Written by Stunning Cactus on 11.12.2014 at 16:45

I don't think this site will ever award another 9.0 or greater to a new album. Ever.

You mean the overall rating, for the top 200 autolist?

Written by Karlabos on 11.12.2014 at 17:56

I don't get it. It happens pretty frequently as far as I'm concerned

example 1, example 2, example 3...
All from 2014

I think he's bitching about the overall score. Not reviewer scores (especially since there are no reviewer scores on this album)

The end of this era will happen in 2650...so there is much more time before we enter the age of aquarius.

Excellent Album!.

One more solid melodeath work. This is how it should be played in 2014.

Good album. Can't get enough of California Dreamin cover

Written by [user id=114127] on 11.12.2014 at 20:32

Written by Stunning Cactus on 11.12.2014 at 16:45

I don't think this site will ever award another 9.0 or greater to a new album. Ever.

You mean the overall rating, for the top 200 autolist?

Correct. I don't think a new album will ever reach a 9 or higher as an overall rating.

Written by Stunning Cactus on 16.12.2014 at 10:15

Written by [user id=114127] on 11.12.2014 at 20:32

Written by Stunning Cactus on 11.12.2014 at 16:45

I don't think this site will ever award another 9.0 or greater to a new album. Ever.

You mean the overall rating, for the top 200 autolist?

Correct. I don't think a new album will ever reach a 9 or higher as an overall rating.

I totally agree man, it's a real shame. This vote abuse problem is ruining the usefulness of the top 200. Now I just follow the top rated of the year and download stuff before it gets slammed down. It seems to me that one part of the problem is that bunch of people make shell accounts and pump the score up and then a disproportionate number of people try to counteract the inappropriate 10's and subsequently drive the score further down than it should. It's incontrovertible that the top scores have trended down slowly over time. My guess is that the biggest contributor is that everyone wants their favorite band to be #1 and they purposefully drag down the other bands on the top 10 of the year that aren't their favorite, thus creating a lower average score across the board. Just look at the top 200 over time.... do a ctrl + F for each recent year.
2000- 4 albums in top 200
2001- 8
2002- 9
2003- 7
2004- 8
2005- 10
2006- 8
2007- 7
2008- 2
2009- 2
2010-1
2011- None
2012- None
2013- None

BTW, after ~20 spins this album is awesome, really close to being as good as The Unborn.

Written by chomskeet on 16.12.2014 at 18:59

I totally agree man, it's a real shame. This vote abuse problem is ruining the usefulness of the top 200. Now I just follow the top rated of the year and download stuff before it gets slammed down. It seems to me that one part of the problem is that bunch of people make shell accounts and pump the score up and then a disproportionate number of people try to counteract the inappropriate 10's and subsequently drive the score further down than it should. It's incontrovertible that the top scores have trended down slowly over time. My guess is that the biggest contributor is that everyone wants their favorite band to be #1 and they purposefully drag down the other bands on the top 10 of the year that aren't their favorite, thus creating a lower average score across the board. Just look at the top 200 over time.... do a ctrl + F for each recent year.
2000- 4 albums in top 200
2001- 8
2002- 9
2003- 7
2004- 8
2005- 10
2006- 8
2007- 7
2008- 2
2009- 2
2010-1
2011- None
2012- None
2013- None

BTW, after ~20 spins this album is awesome, really close to being as good as The Unborn.

Speaking of vote abuse, I'm pretty sure this album got sandbagged pretty hard just now, contacted a mod about it. Fortunately for an album like this it's easy enough to spot, but for something like the top 200 where there's 1,000's of votes for every album... It must be horrible trying to root out vote abuse.

Written by chomskeet on 16.12.2014 at 18:59

Written by Stunning Cactus on 16.12.2014 at 10:15

Written by [user id=114127] on 11.12.2014 at 20:32

Written by Stunning Cactus on 11.12.2014 at 16:45

I don't think this site will ever award another 9.0 or greater to a new album. Ever.

You mean the overall rating, for the top 200 autolist?

Correct. I don't think a new album will ever reach a 9 or higher as an overall rating.

I totally agree man, it's a real shame. This vote abuse problem is ruining the usefulness of the top 200. Now I just follow the top rated of the year and download stuff before it gets slammed down. It seems to me that one part of the problem is that bunch of people make shell accounts and pump the score up and then a disproportionate number of people try to counteract the inappropriate 10's and subsequently drive the score further down than it should. It's incontrovertible that the top scores have trended down slowly over time. My guess is that the biggest contributor is that everyone wants their favorite band to be #1 and they purposefully drag down the other bands on the top 10 of the year that aren't their favorite, thus creating a lower average score across the board. Just look at the top 200 over time.... do a ctrl + F for each recent year.
2000- 4 albums in top 200
2001- 8
2002- 9
2003- 7
2004- 8
2005- 10
2006- 8
2007- 7
2008- 2
2009- 2
2010-1
2011- None
2012- None
2013- None

BTW, after ~20 spins this album is awesome, really close to being as good as The Unborn.

An utter shame. The fanboyism of it is rather appalling. I know for sure some albums that came out this year absolutely blow away some of the top 200 if you look at things objectively, but unfortunately the voting is all subjective and there really is no arguing it. That's what makes it frustrating - the top 200 is like a majority opinion, but not everyone agrees with it. And the inflation of voting over time is a result of that, IMO.

Written by Pitwulf93 on 18.12.2014 at 19:53

A few days ago this had an overall rating of 8.5 being number one or two on the top of 2014 list and now all of a sudden it's gone down to a 8.2? I mean it's possible but I suspect foul play

Actually this appears to be the true rating, without foul play. Same happened to the new Ghost Brigade.

Written by Pitwulf93 on 18.12.2014 at 21:47

Written by Risto on 18.12.2014 at 21:44

Actually this appears to be the true rating, without foul play. Same happened to the new Ghost Brigade.

Allright, thanks for the confirmation.

I'll correct myself a bit, there are some suspicious 1's and 2's again. But I'm pretty sure some 10's have been removed recently.

Written by Risto on 18.12.2014 at 21:48

Written by Pitwulf93 on 18.12.2014 at 21:47

Written by Risto on 18.12.2014 at 21:44

Actually this appears to be the true rating, without foul play. Same happened to the new Ghost Brigade.

Allright, thanks for the confirmation.

I'll correct myself a bit, there are some suspicious 1's and 2's again. But I'm pretty sure some 10's have been removed recently.

Really, all the 1's and 2's appear to be the same person with multiple accounts. If you'll notice, all of the accounts have roughly the same voting pattern and really, really like Aenaon. Last I checked, they had also all logged in at roughly the same time. Are there some unfair 10's in there? Likely. Still, there are far more 10's to sort out than 1's and 2's which is why those were easier to spot.

Written by Pitwulf93 on 18.12.2014 at 19:53

A few days ago this had an overall rating of 8.5 being number one or two on the top of 2014 list and now all of a sudden it's gone down to a 8.2? I mean it's possible but I suspect foul play

I agree with you.There were four "1" in one day,even in a few hours.Can't believe this shit.

"Rating-Slave" are everywhere,including this site.
By the way,this album is good,one of the best melodeath albums this year.No one can deny that,except those "Melodeath-Hater"!

Great melodeath but certainly not AotY.

I am war!

Awesome album and sound

Listening to this, just reminds me how tired I am of melodic death metal, it doesn't get to me at all, sounds pretty generic if you ask me

Written by Fallen Ghost on 02.01.2015 at 14:42

Listening to this, just reminds me how tired I am of melodic death metal, it doesn't get to me at all, sounds pretty generic if you ask me

Yeah, songwriting must be simply amazing if someone wants to be successful with this particular style anymore. Many others do it right by distancing themselves from the traditional Gothenburg sound, even Dark Tranquillity these days.

I find this pretty cool until the 6th track but after that it loses momentum.

As far as the melodic death metal out there, this is still above most of the pack for me. It's not nearly as good as the Unborn or Liberation=Termination, but I actually thought this was better than the new At the Gates record. I bought it to support the band regardless. I dig the riffage.

Noticed today, 1/12/15, This has hit the "Top of 2014" list. While I am glad to see this band getting recognized, I wouldn't even put this album in the top 10 of the year. Top 25 maybe. Still worth your time either way. I will agree, to the chagrine of many, that this is better than Insomnium's album. They had the better single, but the rest of that album is such a monotonous bore.

Damn I really like this album. Completely ballsy melodeath, with a pretty nice atmospheric edge at some parts that keeps it fresh, unlike Insomnium or...well...most other mdm that's come out in the past 5-10 years. Easily my favorite thing of theirs since The Unborn, which is still one of my all time favorite melodeath albums post-2000

Why haven't I heard of this band before? First album I've spun by these guys, and I'm impressed. Is it groundbreaking? No. Awesome? I think so.

Now this is a great return to form!

Never be free !!!

Very very very cool album

I have to listen to the forsaken on repeat, because the damn song just isn't long enough lol