Welcome castaways to Round 17 of Survivor: ATRL Edition (Season 5)! 5 castaways remain. But by the end of this round, only 3 of you will remain in the competition as the official Top 3 of this season. Let's see what your final round consists of...

---

The theme for Round 17 is...

Music Critique

This round, the remaining 4 (or soon to be 4) of you will write an album review. This is the most important round of the entire game as it can be the difference between first place and fourth place hence why it is the heaviest task yet. You've all come so far, why stop now? Besides, the only thing that sucks more than placing 13th is placing 4th. It's the "so close, yet so far" placement of the game.

I will be assigning you each a different album released in late Q2 or Q3 of 2015. Only the standard edition of each album will be reviewed.

There is always the possibility you may have heard the album I assign but I tried to steer away from major pop albums that every ATRLer has listened to. If you have listened to the album I assign you, take it as an advantage this round. Try not to mention it though because if you're already familiar with the album, the expectations will rise.

Your album review will be graded on the normal scale of 1-10 based off multiple factors. Those factors can include effort, if your review is biased or not, and the detail/manner in which you review. You will all receive a fair amount of points for just following directions and the rest of your score will be determined by your writing. By writing, I don't mean just grammar. I mean how well you execute your points whether positive or negative. Of course writing skills will come in handy but it won't guarantee immunity.

The whole point of this round is to envision yourself as a critic for some type of magazine such as Billboard. The end result of your entry should look like an actual critic review (or at least a good one). Some critics are biased, but we are trying not to be. The judges need to be able to tell you actually gave the album a shot and didn't just go based off preformed opinions. You will not be judged by your opinions. You will be judged by how you back them up. You can say whatever you want as long as you have something backing it up and aren't just throwing stuff out there. I don't expect you all to become literature majors overnight, but just take your best shot and you'll be surprised by how well your review turns out.

Below are the requirements for this round's entry.

---

The Requirements:

1. Artist Name + Album Title - 1/2 Point

Self-explanatory.

2. Your Name - 1/2 Point

Yup.

3. Album Cover - 1 Point

The official is required for this one as this isn't an era recreation or something similar.

4. Mention Every Track - 1 Point

This is a track-by-track review. Each track needs to be mentioned, described, and then given a consensus on whether you like it, love it, or hate it.

5. Hits & Misses - 1 Point

Include a section where you recommend a few highlights from the album as well as a few tracks that should remain skipped over.

6. An Overall Rating - 1 Point

At the end of your review, there should be some type of rating whether it's out of 5 stars, a letter grading scale, or just plain numbers.

The other 5 points will come from the review itself for a total out of 10. We will reward those points based off how well you wrote the review, whether you were biased, and whether you sound like you know what you're talking about.

Below are the albums each of you will be reviewing. I included Golden & Element in this even though only one of them will actually complete the round.

---

The Albums:

1. Golden




2. T-Swizz




3. Guero




4. Ivory.




5. Element

---

Example:

-brian


The best example of what to do for this round would probably still be S3 winner -brian's review of 'Kiss Me Once' by Kylie Minogue.



-brian received a near perfect score for his review and remains the highest scoring entry of this round (so far). His entry is definitely a go-to entry for inspiration this round.

I am giving you all a week to complete this round. You may have to listen to the album in the first place and you also have to write out a review. That on top of life priorities requires a hefty amount of time. The deadline for this round is August 23th at 4:00 PM PST Timezone. That gives everyone exactly 7 days.

http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...e&font=cursive

T-Swizz, Guero, & Ivory. can get started immediately. Golden and Element should focus on the tiebreaker for now, but once those entries are in tomorrow, it wouldn't hurt to start giving your album a spin since one of you will have to complete this round as well.

Good luck as usual castaways. Everyone should give their all this round. This is more than just a chance at immunity. It's a potential game winning immunity. Do your best!

V