Evaluation in Online Music Reviews: How Internauts Convey Their Opinions

1 
Introduction 
 
The present work about evaluation in on-line music reviews aims to investigate the way in which 
on-line reviewers convey information and personal opinions. The analysis is carried out on a corpus 
composed of reviews concerning the music albums released by the metal band “Nightwish”.  
The main questions which are pursued are: how do reviewers convey information and express 
their opinions? Do they make use of particular linguistic elements? When they write a review, do 
they try to write it objectively or do they clearly express their points of view and opinions about the 
product with the purpose to influence and manipulate the readers? Do they always express their 
stance politely or can they also be rude? If so, how do readers react? 
The reason why this topic was chosen for investigation is that nowadays the Internet is such an 
integral part of our society that people do almost everything with it. In particular, on the Internet 
one can not only seek for specific information, chat and discuss in forums and message boards, but 
also join virtual communities and purchase any kind of items. In the specific case of music albums, 
it often occurs that some modern purchasers who regularly surf the Net tend to read other 
purchasers' opinions before buying a CD or an mp3 file. Indeed, even before purchasing the album 
of their favourite band, buyers or would-be buyers tend to share their opinions and experiences 
about with people belonging in the devoted Internet virtual community. One way to do so is 
reading, writing and/or responding to already-existing reviews, which allows readers to know if a 
product is worth buying or not, or to what extent. 
Other internet users and music fans, on the other hand, just write reviews to share their opinions 
about a band’s album or work with other fans, and do so with the aim to contribute to the 
“hopefully” constructive criticism of the band. As readers may be easily influenced by these texts or 
can themselves influence other people, an analysis of how music fans convey their opinions and 
support them is deemed to be worth investigating and will be the main concern of this dissertation. 
The first chapter introduces of the metal band Nightwish, their biography and albums. It also 
provides an overview of symphonic metal, the musical genre Nightwish produce.  
The second chapter is divided into two parts: the first one focuses on evaluation and its main 
functions. Evaluation is a general term which will be dealt with different labels, coined and used by 
different scholars. The importance of evaluation will be pointed out to set and preserve relations 
between writers and readers, and how useful it is to organize the discourse. The parameters used to 
recognise an evaluative text will also be illustrated. The second part of the chapter, by contrast, will 
 focus on computer-mediated communication (CMC), the application strategies used by the net users 
and its use, specifically in consumer-opinion websites. 
In the last chapter, an analysis of stance, namely APPRAISAL, stance adverbials, opinion 
markers, manipulation and politeness (concession) will be carried out. The investigation will focus 
on a corpus composed of a group of on-line written reviews about Nightwish, retrieved from 
various websites on the Internet. The software used is AntConc, freely downloadable on the 
Internet.  
3 
1. A SYMPHONIC METAL BAND: NIGHTWISH 
 
1.1 Introduction 
 
Since 1997 but mainly in the 2000s, a Finnish metal band named “Nightwish” began spreading their 
music not only to continental Europa, but also to other continents, especially North-America.  
The key of their success is the type of metal music they play, namely the heaviness of metal 
instruments mixed with the softness of classic instruments, a scratched male voice mixed with an 
angelic female voice. These elements were unusual for metal music, considered the heavy music 
genre par excellence. 
Nightwish have released six music albums so far. Their first effort is soft and folkloristic, mainly 
characterized few metal music elements. The following albums contain more sophisticated songs 
and improved vocals. In their last works their musical identity seems to have become more clear; 
indeed, the metal features are more present and these are mitigated by a balanced use of classical 
instruments. The metal genre described is called symphonic metal, even though it is difficult to be 
well-defined.  
When Nightwish's frontwoman and female lead singer has been replaced with another one, the 
band  lost many fans but at the same time acquired many others. 
A new, wide scenery in the world of music has opened. 
 
1.2 Symphonic metal and subgenres 
 
In the mid-late 90s a new musical genre called “symphonic metal” starts to spread to continental 
Europa, mainly to Scandinavia and the Netherlands. It is a mix of pre-existing musical genres, 
gothic metal, melodic power metal, progressive metal, neo-classical metal, film score, classical 
music, Gregorian chant and opera. Symphonic metal is heavy metal which borrows symphonic 
elements from the foresaid musical genres, for example operatic female lead vocals; 
instrumentation that includes acoustic guitars and different types of keyboards instead of relying 
only on electric guitars; asymmetrical meters such as 5/4 and 7/8, and classical thematic material in 
addition to characteristically heavy metal power riff 1. 
 
                                                 
1  http://metalitalia.com 
 1.3 Musical features 
 
The main musical influences on symphonic metal are early gothic metal, power metal and classical 
music. The instruments used are guitar bass, keyboards, piano, drums, violin, flutes, other acoustic 
and electronic instruments, and occasionally backing choirs. All the mentioned instruments play 
simple parts, while the keyboards parts can be technically complex. In fact they are played in a wide 
variety of classical styles and they often emulate full orchestral arrangements. An actual orchestra is 
sometimes employed, both live and in the studio, to similar effect2.  
Bands who play this genre nearly always feature a female lead vocalist, most commonly a 
soprano singing in an operatic style. Sometimes there is a second male vocalist. Growling, death 
metal style vocals are rare, but not unknown. A backup or full choir is sometimes employed. Male 
vocalists are more common in the symphonic power metal genre.  
The guitar and bass work in this genre is hard to be generalized. As with gothic metal, this can 
often be described as synthesis of other rock and metal styles, with black metal, death metal, power 
metal and progressive metal elements being most common; but unlike in gothic metal classical 
elements are frequently present.345.  
As songs are often atmospheric (but more upbeat than those of other metal subgenres), important 
is the choice of keyboard sounds, which are central to creating mood and atmosphere. Even songs 
with morbid themes feature prominent mayor-key fanfares.   
Lyrics cover a wide range of topics. As with two of symphonic metal's otherwise most dissimilar 
influences, power metal and opera, fantasy and mythological themes are common. Concept albums 
styled after operas or epic poems are not uncommon678.  
 
1.4 Origins And Evolution 
 
The roots of symphonic metal are found in early death metal and gothic metal bands, who made 
some use of symphonic elements in their music. Particularly important was Therion's use of a live 
orchestra and classical compositional techniques; gradually these elements became a more 
                                                 
2  http://news.deviantart.com/article/62228/  
3  Symphonic Metal, from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, WikiProject Metal, last modified on 8 July 2010  
4  http://metalcrypt.com/genres/symphonicmetal 
5  http://news.deviantart.com/article/62228/  
6  Symphonic Metal, from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, WikiProject Metal, last modified on 8 July 2010  
7  http://www.nightwish.com 
8  http://www.news.deviantart.com/article/62228 
5 
important part of Therion's music than their death metal roots. Another key early influence was 
Finnish progressive metal band Waltari's album “Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! Death Metal Symphony in 
Deep C”9.  
Nightwish and Within Temptation both released their first album in 1997. Within Temptation 
was more influenced by Gothic metal, and then musically simpler than the power metal-influenced 
Nightwish, but both bands shared two key symphonic metal elements – powerful lead female vocals 
Tarja Turunen and Sharon Den Adel respectively, and the heavy used of classically influenced 
keyboard playing1011.  
Many new symphonic metal bands appeared or outshined in the early 2000s, including After 
Forever and Epica, both featuring the characteristic keyboards and female lead vocals. Power metal, 
with its relatively upbeat fantasy themes and stylized keyboard sounds, tended to be an important 
influence on these groups1213.  
The term "symphonic metal" has sometimes been applied to individual songs or albums by bands 
that are primarily death metal, doom metal, gothic metal, power metal, or even black metal. It is 
worth observing that symphonic metal may be discussed as a distinct subgenre, but the term is 
sometimes used also to describe stylistic elements that can be found in nearly any heavy metal sub-
genre. By either definition, symphonic metal tends to be popular in the same regions as the above-
mentioned sub-genres, mainly central and northern Europe14. 
 
1.5 Symphonic Metal Subgenres 
 
Overview  
“Symphonic metal” is not properly a sub-genre, but it is a cross-generic designation. This term is 
used to define any metal band who employs symphonic or orchestral elements. 15 
 
1.5.1 Symphonic black metal 
                                                 
9 http://www.waltarimusic.com/yeahyeahdiedie/english/yeahyeahdiedie.htm  
10 http://www.nightwish.com 
11 http://www.within-temptation.com 
12 http://www.myspace.com/afterforever  
13 http://www.epica.nl 
14 http://metalcrypt.com/genres.php#symphonic  
15 http://www.metalcrypt.com/genres.php#symphonic  
  
 Symphonic black metal has similar components as melodic black metal, but uses keyboarding or 
instruments normally found in symphonic or classical music. It can also include black metal bands 
that make heavy usage of atmospheric keyboarding in the music, akin to symphonic metal or gothic 
metal. The symphonic aspects of this genre are normally integral parts of a band, and as such are 
commonly used throughout the whole duration of a song. A new wave of bands led by The 
Gathering also began incorporating ethereal female singers, sometimes as the sole vocal focus16.  
 
1.5.2 Symphonic power metal 
 
Symphonic power metal incorporates the aspects of power metal with an orchestral element that is 
either created by keyboard or, more commonly, with a live orchestra. The songs are generally epic 
in style and length, with frequent use of background choirs17.  
Symphonic power metal was developed in the early nineties as the Brazilians Angra (who in 1993 
managed to fuse the power metal with classical music and symphonic with the debut “Angels 
Cry”), and the Italians Skylark (1994) and Rhapsody of Fire (1994). Skylark had a relative success 
in Europe but became very popular in Japan and China becoming the first Italian metal band ever to 
attend to whole tour in Japan and China while Rhapsody of Fire have had excellent feedback from 
the public and critics around the world181920. 
 
1.5.3 Symphonic gothic metal 
 
The first gothic metal band to release a full album featuring "Beauty and the Beast" vocals, where 
death metal vocals are contrasted with clean female vocals, was the Norwegian Theatre of Tragedy 
in 1995. Other bands, such as the Dutch Within Temptation in 1996, expanded on this approach21. A 
                                                 
16 http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:11957  
17 http://www.sonicempiremusic.com/index.asp?Category=45&Pageaction=VIEWCATS  
18 http://www.angra.net 
19 http://www.rhapsodyoffire.com/  
20 http://www.rhapsodyoffire.com 
21  Shyu, Jeffrey."Interview with Jeroen van Veen of Within Temptation". Available at http://Ssmt-reviews.com