Torman Maxt

^ It got a good review in Classic Rock according to the interview though.

JLocke wrote: Well, that's it. The album is now on the top of my to-listen list.

Well, had I not heard about this "controversy" recently, I would  never have bothered to even try the album out.  Now I guess I will, seeing that it's free and all.

The T wrote: Nobody can deny we've popularized the album though, as JLocke proved...

By the way, I've heard "The Problem of Pain Part 2". I can certainly agree is an improvement over its predecessor. The recording is not that great (the drums are too much up front), the vocals are ok, but the drummer seems to have taken a lesson or two (still not great but not so weak). The music itself is still somewhat derivative but it certainly sounds more like an album by a band and not ... well, whatever. This would receive a 2.5/3 over 5. 

The T wrote: By the way, I've heard "The Problem of Pain Part 2". I can certainly agree is an improvement over its predecessor. The recording is not that great (the drums are too much up front), the vocals are ok, but the drummer seems to have taken a lesson or two (still not great but not so weak). The music itself is still somewhat derivative but it certainly sounds more like an album by a band and not ... well, whatever. This would receive a 2.5/3 over 5.

harmonium.ro wrote: @Olav: I don't find it surprinsing at all that there's a major difference between PA ratings and the ratings from other sites. The results of submitting for review a product to 1) free-to-all reviewing places with a diverse demographic and 2) well targeted independent reviewers will always be very different in the case of a product with such traits as this particular music album. I mean, on PA there are "prog-fans", but there are also people interested only in classic prog and not in its modern revivals, people interested in hardcore avantgarde, in the indie scene, in the extreme metal music, etc. What happened here is that, like tuxon also explained, this album's public history attracted reviewers from different niches than that of its own. Normally here every album gets reviewed mostly by those who are interested in it in the first place and the average rating settles according to its niche; and such occasions when the site creates missed encounters like that of (to quote just some famous cases ) The T with avantgarde, Rocktopus with prog-metal, or Certif1ed with post-rock, etc., well those are normally just exceptions to an otherwise "natural" social phenomenon. I'm not surprised that TM's album in discussion got OK/good ratings from targeted prog sites and zines. But if every site on the internet, from all corners of the spectrum of taste, would have reviewed the album, I guess the average rating would have been similar to that of PA. I don't suppose they sent the album to NME, Pitchfork, NPR and all the indie sites...

^ I didn't go so far as to imply that the music is good and it just didn't fit your tastes,  I wouldn't know that. I didn't listen to it. From the descriptions I gathered it's a mediocre / submediocre heavy rock / prog thing, and with that in mind I wrote my post. 

harmonium.ro wrote: ^ I didn't go so far as to imply that the music is good and it just didn't fit your tastes,  I wouldn't know that. I didn't listen to it. From the descriptions I gathered it's a mediocre / submediocre heavy rock / prog thing, and with that in mind I wrote my post.

sleeper wrote: harmonium.ro wrote: @Olav: I don't find it surprinsing at all that there's a major difference between PA ratings and the ratings from other sites. The results of submitting for review a product to 1) free-to-all reviewing places with a diverse demographic and 2) well targeted independent reviewers will always be very different in the case of a product with such traits as this particular music album. I mean, on PA there are "prog-fans", but there are also people interested only in classic prog and not in its modern revivals, people interested in hardcore avantgarde, in the indie scene, in the extreme metal music, etc. What happened here is that, like tuxon also explained, this album's public history attracted reviewers from different niches than that of its own. Normally here every album gets reviewed mostly by those who are interested in it in the first place and the average rating settles according to its niche; and such occasions when the site creates missed encounters like that of (to quote just some famous cases ) The T with avantgarde, Rocktopus with prog-metal, or Certif1ed with post-rock, etc., well those are normally just exceptions to an otherwise "natural" social phenomenon. I'm not surprised that TM's album in discussion got OK/good ratings from targeted prog sites and zines. But if every site on the internet, from all corners of the spectrum of taste, would have reviewed the album, I guess the average rating would have been similar to that of PA. I don't suppose they sent the album to NME, Pitchfork, NPR and all the indie sites... I dont quite buy that (though its definitely an element) as people like Jeff, Teo and myself would normally quite happely listen to this kind of music, if it's done well, yet all three of us have given it a 1 star review. In my review I planely stated that the lyrics were the main reason for the 1 star, but even based on the music its still only a 2.

It's a pretty simple concept:

I checked out the album because it was free, I enjoy concept albums, and the samples sounded OK. I like heavy prog rock, and quite frankly, I went into the album expecting much better than what it turned out to be. I was proven wrong when my ears were graced with some really poor music.

And just to clear things up, I don't care what other people think of an album when it comes to reviewing. I disagree with most PA reviewers on at least a few albums, and thus, I've don't let other people's reviews influence my own review. Again, to prove this, I will have everybody scroll down through the collaborator reviews of this album:

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=13659

I'm one of TWO collaborators to rate the album with 5 stars. I love the album, and it just shows how much I care about the morons' opinions who ranked it with 1 or 2 stars. (just kidding, no offense intended to Scarsick-haters).