Cosmo Lee is leaving Invisible Oranges.

For the uninitiated, that’s something akin to Varg Vikernes saying he’s leaving Burzum. No disrespect meant to the other fine writers who contribute to IO, but that site lives, bleeds and IS Cosmo.

But then I read Cosmo’s statement on the matter and I immediately got it. It might not seem like it, but this here blogging thing is a lot of work, especially when it’s not your full-time job (but even when it is). Sez Cosmo:

I’ve done Invisible Oranges for four and a half years, putting in 30- to 40-hour weeks on it, seven days a week. (I can count on two hands the number of days I’ve taken off from the site.) This is my 1400th post for Invisible Oranges. Given that each post typically takes over three hours of work (a typical album review requires weeks (if not months) of listening, an hour to write, and an hour to edit and lay out), and an interview typically takes over five hours to transcribe, edit, and lay out, I’ve put in well over 5000 unpaid hours on this site. (Our advertising this year might have us breaking even in terms of server and other costs.) I’ve sunk thousands of dollars into this site, and I wouldn’t take a single one back. But eventually it will be time for me to move on.

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Here’s what I don’t understand about all these lists: why they make people so very angry. When we set out to make our 21 Best Albums of the 21st Century (So Far) list earlier this year, we pretty much knew from the outset that it would be unsatisfactory. For one thing, there were only going to be 21 albums on the list, which meant a lot of great records were going to get left off; for another thing, we made the decision early on to allow bands to have multiple albums on the list if that was the way the voting turned out, and that meant that even more artists who deserved recognition weren’t going to get it; and finally, there was the very issue of how you even go about compiling such a list – we thought it was exciting to solicit the opinions of a lot of prominent musicians and industry insiders (as opposed to just the MS staff), but that approach obviously had its pros and cons, too. I’m not apologizing for or disowning our list – I’m just pointing out what should be obvious, which is that it was meant to be a fun conversation starter, which, from our end at least, is exactly what it was. And who really gives a shit which albums did or did not end up on that list? You know which albums you love and which ones you hate, so you shouldn’t need MetalSucks, or any other media outlet, to validate your opinion. I think Albert Mudrian is a great writer and is way more knowledgeable about metal than I am, but my ego isn’t so frail that I need him to agree with my every assessment of every band and every album.

Which brings me to what this blog post is actually about: Decibel’s 100 Greatest Metal Albums of the Decade special, which you can order here. It’s considerably more comprehensive that our list was, but I imagine most intelligent metal fans will also find it just as infuriating, and just as fun.

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Cosmo Lee, who runs the blog Invisible Oranges and has written reviews for Metal Injection, Decibel, and just about every other publication known to man, was recently burglarized. Amongst the stolen items were his computer and hard drive, which we imagine will put a serious dent in his work schedule.

Cosmo is now looking for donations to help him get back on his feet. If ever there was a good cause, this is it. Cosmo is a nice dude and long time member of the  metal community; I’m guessing you’ve all read his writing whether you realized it or not. So if you’ve got some cash to spare, help the guy out!

Info on how to donate is here.