The ratings

A quick guide through the ratings used throughout this blog.

10

Fantastic, with high personal value & importance, and effectively among the greatest of all time. I don't use the full 10/10 rating lightly - this is reserved for albums that I count among my deepest, closest personal favourites. A band may create a most amazing album, but only special circumstances can elevate it to 10/10, and the albums under this rating have some kind of personal story or impact attached to it. Ratings are inherently subjective and this is the most subjective of them all.

9

The standard greatest rating, for the brilliant works for art that often form an artist's peak moment. There's nothing to complain and everything to praise. In the numerical scale it might not be the largest, but in practice these are the kind of records that make you love music.

8

A great, all-around excellent album. For one reason or another this hasn't quite reached the highest tiers, but don't let that fool you into thinking there's something wrong with the album. Quite the contrary - albums under here are surefire greats.

7

A good album - the "standard" positive rating. Albums that can be enjoyed a lot but which do not quite pack a bigger punch - even if they may still store some surefire classics within the tracklist. Still recommendable, even if it may not change anyone's world.

6

Fine and alright, even if flawed or doesn't stand out from the crowd. Pleasant enough to put on but rarely do I get the desire to. Potentially a good album bogged down by some glaring weaknesses that are too big to ignore and somewhat tarnish the full experience.

5

Mediocre and clearly sub-par record; goes in to one ear and straight through out from the other without leaving the listener with much to remember it by. Still listenable to some extent, possibly because of one or two redeeming songs, but it's hard to get excited or even interested by this. 

4

Getting to the negatives now. These are, to put it bluntly, weak albums. They might have some kind of decent point hidden somewhere in there if you dig deep enough, but is it worth the effort anymore? 

3

A poor album. Getting to the point of actively wanting to turn this off when it plays.

2

The standard "bad" rating. No good qualities, no redeemable points. Just a terrible listen. The only reason you'd find these around in a collection is if you got really obsessed about discography completion...

1

If 10 was the utmost subjective positive rating, this is the negative counterpart. Not many albums get, or deserve, this. This is for the ones that aren't just bad - they're the ones that make you actively enraged or sad that they exist. This goes beyond terrible and straight into despair - so bad it actually elicits and emotional reaction.