Humanotone
A Flourishing Fall in a Grain of Sand

Album Rating: 4.0

okay this is my first review, please be gentle but objective truth. Just tell me what I could do differently and how I can become better. This is a really good album, toke up and check it out!

Cool. Cool. and welcome to Reviewing!

Not a shabby effort at all for a first, and since you asked I'd like to help shape that feedback that would hopefully lead to a second, third etc review.

The direction he took here is hard to describe, albiet elements of post rock, progressive rock and stoner rock are evident, it's way more than you could possibly imagine recorded by one person.

Stating something is hard to describe and then describing it is largely redundant. Adding to that the ability of some mult-instrumentalists these days is becoming more and more common place. These individuals might not be common (in the common vs. rare argument), but your readers should be able to 'imagine' that a guy can play multiple styles, fusions, influences etc. The tl;dr here is: if you want to say something absolutely "it's way more than you could possibly imagine" make sure it's accurate, true, or beyond doubt. For example: You can imagine that water is wet.

yet forgiving solos transitioning into spooky synth vibes

...that transition into...

I'm not really into the "one man band" scene, but this hits close to home, if not a grand slam.

What does one have to do with the other? You'd be better off simplifying your language: "While I don't spend a lot of time listening to one man bands, [artist name's] [album name] is actually quite good/justifies repeat listens" etc. It sounds like you're trying to step out of character to add colourful language to your reviews. If you must, write your initial thought then come back to add adjectives and examples. Simply: Be yourself.

Track by tracks aren't normally the go here on Sputnikmusic (I don't know why they receive so much flak), most of the writers generally opt for a more traditional essay-like format. Further to that the review could use some formatting:

"Song titles"

eg: "Light Antilogies" starts off

Album Title
BB code [i ] word[/i ] minus the spacing.

Some of these descriptions are a bit of a doozy too.

fizzled firecracker, but it goes bang in the closing departure of what was once dramatic and prestine, into a segue leading the listener to understand just how small we actually are. The running waters will cleanse the wounded.

*pristine

I think we'd better refer to the comment I made above about saying what you really think, not searching for vague, artsy-fartsy descriptors that sound like therapists telling their patients what their dreams mean. "Oh you fell off a waterfall? That must mean you have fears about losing money" (lol).

Say what you think, provide examples - move on.

There's a lot of punctuation and start/stop sentences that Word (or other editor) should've picked up on. Did you type this directly into the site's review editor or did you copy/paste this from somewhere else?

Either way I want to bring you back to the "good first review" comment I made at the top of all this. It's a big step to publish something like this where every grammar-nazi and idea naysayer can pick you apart with unadulterated prose. Initial advice: read some/a lot of the staff and contributor reviews, find some styles you think you could emulate and practice on. Write lots of drafts and don't be afraid to get some feedback on your writing, especially as you start out.

There's also a super under-used proofreading thread in the forums if you'd like to hone/develop reviewing before publishing them here - - just in case you're into that sort of thing.

Pos, welcome!

nice review skele!

Album Rating: 4.0

Thanks Gnocchi, good tribal knowledge. I'll try better next time even if there is one lol

>Track by tracks aren't normally the go here on Sputnikmusic (I don't know why they receive so much flak), most of the writers generally opt for a more traditional essay-like format


because it's a format that is very hard to do well and very easy to do poorly, and there used to be a shitton of the latter all over the site in the 00s

beyond that im sure any english/lit majors still on the site would also argue in favour of more natural flowing prose instead of a structure that is fundamentally... more limited and mechanical (i.e. im going to now say one or two phrases for each track on the album in succession) but sure the aesthetic of writing vs the functional utility of reviews is something of a philosophical debate i guess

Album Rating: 4.0

I'm sorry i didn't know what to do, I could talk about this album for hours but on paper my mind draws blanks, im not review material lol

one thing you could try is talking about the album you're reviewing (in your head/to a friend/to the mirror/etc) and quickly note down some of the 'points' you make (bullet point style/nothing formal). that way you can then look at your own thoughts on paper, figure out some ways to phrase them more reviewily, find some connections, and ultimately shape some nice paragraphs around those thoughts
obv easier said than done, but this helps me a lot and uhh keep on writing (you'll only get better)!!

Album Rating: 3.0

Thanks for bringing that band into my radar! Bought it and will listen to it tomorrow

Album Rating: 3.0

Vocals need a bit more of energy in my opinion. So far this record reminds a lot of Elder and that's a good thing!



As far as the review goes, many other people gave you tips. I'm not an expert in writing, haven't wrote anything in a while, but what I try to do is write paragraphs about an idea, a theme or a sound. For example, I usually have a paragraph which focuses on the atmosphere.



Nice first one though, keep on writing

Album Rating: 4.0

I FUCK WITH THE SYNTHS!

Album Rating: 3.5

this goes hard, I almost missed it though

Album Rating: 3.5

pretty epic album. greatness could be argued. it somehow manages to overcome the modern doom-stoner cliches but stays trve to its roots.

Damn this is some great ass driving music

Album Rating: 4.0

rules so hard. needs more attention

Album Rating: 4.0

Really good stuff, surprised it doesn't get more love. Considering it for my top ten of 2022, definitely in my top 20.