The Agony of Reviewing

Well, maybe a strong word for it, but anyone who does this will understand my issue I am having at the moment. In order to create, not a portfolio as such but I suppose it could be described as such, but a balanced way of reviewing music, and especially of such extreme stylings, it is important to me that I don't come across as overly positive all the time. I like to think i could create a review of an album that if people bought they could either agree or at least see where the thoughts came from. But I found, as I looked at my past writings, that almost all have been of an album I have greatly enjoyed and only one was anything that really approached a negative response. My problem is this; that if I don't enjoy an album, a band or a genre of music, than I don't listen to it. I'd much rather sit through a metal album that captured my attention, challenged me and more often than not, kicked some ASS! If an album doesn't grab me within the first, say, 3 or 4 tracks then I start to wonder whether it is worth listening to the rest.

And yet I have come across a number of albums in my time that grow on me over time, or that get better when the later tracks start. Its a conundrum for someone who would really like to do this kinda thing for, well maybe not a living, but certainly as a hobby, because as you know, when you come across an album that truly gets to you, truly speaks to you and influences you to check out a band or a genre, its a great moment. Everyone can remember the albums that got them into certain styles, no matter what it is. Death metal was unattractive to me until I heard Lashed to the Slave Stick from Nile's Annihilation of the Wicked cd (2005). I subsequently heard the rest of the album and was awestruck by the power, ferocity and above all the inventiveness of the band in such a previously unopen genre to me. I then began with their work and moved onto more stuff, and now own a massive collection of death metal cds. Its all about albums that strike you, but if an album doesn't, is it fair to stop listening and declare it shit before you evaluate the whole piece?

I review albums I enjoy listening to because that's what music is about, what you enjoy, what invigorates you, speaks to you, for you, what can brighten your day or simply make you wanna bang your head and jump into a pit with a large group of sweaty folks and go nuts. It doesn't even matter what makes you do it, as long as it does. Maybe I'll be able to put something up soon that was a proper disappointment to me, and that I wouldn't necessarily recommend to people. But in the end its all subjectivity. You may think an album that I love sucks, and vice versa, and therefore opinions almost seem redundant in such a field. On the other hand, most people get into bands due to a recommendation from a friend or magazine, so maybe subjectivity has some life in it yet...