An album is a project: it takes time to write, construct, present, and release, and this should be reflected in its reviews. I do not put out reviews that are rushed or don't try to consider multiple components of an album. Albums will be judged my more than just the individual songs they contain. Before considering the music itself, I try to ask a number of questions:
1. How good is the sound production?
2. What do the lyrics contribute?
3. Does the album work as an album, rather than just as a collection of songs?
Albums are rated according to these criteria, and these, along with the quality of the music itself, contribute to an overall percentage score. Given its importance, the rating for quality of music will be given out of 10, while other areas receive ratings out of 5. This produces a total raw score out of 25, allowing a percentage score to be given.
By breaking up the marking into separate categories, every review will attempt to highlight the specific strengths and weaknesses of each album. To give an example, the album that perhaps made the biggest impact on my teenage years, Nightwish's 2004 masterpiece, Once could be scored thus:
Production: 5/5
Lyrics: 3/5
Album cohesion: 5/5
Music: 9/10
Percentage score: 88%
No comments:
Post a Comment