DreamTheaterForums.org Dream Theater Fan Site
General => Reviews => Topic started by: Nick on June 16, 2009, 07:37:10 PM
-
A quick introduction to my new rating system…
In the past I’ve ended my reviews with a simple numerical rating that is my overall feeling towards the album. In the future I’m going to move into a more in depth rating system. I will be rating albums on a scale of 10 in four different categories for a total of 40 points max. This score can then be converted into being out of 5, 10, or my favorite, 100. The four categories will be composition, sound, musicianship, and final presentation. Composition is pretty self explanatory. Sound refers the quality and mix of the recorded sound. Musicianship analyzes the talents displayed by each individual member of the band. Finally, final presentation rates how an album comes together. It takes into effect all the other categories as well as the extra things an album might have such as a special emotional punch.
====================================
Reviewed By: Nicholas R. Andreas
Artist: Devin Townsend Project
Album: Ki
Genre: Post-Metal
Year of Release: 2009
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ki-Devin-Townsend/dp/B0025T65GC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1245200910&sr=8-2
Going into this album I was relatively new to Devin Townsend, enjoying his Terria release a great deal, and loving his appearance on Ayreon’s The Human Equation. Unfortunately, after listening to this album, I think there might be a great deal of time going by until I pick up anything spearheaded by him again.
The music is certainly interesting in a way, and I find many of Devin’s ideas put forth on the album to be good in concept, but to me they simply are not executed that well. The ideas seem disjointed, sections out of place, and as a whole I’d say the album lacks the elegance and beauty that seems apparent on a King Crimson album which would share some of those same qualities. Sometimes I can’t tell if Devin is trying to annoy me, bore me, or both. However, there are certainly a few nice things I can say about the album. Devin’s voice, when it’s not annoying me in one way or another, can tend to be one of the most soothing and atmospherically pleasing out there. On a similar note the female vocals added to the album by Che Dorval seem to fit perfectly, even if they are fitting perfectly into a fundamentally flawed framework. Lastly, I’d say that if you do pay close attention to the album, there will be moments, few and far between, that you can sense shades of brilliance looking for better surroundings.
For the most part, I’d sum up the album saying I find it to be a combination of good moments, poorly executed ideas, and more than anything, parts in which I just find myself drifting off to other things due mainly to a simple lack of interest.
Composition: 3/10
Sound: 8/10
Musicianship: 4/10
Final Presentation: 2/10
Overall: 4.2/10
-
*flame shield on*
I really only did this review because that's how the voting turned out, and I really wish I could have gone into more depth as to why I disliked the album, but when it fails to keep your attention it is really difficult to pinpoint exactly why it is happening.
-
Rating an album in that manner reminds me of Dead Poets Society when Robin Williams' character mocks the guy who wanted to rate poetry on a numerical scale. To paraphrase him, we are not laying pipe here, we are talking about art.
-
Yes, and in this case I thought it was somewhat bad art.
-
Musicianship 4/10?!
Apparently you need new ears.
-
I'm not a fan of your new rating system either, Nick.
Personally, I like to use star ratings that equivocate to a general statement about how good the album is. So if I give it a 4/5, all I'm saying is that it's a very good album. I think ratings should be as vague as possible, and the bulk of your thoughts about musicianship, presentation, etc. should be in the text.
-
Musicianship 4/10?!
Apparently you need new ears.
The vocals at time impressed me, and the guitar work at time was very nice, but other than that nothing really stuck out as all that great. I'm not saying there wasn't talent there, but it just wasn't coming across in the songs as far as I'm concerned.
I'm not a fan of your new rating system either, Nick.
Personally, I like to use star ratings that equivocate to a general statement about how good the album is. So if I give it a 4/5, all I'm saying is that it's a very good album. I think ratings should be as vague as possible, and the bulk of your thoughts about musicianship, presentation, etc. should be in the text.
I can understand what you are saying, but I found that just having a single number was very vague at the end of my longer reviews, so even if I backed up each category in the text, you could get a final impression of each in the numbers. However in this very short and very unusual review, you are correct in saying that it probably doesn't work very well.
-
The vocals at time impressed me, and the guitar work at time was very nice, but other than that nothing really stuck out as all that great. I'm not saying there wasn't talent there, but it just wasn't coming across in the songs as far as I'm concerned.
That would surely come under composition though?
Personally I love the drumming on the album, bit different for Devy but really cool.
-
Heh, personally the drumming was my least favorite part!
-
I just had to bump this thread because you called Ki "post-metal" and that made me laugh and then shoot myself.
-
Who cares about genres? :p I mean its pointless to try and define a lot of music nowadays, Ki included. I guess you could call it prog metal if you really wanted to :p
-
Who cares about genres? :p I mean its pointless to try and define a lot of music nowadays, Ki included. I guess you could call it prog metal if you really wanted to :p
Ki could be considered a lot of things. Post-metal is not one of them.
-
Bad review. No details about WHAT bored you or why.
Also Ki is a fantastic album that everyone must hear.
-
Bad review. No details about WHAT bored you or why.
It's tough to note what bores you when you're so bored you can't give the album enough listens. :p
This is probably my shortest review ever, mainly because I had polled people what album to review next and this won, which was unfortunate because I didn't like the album. I typically wouldn't review an album I didn't like this much.
-
It's a shame, I think Ki is a great album.
-
Its good to review albums you don't like, or else you become biased. Plus, now you feel like a real reviewer who has to review an album that doesn't like prog or metal.