Metal critics or criticism? Best metal writers?

I had a pal ask about who were the best writers on metal, and I had to tell him that most of the new-to-me metal that I find is because of ILX (particularly J0hnD and Scott Seward), and that I don't really read regular criticism about metal.

But I figured that this would be a good place to ask.

I think the rolling metal thread is generally better than most magazine writers in that I'd trust their reviews more. People are honest in their views no need to worry about payoffs to magazines via advertising in order to get a good review.

http://invisibleoranges.com/

http://abegrand.pitas.com/

Rolling metal is great. Outside of the regular metal press, I've found the reviews by Jennifer Hor and Ed Pinsent in Sound Projector particularly useful.

There are a couple of downloads blogs I rely on heavily, and Metal Archives is an incredible resource - sure, the reviews are fan-written, with all that implies, but it's great to be able to get a snapshot of opinion on something like a fifty-copy demo tape from Korea.

Edwin Pouncey and Phil Freeman in The Wire.

Jonathan Selzer in Terrorizer, although I think he's now moved to some other rag.

Rolling metal is great.

otm i feel like most of my favorite metal writers also happen to post in rolling metal

read decibel imo

I get more out of Rolling Metal than I do out of 99% of the press releases I receive.

Rolling Metal is definitely great.

Some good Dutch metal critics: Robbie Woning from Aardschok Magazine (he's also the guitar player in the very long running thrashband Dead Head), specialises in anything thrashmetal and deathmetal. Also a collector of really metal guitars.

Steven Smegma from Aardschok, specialises in very extreme grindcore and goregrind. He used to be the 'singer' in Dutch goregrind-band Rompeprop, and has the funniest writing style of all Aarschok journo's.

Rene Vanes from Aardschok. Doesn't do metal per se, specialises mostly in posthardcore and indierock-bordering-on-hardrock/metal.

Evil Dr Smith from Dutch online magazine Lords Of Metal (they actually have their reviews both in Dutch and English, check over here if you're interested: http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/ ). This guy knows almost anything in any genre.

Non-Dutch critics I Like: the usual suspects Adrian Begrand, Phil Freeman, Cosmo Lee, the guys from metalsucks.net including Gary Suarez, J0hn D. and my absolute new favorite Sarge D. from http://themetalinquisition.com

• Rolling Metal first and foremost
• Decibel
• Martin Popoff's books
• Gorge and xhuxk and scott on the Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2009 thread (a lot of '70s rock still counts as metal for me; lol i'm old)
• Phil's blog, Running the Voodoo Down

Martin Popoff's books got me interested in metal again but Rolling Metal has been my by best source.
The writers I like on the internet and in mags usually wind up here so this seems to be the best spot.
I also enjoy the Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2009 thread ( Old guy again ).

Invisibleoranges, Metal Sucks and Encyclopedia Metallum also get visits.

oh, one more i forgot...

• Ian Christe's great Sound of the Beast thang (wish he still posted to ilx)

I always liked Wim Baelus in Aardschok. Wonder if he's still there...

Both great writers on any kind of music, but their metal writing is always a pleasure: Frances Morgan, Joseph Stannard.

Wim Baelus quit doing Aardschok somewhere in 1995 and hasn't done anything since. A shame for he was one funny writer.

I think the rolling metal thread is generally better than most magazine writers in that I'd trust their reviews more. People are honest in their views no need to worry about payoffs to magazines via advertising in order to get a good review.

― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Saturday, 24 October 2009 19:01 (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

FWIW "most magazine writers" are (a) freelancers who aren't based in the mag's offices and (b) get paid next to fuck all for their troubles - I don't claim any insider knowledge of how much advertising influences editorial on this or that publication but I can say that most reviews are going to consist of people's actual opinions because, you know, most people aren't that desperate to lie about something's merits when they're not even getting a living wage for their trouble. I'm not saying it's that cut and dried but the idea that the slant of every piece in news-stand music publications is carefully decided is smooth wrong, is all

"for their trouble", so good I used it twice

Apart from ppl already mentioned Avi Pitchon is prolly the best Terrorizer scribbler as it stands

I was talking about Kerrang there

Speaking as a former magazine editor, I can attest that there is almost no correlation between ad spending and editorial coverage, except in exactly the opposite way you'd expect - when I was at Metal Edge, we had a label or two tell our ad sales guys, "Why should we buy an ad? You never write about any of our bands!" If, let's say, I had commissioned articles slagging Roadrunner bands four or five issues in a row, Roadrunner probably would have called up and said, "You know what? No more ad dollars for you, no more interview access for you." But it would take that kind of extreme behavior to provoke that kind of response. For the most part, labels expect a mix of favorable and critical coverage, as long as you're intellectually honest about what you're doing. I've had label people tell me they didn't mind negative reviews I'd written, because the points I'd made were valid ones.