What is Stygian Sounds?
Stygian Sounds is just my little corner of the web where I intend to write about one of my passions in life, Metal music. StygianSteel is my name as the web tends to know me so hence the name. I've been involved with the metal scene for some time now, starting with my first venture into radio broadcasting via 107.7 WFCS out of Central Connecticut State University. Ever since then I've had a number of online radio broadcasts and have written album reviews as well as managed forums for metal discussion. I intend to use this place to continue to write reviews on the latest metal albums and talk whatever's going on it metal. I hope whoever's reading this enjoys and comments on what they read.
How do your album ratings work?
I don't like to get overly crazy with ratings (1-100, etc) and use more of a basic 1 to 5 star system. I find this allows for a bit more of a realistic look. Albums can grow or slip with time and I feel the best rating system simply categorizes an album about where it should land in the grand scheme of things. I feel the text is the real meat of a review and far more important than a simple number. Below you can find a bit of explanation that I wrote up some time ago for my album review ratings.
5.0 = Fucking incredible. An album has to make my jaw drop to get this kind of a rating. True perfection is pretty unattainable, but these albums come as close as I could possibly expect. This is the kind of album that I'd place next to the very best that has ever been made in metal.
4.5 = Epic. This is something that is going to be one of the top few metal releases of the year for sure. This has got to be something special and may rank as a favorite in terms of the band or perhaps style.
4.0 = Excellent. This is the kind of release that'll rank as well worth owning and among the top 10 to 20 releases of the year. Strong highlights and a good overall experience, without too many weak points, is likely to earn an album this rating.
3.5 = Very good. This album is an overall good experience, but something may be holding it back from being quite great. This could be an overall lack of that certain something, not quite good enough highlights, or too many weak spots/tracks on the album. This is likely still something well worth it for fans of the band or particular style.
3.0 = Good. This is generally for an above average album. Something makes it stand out from the pack, but it might not be quite There. An album that's a bit too typical perhaps or has some issues.
2.5 = Totally average. This is the sort of album that doesn't make you love or hate it. It comes in right down the middle with a lack of much to make an impression.
2.0 = Below average. Probably not worth your time. There are definite problems here and they probably outweigh the good.
1.5 = Crappy. There's probably a couple good songs or something to make this crawl out of the gutter, but barely.
1.0 and below = Just levels of shit at this point. Something that actively made me dislike it.
How can I get my band/my label's band reviewed and/or featured on the site?
I will be taking submissions and suggestions for bands to be featured and/or reviewed on the site at the email address I have set up for this site. If you are a band or label who is interested in being included on Stygian Sounds, please send me an email at stygiansteel@gmail.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
I'm a reader and I'd like you to review 'X' band's new album 'X'. Can you write up a review for it?
I don't want to make promises on this as I'm one guy with a limited amount of time, but suggestions can be left on the Feedback & Suggestions page under the comments. If you leave something there I will give it strong consideration, but in general, the priority of reviews will be decided by how interested I am in the music and how high profile of a release it is.
