I'm a bit late to the party, but I bought this issue just last week while traveling through Germany.
First things first, very enjoyable read as always. The best metal magazine in Europe, hands down.
Still, have to comment on one thing, after browsing through Soundcheck table and seeing Wormrot's „Voices“ was woted as a clear loser at the end of the table.
First things first, I am not a butthurt fan being angry one of his favorite albums of the year got such a low scorepoint. Actually, „Voices“ is the first release I've heard from these guys. Grindcore is an acquired taste, always was, always will be, and even people who enjoy extreme metal will sometimes have hard time appreciating a grindcore album.
But, I have a feeling (I can't state that for a fact obviously) that some of your reviewers gave the album a low rating beacuse of the fact they do not approve of grindcore in general. And that is not fair and correct behaviour towards the reviewing bands/albums.
I know, your reviewing team is diverse in people liking and being more knowledgeable in some genres more than the other ones. That's perfectly logical and wise. BUT, what I expect from such a person is that it has enough tolerance and experience to know an album is more or less good even in genres he or she doesn't like. Those are IMO the traits of a reviewer who is fair and who is willing to risk an ear even for a band who plays a genre a reviewer strongly dislikes.
In the end, I have a feeling „Voices“ got a severe beating beceuase it's a grindcore album (and those rarely end up being reviewed by all of the reviewers) and NOT beacuse it is a piece of shit as one could persume by looking to the reviewing table.
The album is versatile (as a grindcore album can be)- by carefully listening to it one could easily conclude the songs were assemled with lots of thought put into it, with a vision to have a grindcore album with songs who could stand individually on their own (very few GC albums have such a trait). And they managed to do that.
IMO this album is the grindcore album of the year, easily beating GC heavyweights such as Gadget, Rotten Sound or Magrudergrind.
Sorry for the long rant. I do not want to start a flame war, not even a discussion, I just wanted to have this out of my sytem.
Cheers
PS. Volkmar's grade for the album in the table is 8, while in the review text it's a 7.
Und einen Bezug zur aktuellen Politik habt Ihr auch noch. Damit seid Ihr auch noch ein Satiremagazin, hihihi
