A change in reviewing style

One of the things that I prided myself on with Sonic Ruin was the in-depth nature of the reviews. I have always liked the reviews or retrospectives that took the albums apart as much as they could. This is what lead to the third issue of Sonic in which I delved into the Trashcan Darlings release Getting Away With Murder as much as we could.

I still have intentions of bringing Sonic Ruin back to print, in that exact same format. Each issue being an in-depth study of a certain release. It is all a matter of finding the time now. Whereas Sonic went into hibernation due to funds previously, now it is 100% an issue of time.

So, in the interim I am going to handle my album reviews a little different than other publications and blogs. I might not be the only one using the following method, but it did just come to me and I like the idea. So, if it is how another site or publication does it, I am not trying to steal their method, it just seems like the best method that will fit with my ultimate goal with Sonic.

Albums are collections of songs. I like to figure that a band puts the songs onto their albums because they feel all of the songs are worthy of being heard by the public. Every song should be a matter of pride. Nothing that lands on the finished product should be a filler. We all know that bands do release filler on their releases, but those songs should still be held up against everything else just the same.

My mind goes back to being a kid. I had just bought a 45, it may have been Journey's "Who's Crying Now," released in 1981. She asked me if I liked the b-side of the single. She then told me that the record companies usually placed a throw-away song on that side, but if the band puts a good song on that side then we win. This was the start of my realizing that bands and labels might actually have lesser quality songs, or as I would learn, filler.

So with Sonic I am going to start judging albums song by song. Each song will be getting a rating. Each song will be worth 5 points. So, an album that has 10 songs will be worth a total of 50 points. Then as the end I will calculate the total point value earned by the album and figure the percentage. The percentage that the album gets will be the rating. So, and album in which every song rates a 4 would be worth a total of 40 points, but its percentage would be 80%. Which would make sense, as every song is really good, but nothing achieves that over-the-top greatness that should be in the 90% area.

This experiment will be starting with the current releases from T.S.O.L., Bash and Pop, and the completely and ridiculously biased review I will be writing for local defunct Death Metallers Suspiria.