and they add their own personality to the music.

The way it works for Opeth is how it works for Sonata Arctica really... it's kind of funny, since Tony always encourages other band members to bring their own songs into the studio, but they always ignore him, so he ends up writing everything. When you ask other band members about it, they usually say:"Oh well, when Tony starts writing bad songs, we'll kick in, but right now we're happy doing the solos and the arrangements" and so years pass...

As for PoS, I believe the main, hidden reason why Fredrik left is disagreements with Dani over the future of the band... Dani has some sort of a "rockstar complex" which is a direct consequence of the size of his ego... can't explain what I meant, and we're going offtopic anyway, but if you don't understand, think about the changes in the sound and read interviews and watch videos and it will hit you right in the head like it did with me

Written by Milena on 07.03.2012 at 15:46


As for PoS, I believe the main, hidden reason why Fredrik left is disagreements with Dani over the future of the band... Dani has some sort of a "rockstar complex" which is a direct consequence of the size of his ego... can't explain what I meant, and we're going offtopic anyway, but if you don't understand, think about the changes in the sound and read interviews and watch videos and it will hit you right in the head like it did with me

Yeah, I have the "Ending Themes" DVD and I totally agree with you!
Without going too deep into the relationship of POS members, if you are in a band where there's one guy doing almost everything and you don't get chance to participate it's very likely you will get tired someday.

Written by Unhealer on 07.03.2012 at 16:01

Without going too deep into the relationship of POS members, if you are in a band where there's one guy doing almost everything and you don't get chance to participate it's very likely you will get tired someday.

Unless that arrangement fits you, and it's clear it doesn't always fit...

Joy Division and The Cure holding hands with the dirt of black metal

That sounds hard not to like