I think the reviewer I most respect (seen him with very good insights on quite a few albums) is from Turkey.
Yeah, that's Murat Batmaz. I call him Batman - he was tickled by that.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AK8B26S9ATCN7/ref=cm_pdp_ccp_contacts_nameI pm'd with him for a while a year ago, got to know a bit about his family, job, and friends in Istanbul and environs. Our correspondence faded out cause he was very busy, probably still is. He spends a lotta time writing reviews, and he really is good, as you said, Greenie. What's amazing is that the guy's only in his twenties, and Turkish, altho an English teacher. You'd think you were reading reviews by a much older person.
Cause he likes Arena too, I recommended him to become a member of the Room, which he did, but he didnt get around to writing any substantial stuff here.
But if anyone greets him from the Room, I'm sure he'd like that.
Also, I could be wrong about this, but I figured that it was skewed because it was the Amazon U.S. site, although perhaps the reviews are viewable from all Amazon ...
The American Amazon site is by far the best. I almost always go there. If I'm eager for more info, I go to Amazon-UK. Occasionally I'l hook up to the German and French Amazon sites, usually to get info about resp. German and French stuff. The Japanese Amazon doesnt do much for me
When I wrote reviews for Amazon, I put them in both the American and UK sites.
Greenie, maybe you'd like to read
my reviews. I wrote quite extensive reviews for Ten and Steve Vai, which may whet your appetite.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A88MRQ0UXD16Y?ie=UTF8&ref%5F=sv%5Fys%5F4It looks like you and I are pretty much the only active Roomies who read Amazon reviews regularly
Let's not lose sight of the fact that many of the reviewers are complete morons too though.
Except what's so surprising is that Amazon reviews generally hold very high standards !
That's why I like going there.
The morons go other places, like the Nevermore site
As best as I can tell, your definition of "adventurous" basically equates to extreme metal.
Nope, not quite: My definition of "adventurous" is being
adventurous, trying out new things, and
persevering, i.e. not giving up to casual sym- and antipathies.
An excellent example of this is
growl. When I first encountered growl, I also thought, like any normal person (who doesnt have a Frankenstein monster at home): How disgusting, how can anyone in their right mind fill up an album with that ridiculous stuff. But I persevered - and the fruits of my patience are that I can enjoy Opeth, Scar Symmetry, The Arcane Order, and a lotta other fabulous groups that my life would be far less rich without.
But being adventurous also means listening properly to Jeff Buckley's Grace ... and slowly realising that here's an artist graced with divine genius.
Or for that matter, taking experienced proggies' tips and links to e.g. great CC stuff (
Paxi ).
Being adventurous is very much a matter of buddying with other adventurous people, like Batman
Nicky.
