MetalReview.com is not a site I'm terribly familiar with. It has a nice banner up at the top with tabs for navigation, and you can always get home, unless you log in, in which case when you click "home" it automatically redirects you to community. The navigation doesn't go away at the second or third levels. The links do not change once clicked on, except in a selected state in which case an orange tab appears around it. There is a nice lighter grey rollover state. You can always get back home, except when you have logged in, in which case, it makes you go to the community site. There is also a nice breadcrumb that lets you get back a few levels.
The site has pretty deep architecture. You can post to forums, read reviews, search content, and read different albums reviews sorted by artist or author of the review. The architecture is pretty close to flat, however, and it's easy to navigate from one place to another, though you might have to click a few levels in on each one to get to the specific thing you are searching for. The typographic hierarchy is pretty clear (typical bold/size/italics for prominent type), and the content, while in wide columns, is almost nicely spaced. It needs a little more leading, but not much. it would be nicer if it weren't white on dark grey, however, as my eyes kind of buzz a bit looking at it. One neat feature, however, is that you can change the text size. Ironically, this part is in a tiny tiny font.
The grid on the page is pretty constant from one page to the other. The imagery is minimal (reserved for the most part to album covers or profile pictures. The focal point is pretty obviously the center of the page, but imagery doesn't do much to enhance that. I am perfectly fine with the use of imagery, however, as the site is focused on music, and most imagery associated with metal is very silly, and this site manages to remain clean. Part of that has to do with the colors used, which are three shades of grey, white text and an orange selected state. The dark grey sits on a black background and exists in tables to separate content nicely. There is a black gutter between content. The colors were probably chosen because black is "br00tal" and the orange is vaguely reminiscent of hellfire. The objective of the site appears to be to be a community where metal fans can learn about and discuss their favorite music. You can search but not on every level of the site (which is kind of annoying- you have to click a link to go to the search window on some levels), and you can sort things pretty decently well. Overall, the site is pretty simple, which is, I think, very useful. It doesn't get in the way at all.