San Chonino and I have had some discussion about the direction, etc. of our reviews here at The Prog Geek.  As I was doing some work on the master index article, I came upon a disturbing revelation: We rate things here way to freaking high.  There are too many 9 and 10 ratings.  I just didn't feel we had been appropriately critical. 

Part of the problem is that this is totally amateur.  We review music we have and have listened to, so it stands to reason we would like it.  Otherwise, why do we have it?  Still, I feel we have been too lenient in our final ratings of music.  So, unashamedly stealing from Progarchives.com, we have decided on a new rating system:

5/5: This is reserved for essential recordings.  If an album gets a 5 it means we think this is really an album that any true music fan should experience.

4/5: This denotes the album is an excellent addition to any music collection, but not an essential.  Most really great albums probably should get this at the very highest.

3/5: A good albums for fans of the style/band, but not something that will be winning over new fans or changing the way someone thinks about music.

2/5: An album best reserved for those who are completists, those who really want to have every album by said band.

1/5: Gluttons for punishment.  Little to no redeeming values.

As we have been discussing this, I think we have been able to become a little more critical.  Hopefully this will give our ratings a bit more meaning as well.  We have a whole slew of albums we have been meaning to review, so keep your eyes open for some tune news.