Something should be done about reviews!

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 MikeEnRegalia wrote:

 Certif1ed wrote:

Your list doesn't take into account how the album fits into the prog genre (...)

No problem - ratings 4 and 5 are the ones for you. I don't see any problem. 
But your list ratings 1 - 3 are specific to the band, and 4 is specific to a sub-genre which may or may not exist. 
I prefer the use of the word "Masterpiece", even if most people don't seem to know what the word means.
I can and always will feel free to disagree... 

 Certif1ed wrote:

A newcomer may not be familiar with every band on the site, so it's helpful to know aspects of the music that might appeal to the "Average Prog Listener". (...)

There is NO SUCH THING as an "Average Prog Listener".
You're kidding me, right??? 
You surely notice how much the two of us disagree on Meshuggah ... I guess we also disagree on Fantomas, Dillinger Escape Plan etc. Those bands cannot be quantified easily. You can just say "this band sounds like ... well, like no other band I know". 
But that wouldn't be true. Every band can be compared to an other band - it doesn't require that much imagination.  To say it sounds like nothing you know suggests that you are not "well-read" in the genre, or simply lack imagination.
Meshuggah are easy to quantify - I have already done so. There's much less prog there than you seem to think, and it's easy to hear influences. I'm not familiar with the other bands you mention, but am currently exploring the music of Fantomas. It's not hard to quantify either. No band I've heard to date really causes me any issues in that respect - except, perhaps, Shub-Niggurath and Henry Cow.

 Certif1ed wrote:

I don't think it's helpful to quantify in terms of subgenres (...)

It's imperative to quantify in terms of subgenres. Newcomers will not begin with obscure albums with very few ratings. They will look at the top 100 list and explore prog from there (at least they should). If you don't quantify on subgenres, but choose the lowest common denominator instead, your review is likely to contain no valuable information at all.
I cannot agree with that - and I've already made my thoughts known. There's nothing imperative about quantifying in terms of subgenres, especially since those subgenres are largely misleading, inaccurate and on the whole, completely wrong!
The top level genre, "Prog", is much simpler to come to terms with - but even that is disagreed on by most prog fans - so why complicate it further with silly subgenres? It's all Prog. Well. Most if it is...

Edited by Certif1ed