Reviews do not have a word limit, which allows users to do entire essays on their favorite albums. However, I think there is a tendency in the site of wanting to talk about the work of an artist as a whole, or about the evolution of one genre throughout time. For example, how users make ranked lists of their favorite artists or how some reviews in the site talk about the artist entire work and start their reviews like “Deftones is an American band founded in…”, which follow an essay style.
I think there can be a space or format for users to publish their own articles about an artist’s discography or even just about an especific aspect of an album, rather than a review. That article could be referenced by other users and put in the Reviews tab of the user’s profile as “articles” or “essays”. It can have markdown formatting, links to albums in the AOTY website (for example when you talk about TPAB you can put a markdown link to the TPAB album in the website) and even have the formal name of the user. They could also be published in a secondary website like this one of published articles (Obsidian.md style perhaps).
It can take any shape or form, but I think it would add a lot to the website as this community and site, compared to RYM or All Music for example, is much more centered on the reviewing, listing, and “talking about” of the albums rather than 5-star ratings only. That is why there seems to be a much stronger format related to commenting; commenting other reviews, putting commentaries on not-released albums, etc. By adding articles, users can do a review of an specific album and add all of their observations and appreciations, and possible also write an article related to a wider topic, which could be overshadowed in an album review but would have much more relevance if it was formally published as an article. I imagine people releasing their essays and being notified in their feed like “User published an essay/article: “How the sound of French House influenced contemporary Funk and RnB”. That could really give the site a distinct factor. 