This is getting low ratings? I've seen nothing but praise for this until I looked on here. Oh well... I'll throw it on while walking the dog in the snow.

Good long atmospheric journey,. rare case I dont blame about length. As always band do no let down.

Perhaps overlong, but a step up from the last one IMO, if nothing else than because the production is far kinder to the blackened blasting passages

Yeah those low ratings are BS. This is a great, emotionally charged album. The production is a lot better than the previous, a lot kinder to the heavy black metal sections and the more folky sections sound fuller.

Another album this year that should be in the 8s at the very least. This completely blew me away. I honestly think Metalstorm should have a guaranteed top 50 of the year. We're lucky if we get a top 20 this year by the looks of it and this year has easily been better than last year which is crazy because last year was immense.

This album destroys the majority of BM this year. Just excellent, wasn't expecting to like something this much from this band.

I’m at my second playthrough now. I’m not sure I was all that invested at first listen, but it’s like the album is opening up about now. I’m at the end at Cedar Skeletons, and damn it is intense.

As far as atmo-black goes, this sounds very unique.
Not as catchy as Wayfarer if I have to compare. But sometimes great music takes a great amount of time as well, and so far I’m very impressed of what I’m hearing



Top 50 Albums of 2023

This is a very impressive release, a real uplifting journey for one's lost soul, it has such beautiful, thought-provoking, and emotive songwriting and wonderful atmospheric soundscapes.

This is the best winter-inspired atmospheric black metal release I've heard in ages. Mostly in the opening and closing epics, but parts of it give me the same feeling I had first listening to The Mantle.

Another great emotion fuled atmospheric bm album that almost feels psychedelic in some parts. I'm glad after the last album made me feel like panopticon was fading out.

"Winter's Ghost" is such a journey.

Written by 24emd on 03.12.2023 at 02:37

Mostly in the opening and closing epics, but parts of it give me the same feeling I had first listening to The Mantle.

I found myself thinking back on Our Fortress Is Burning off of Ashes Against the Grain during Cedar Skeletons.

This album is stupid good, probably his best

Ok, it could have been shorter and the vocals a bit higher, but I can't understand why this isn't in the top albuns list of the year and is rated less than 8.5.

Why is the flute on Winter's Ghost out of tune though ?

WTF? Who went on an idiotic ratings bomb for this album? Arguably BM album of the year, and for me, it's my favorite from him

Written by sgtrobo on 30.12.2023 at 18:58

WTF? Who went on an idiotic ratings bomb for this album? Arguably BM album of the year, and for me, it's my favorite from him

What are you on about? It has a 7.9 rating. And that's your opinion which naturally not everyone share with you. I can name 10 or maybe even 20 BM albums I find better this year.

Written by Nejde on 30.12.2023 at 20:39

Written by sgtrobo on 30.12.2023 at 18:58

WTF? Who went on an idiotic ratings bomb for this album? Arguably BM album of the year, and for me, it's my favorite from him

What are you on about? It has a 7.9 rating. And that's your opinion which naturally not everyone share with you. I can name 10 or maybe even 20 BM albums I find better this year.

What am I on about? Eh...the same thing everyone else in the comments is on about.
As for the better ones, please name them so I can check them out.

On RYM Panopticon in general have much better ratings. And this album have the best ratings (more than 3 000) since 2020 in Metal in general for instance, and at least, among the best releases. And i totaly agree with them (The people who votes). I do not understand why here some of artist are so under rated (Kaatayra for exemple) compared to RYM.

Written by toussa on 14.01.2024 at 13:01

…I do not understand why here some of artist are so under rated (Kaatayra for exemple) compared to RYM.

This currently has a 7.56 / 10 on RYM and a 7.96 / 10 here sooooooooooooOoOooOooOooo

Written by Boxcar Willy on 15.01.2024 at 03:49

Written by toussa on 14.01.2024 at 13:01

…I do not understand why here some of artist are so under rated (Kaatayra for exemple) compared to RYM.

This currently has a 7.56 / 10 on RYM and a 7.96 / 10 here sooooooooooooOoOooOooOooo

IMO, you don't know this website or how it works.

In short, the best metal album on this site is Black Sabb's Paranoid, with a score of 4,21/5, or 8,42/10. Here, the score is 9,2/10. That's a difference of almost 1 point, which is huge.
That was just an example.

Here, 6/10 is 'average'.
At RYM, the average is more like 2,5/5, so 5/10.

We can therefore add 1 point after multiplying the rate in RYM to get a match between MS and RYM. With this method, some genres of metal are rated higher than here, the reverse for other genres of metal, and sometimes it's for certain artists, but, on average with all the artists/albums, it works pretty well.

The rating system is better IMO than MS because it allows for a greater number of possible good album ratings, but that's not the point here.

RYM score: 3,78/5
MS score: 7,96/10

3,78*2 +1 = 8,56/10

Written by toussa on 16.01.2024 at 12:47

IMO, you don't know this website or how it works.

Yeah dude. At least I know how fractions work.

Maybe albums on a smaller metal-only website have an equivalently smaller and more dedicated voter pool? Just maybe? The rating systems are identical.

Honestly, I don't think so. That's what I used to think, but not anymore. But I think there are other parameters that influence differences but I'm not going to list them in an autistic way ahah.

Don't get me wrong, I was simply sharing an opinion/question about a group that is important to me.

Written by toussa on 16.01.2024 at 20:09

Honestly, I don't think so. That's what I used to think, but not anymore. But I think there are other parameters that influence differences but I'm not going to list them in an autistic way ahah.

Don't get me wrong, I was simply sharing an opinion/question about a group that is important to me.

Don't worry dude, I get what you're trying to say, but I just don't agree. We all have to be a little deeper on the spectrum to be posting on a Metal forum and rating albums anyway

Written by Ansercanagicus on 27.12.2023 at 12:21

Why is the flute on Winter's Ghost out of tune though ?

Hahaha I noticed that too, and it's not even the first time I've heard an out of tune wind instrument on an atmoblack album