Do you feel it’s fair for a band to be judged against their past successes and to be held to a higher standard than less influential bands?
I’ve been listening to a lot of Incantation and Immolation recently and it made me think about this. I recently saw a review of one of the more modern Incantation albums where the reviewer talks about the strengths of the album but says Incantation is held to a higher standard before rating the album 3.0/5.0. I don’t feel that was a fair assessment because the old records come with the advantage of nostalgia and Incantation’s newer records still knock the socks off most of the newer bands they influenced. If it was some random band it would have almost certainly added +1.0 at least to the reviewer’s score.
In the case of Immolation, I think they face the same hurdles but actually have continued to make even better records in some cases. I think even though they’re viewed as highly consistent, that doesn’t do them justice. Getting almost universally praised for late stage albums makes me believe it is actually their best work and I know they’ve been my favorites. Nostalgia is a beast and they manage to overcome it almost every single time.
Let me know what you think and what bands you think this applies to.