Reviews
Reviews
You want to write reviews and to participate in the life of SOM? Nothing could be easier! For that just follow these three basic rules, they are very important and you should never forget them when drafting your reviews. These three rules are really easy to remember and to implement.
Knowledge about music
It is most important to know the metal style you write about accurately and completely. Indeed, a lack of knowledge inevitably leads to a lack of arguments. And that can be very boring for you and the reader.
A lack of argument can also be trimental to the length of the review. Three or four lines are not enough to describe a whole album. You have to know which are the influences of the group and what style it operates. Similarly, a great general knowledge is requested, because some texts written by the groups are inspired by historical events, as well as literary or film, and it is pretty good to know at least about that.
But knowledge about metal must be also accompanied by the general musical knowledge: many groups drawn from different genres and musical styles (Angra, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Mago de Oz, etc.) and that they use elements inspired from Mozart and Celtic folklore is a plus.
The structure of your review
Here are some basics you should take care about when you create a review:
1) Intro (not more than 5 lines): Mostly a brief history of the group and a reminder of their previous discs.
2) Argument: Thesis and antithesis, the pros and cons (although against is not always necessary when you love an album). It can contain more than two paragraphs, but two should be a bare minimum. You can present the album either with a technical approach or a more emotional one.
3) Conclusion: It gives reasons to buy or not buy the album or dvd you reviewed.
A good language
When you write a review, the minimum you can do is to respect the artist. This respect goes priority by an excellent use of the language. No coarse language or shortcuts.
You have write the words in full! Please take care about the spelling, syntax, conjugation and grammar.
All this is essential to a good understanding of your entire review by the artist (if your column will be sent there to have a look), as well as by members of Spirit Of Metal and Visitors crossing on the site. Finally, in the same vein, it is also advisable to have a large lexical field, allowing you to handle phrases with greater ease and efficience.
Conclusion: Once these three principles respected, do not hesitate to start writing reviews to test your abilities in literature.
Have fun! ;-)
written by MetalAngel ; translated by Skinless