Quintuple THRASH attack on Stormspell Records, coming soon!

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I think you guys are pissing and moaning over nothing. Reviewers are reviewing the music. Some comment on cover art, packaging, etc...but not all. I reviewed the BISON B.C. album after getting the MP3's from Metal Blades press site...a lot of labels are going this way. All this "I refuse to review MP3's" just makes you sound like A- eletist collectors and/or B- someone trying to get something for free.

Fair enough. I just want to clarify that my position is based on being a graphic designer by trade. I got sick and tired of buying old and even recent CDs from ebay for ridiculous prices just to discover they came with two-fold "booklet" and el-cheapo "see ma, I'm a photoshop artist" coverartworks. So I created Stormspell with the idea of reissuing old cult/arcane demos and albums with proper packaging and it is important to me that they got reviewed as entire packages, not only for the music inside, as I feel the packaging is one of the stronger selling points of my releases.

Besides, if the review will only reflect the music, then I'd ALWAYS prefer going to myspace and checking some songs there. Why would I want to read someone elses's opinion when I can check 3-4 songs for free and decide for myself?

Since the industry demands it, I am going to have online digital press kits at some point, with hi-qulity mp3s (with one voiceover per song) and complete set of all booklet pages in pdf format so at least all booklet info would be there to be evaluated, even if only from the screen.

stormspell wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I think you guys are pissing and moaning over nothing. Reviewers are reviewing the music. Some comment on cover art, packaging, etc...but not all. I reviewed the BISON B.C. album after getting the MP3's from Metal Blades press site...a lot of labels are going this way. All this "I refuse to review MP3's" just makes you sound like A- eletist collectors and/or B- someone trying to get something for free.

Fair enough. I just want to clarify that my position is based on being a graphic designer by trade. I got sick and tired of buying old and even recent CDs from ebay for ridiculous prices just to discover they came with two-fold "booklet" and el-cheapo "see ma, I'm a photoshop artist" coverartworks. So I created Stormspell with the idea of reissuing old cult/arcane demos and albums with proper packaging and it is important to me that they got reviewed as entire packages, not only for the music inside, as I feel the packaging is one of the stronger selling points of my releases.

Besides, if the review will only reflect the music, then I'd ALWAYS prefer going to myspace and checking some songs there. Why would I want to read someone elses's opinion when I can check 3-4 songs for free and decide for myself?

Since the industry demands it, I am going to have online digital press kits at some point, with hi-qulity mp3s (with one voiceover per song) and complete set of all booklet pages in pdf format so at least all booklet info would be there to be evaluated, even if only from the screen.

Understood...there will always be different takes, I suppose. I can see how, being an artist, you'd pay more attention to cover art/packaging...I'm sure Rex is the same way...

I just think it's a little extreme to "refuse" to review MP3's...IMO it's the music that keeps the scene alive, not the packaging...forgive me if I was a little harsh last night...long weekend...LOL!

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I think you guys are pissing and moaning over nothing. Reviewers are reviewing the music. Some comment on cover art, packaging, etc...but not all. I reviewed the BISON B.C. album after getting the MP3's from Metal Blades press site...a lot of labels are going this way. All this "I refuse to review MP3's" just makes you sound like A- eletist collectors and/or B- someone trying to get something for free.

OK, fair enough I suppose.

The thing is I AM A COLLECTOR. My site is my personal CD collection. I don't usually get free CDs. 95% of the music on my site I have purchased or traded for. If that makes me an elitist, so be it, I am an elitist collector.

Packaging is part of the experience for me as well. I too am a graphic designer, but even before I went to school for design, I was a record/CD collector and enjoy a good album cover and quality packaging.

As for my comment that I don't review MP3s, well, I stand by that comment. My site is called "No Life 'til Metal - The CD Gallery". I don't care about MP3s. I can make my own MP3s from my CDs. When music becomes download only, I'm done. I'll stick to what I have and continue buying used CDs and records.

Call it elitism or pissing and moaning, but that's the way it is.

I'm an amateur reviewer too and lately all I've been getting in the mail is CD-Rs with press sheets... if I like what I hear I usually go buy the "real" CD at a later date... I'm not gonna lie, I'd much rather get the whole package (because let's face it, who doesn't like getting free stuff?) but I'm not gonna b*tch too much... with the economy the way it is right now I can't afford to buy many CDs anyway so I'll take whatever I can get.

Ult - I realize you didn't set up your site as any sort of online magazine or anything...you've just sort of "evolved" into a Metal Encyclopedia of sorts...you can be as eletist as you want...forgive me if I was a bit harsh...

Shawn is such a b!tch.

spectrefate wrote:

Shawn is such a b!tch.

Yup...

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Ult - I realize you didn't set up your site as any sort of online magazine or anything...you've just sort of "evolved" into a Metal Encyclopedia of sorts...you can be as eletist as you want...forgive me if I was a bit harsh...

Pffft. We've been on these boards long enough together to know each other. No need to apologize. I wasn't offended, just responding to the post.

That's the thing about my site. I never wanted to be an on-line review site. My site is personal. My reviews, comments, blurbs, etc. on albums are usually written from a personal perspective. People seem to appreciate when I mention that a CD isn't worth $16 because of cheap packaging, or a CD is worth every penny due great music plus quality packaging. I think many of the readers of my site are probably collector's such as myself.

If I win my fantasy football league....I'll have money to burn!! :glee: