Not sure if this is the right place to talk about this, but since this is the 'Suggestions and complaints' area, it should be ok.

I think the Compilation tag for albums with a few bonus tracks is not helpful. A compilation is my book is a 'best of' or a 'tribute'. At Metal Archives Compilation is also used on occasions for a full studio album with some bonus tracks. This is confusing since full albums are printed bold and therefore counted as number of albums the band released.

Some examples of albums we have / will be releasing:

Agathocles - "Theatric symbolisation of life" is clearly AGs debut album, but is here tagged as compilation, because there are quite some bonustracks on it.
I think it's still their debut album, regardless of the bonus tracks.
If you browse through AGs discography, you might think Razor sharp daggers is their debut, since it's the first bold printed album title. Confusing.

Most of the Striborg's albums of late have a demo or old album as bonus tracks. So nearly all of Striborg albums are tagged as Compilation. Personally I think it's messy and people do not understand this.

So those were my complaints, my suggestion would be that if a release which is now tagged as Compilation and bears a full album, it will be tagged as Full length. If the bonus tracks are important (like a full album as bonus), the bonus will be included in the title between (+ and ).

Instead of:
Embittered Darkness / Isle de Morts Best of/Compilation, 2006

Better would be:
Embittered Darkness (+ Isle de Morts) Full length, 2006

Hope this will result in an improvement of the site.


Regards,

Ron W Veltkamp
Displeased Records

The problem isn't the "compilation" tag, but how we can use it.

We usually tag the albums based on how a band classifies their own releases. For example, while it's common for bands to classify a 28min album as an EP, some of them might consider it as a Full-length, like Slayer and Immortal. If "Theatric symbolisation of life" is their debut album, fine, we can just change it.

If you see an album that's not correctly tagged, just send a report and we'll fix it.

http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=7048

It should be a compilation. Read the additional notes. 2/3 of ther album is taken from previous releases.

As I said before, if the band feel that it's their full length, then so be it.

At least half of the running time is made of new material.