I'm now firmly of the opinion that any kind of marking scheme is bullshit, all the arguments for and against should be in the review, the number is entirely spurious. 7 out of 10? Five stars? It's not some sort of Maths test.

Tez once published a letter from me complaining about Kreator getting 6/10 for Endorama, they said that 6 out of 10 meant it was 'good'! How does that work? They also published a letter from me about Reign of Light getting four, but they refused to back down, cunts!

Ah, but in the old days you needed the scores because some of Tez's reviews were so far up their own fucking arses you would read it and still be none the wiser.

Heh. I'm sure they're more straightforward nowadays. Something else I meant to ask about Tegs - when was the last time that an actual band were on the front cover, rather than just one man's face?

The reviews these days tell you nothing also-just in fewer words.
Therefore a score is needed!(out of 10)

June 2011 had half of Morbid Angel on the cover, and prior to that December 2010 with Electric Wizard.

There's 5 possible ratings, not 6. There's no zero.

The reviewer can put their opinion in the writing giving a clearer idea of what they mean. The illusion of choice with the out of 21 syatem (10 ostensibly) makes the marks meaningless. There is essentially no difference between a 5 and a 5.5 or an 8 and an 8.5! It's jut chin-stroking nonsense. The numbers don't really stand for anything.

You just want a general indication if it's worth getting or not, and if so, to what degree. 5 clear-cut categories ensures a decisive, meaningful mark.

As an indication of something grotesque and horrific, 5 little Dez Fafaferas would be dandy!

I agree you only need a general indication-the only thing is that 3/5 means anything between 5 and 6.5 out of 10 in the system i prefer.I may bother with an album marked 6.5 but wouldn't with a 5 but in the "out of 5"system they would both get the same marks(3).It's totally my opinion of course but i preferred it when they marked them out of 10 thats all.

Marks out of 10 with 0.5s was silly, it only carries any weight at the top end of the scale and even then very little. The difference between 9 and 9.5 is greater than 1 and 1.5, no one cares (other than perhaps the band and their mums) when it drops below halfway.

I first started reading Tegs in 96-97 when there were 5 radiation symbols with halves and there seemed to be several months where very little got below a 4 and nothing got below a 3. Which seemed ridiculous.

5 essential words/phrases for an old school Tez review:

Zeitgeist
Tectonic Plates
Paradigm-shift
Sub-sonic
Magma

*sigh* Ahh...fond memories.

Stop arguing about whether it should be out of 5s or 10s, you dolts, and read the goddam reviews. Why not complain that there's no number attached to live reviews? Because you just read them, that's why.

There's no argument. It's out of 5. And that's final.

Live reviews getting fists doesn't really apply because you're not advising on whether to buy a product or not, unlike album reviews.

You don't need their advice. Make up your own mind. It's not like you can trust reviews anyway. Look at the end of year critics poll, look at the 4 and 5 rated albums and all the hype around certain bands. It's a gimmick.

There's no fooling you, eh bas?

For me, listening to the opinions of others is making up my own mind. Also good reviews are as rare as good albums. They're enjoyable to read in their own right. Even rarer in the world of metuLz for sure, due to the constant need to hype things up and make sure the product gets sold, but it's still out there.

This. One of the principle reasons I stopped buying Terrorizer.

yeah but we can't cos the reviews are like, 100 words, so there's little useful content.
on the plus side, was good to see Avi reviewing again, even if he did mark the Drudkh album a little low...

These are more like mid-school 2001-2005 Tez review words, I'd say.

The David Vincent interview in a nutshell:

Mutton dressed as lamb dressed as Nikki Sixx saying 'Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me".

Exactly! "No one can conquer me." Bollocks. I like how the quote "Morbid Angel have run out of ideas" is next to his stupid head too.
If Morbid Angel fans unanimously hated the last album and it's doubtful that hordes of Rob Zombie fans bought it then who if anyone actually did buy it? And now there's a remix album. It's not 1996 anymore. I thought Remanufacture proved it was a shite idea. Get that gimp off the cover and put someone worthwhile on. Domination was the last cool thing he did.