It was about a week ago that we posted a musing that addressed the point in our writing life where we did a healthy amount of DVD reviews for Metal Edge magazine. When I first made the connection that found me doing this writing my task was to try and get at least four different reviews of this kind to the Editor for the appropriate section and as luck would have it, this would soon be extended into my becoming a part of the CD Review area as well. They called it “Hear Us Out” and I jumped at the task when I learned that I would not only be doing the assigned releases from editorial but would also be able to steer some of the amazing artists that I was reviewing for PiercingMetal.com into the pages of the magazine. This allowed me to succeed on two major media fronts for the forces of Heavy Metal music.
The CD review process would come with some differences from the DVD section and this was even far different from writing the stuff for a web-based magazine like my own. “Hear Us Out” had a few more pages to fill and as expected needed to have a lot more in the way of CD review content than their video section offered the readers. To make matters just a little bit trickier; the reviews were not the 400 word super explanations that I had some background in already, but often needed to be delivered in 100 words. There were some rare examples of when a major release was being addressed that the writer was given a little more leeway with his copy and every now and again that indulgence was granted me to put together 200 word pieces. For the most part my CD Reviews were left at 100 words and that was something I was really unpracticed in after composing long and detailed thoughts about music for the website.
Despite the reservations and being a bit unnerved about it, I tackled the process with a level of zeal and over the course of about 10 months provided the magazine just over 100 CD review pieces. They would often be in the same issue where some of those DVD reviews had been and I remember laughing as a friend called me from the filling station while perusing a copy and realizing that a healthy chunk of the review content was my own. It was a great chance to find my words in print and a lot different from doing it the PiercingMetal.com way. As a perfect companion musing to the “Metal Edge DVD Reviews: The Whole Bunch Of Them” we took the time to prepare our CD items in the same fashion for the readers to enjoy. Now be aware that there are a lot of them, but also know that there are a little more than a handful that were assigned and written and yet based on page count and advertising space needed never made the issue. Don’t worry, I was taken care of just the same, but felt sad that some copy that might have helped the artist didn’t get to see the light of day – until now. By using the same templates that we fashioned for the DVD blog musing, we are able to again present readers with a nice visual and the songs on the release as well as a means to purchase the music on Amazon.com or I-Tunes were applicable. So grab a cold drink and start clicking away at the ones you find some interest in. They are very different from what you might have already seen on the website. Enjoy.
CD REVIEWS
36 Crazyfists “Rest Inside The Flames”
Absence Of Concern “Open Letters To A Closed Mind”
Agalloch “Ashes Against The Grain”
Alabama Thunderpussy “Open Fire”
Casket Salesmen “Sleeping Giants”
Chris Caffery “Pins and Needles”
Chrome Division “Doomsday Rock & Roll”
Coldseed “Completion Makes The Tragedy”
Communic “Waves Of Visual Decay”
Cradle Of Filth “Thornography”
Crimson Glory “Astronomica” (remaster)
Death Before Dishonor “Friends, Family, Forever”
Dimmu Borgir “In Sorte Diaboli”
Dominici “03 – A Trilogy Pt. 1”
Dragonforce “Inhuman Rampage (Special Edition)”
Die Verbanten Kinder Evas “When Dusk And Void Unite”
Echoes Of Eternity “The Forgotten Goddess”
Fairyland “The Fall Of An Empire”
Fair To Midland “The Drawn And Quartered EP”
Grave Digger “Liberty Or Death”
Helloween “Keeper Of The Seven Keys World Tour”
I Killed The Prom Queen “Music For The Recently Deceased”
Jon Oliva’s Pain “Maniacal Renderings”
Kamelot “One Cold Winter’s Night”
Killswitch Engage “Daylight Dies”
Kreator “Enemy Of God – Revisited”
Lizzy Borden “Master Of Disguise” (remaster)
Madina Lake “The Disappearance Of Adalia”
Madina Lake “From Them, Through Us, To You”
Marion Raven “Heads Will Roll”
Mendeed “This War Will Last Forever”
Meshuggah “Nothing” (remaster)
Nightwish “Highest Hopes: The Best Of Nightwish”
The Rasmus “Hide From The Sun”
Realm “The Endless War” (remaster)
Righteous Jams “Business As Usual”
Sirenia “Nine Destinies And A Downfall”
Stolen Babies “There Be Squabbles Ahead”
The 69 Eyes “Blessed Be” (remaster)
The 69 Eyes “Framed In Blood” (remaster)
Thor “Devastation Of Musculation”
Trouble “The Skull” (remaster)
Twisted Sister “Twisted Christmas”
Type O Negative “The Best Of Type O Negative”
Unexpect “In A Flesh Aquarium”
Various Artists “Family Values Tour – 2006”
Various Artists “Music For The Masses 5”
Various Artists “Saw 3 – Soundtrack”
Various Artists “Sick Of It All: Our Impact Will Be Felt”
Wuthering Heights “Shadow Cabinet”
If you were able to make it through the whole list then please accept my heartfelt thanks and a double dose of Metal horns for your interest in seeing how they looked compared to what would be done for PiercingMetal.com – obviously when it comes down to it I prefer longer reviews because some releases really are deserving of a deeper analysis. Before I close out on this one I have to let the readers know that the original plan for the musing on both the DVD and CD reviews was to educate fans of the site in just how different the two mediums actually were and when the DVD posting was done, I had some positive praise from those who got to see it. It was then I began editing and copying the mass amounts that would need to make up the CD posting as part two of this same topic. What I didn’t expect was the news about both Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs magazines closing their doors for good under the directive of publisher Zenbu Media. I am not yet certain if I want to take the route that some of those who have written or shot for the magazine over the years have done and compose a musing of that kind – but either way, I hope you have been able to enjoy the presentation of how my work did look in the various issues of an industry leading magazine.
