Cosmic_Equilibrium's profile

Favourite bands: Sabbath, Maiden, Priest, Deep Purple, Metallica, Cathedral and all that's good and heavy :)

I don't intend to provide comprehensive discography reviews (except for Black Sabbath, which is a slow ongoing project), but I will review any album that takes my fancy. I'm very much a fan of live albums so look out for reviews of those as and when they turn up.

A rough guide to my rating scores below. It tends to be a little vague but generally if I rate an album at or above 50% it's probably worth a purchase of some sort, even if it's only for the one stand out song.


As follows then, here are my guidelines:

94 - 100: The creme de la creme. The masterpieces. The albums which are just off the chain, which make you punch the air and go 'fuck yeah!' - y'know what I mean. Classics. The top echelon.

86 - 93: Phenomenal albums, some of which are probably as good as the ones in the bracket above them. No huge difference between an album rated as 91 and one as 96 TBH, more that the latter record will be special to me in some way.

78- 85: Great albums, albeit maybe with a few lesser moments here and there. Sometimes an album which is musically in the 70 - 77 range can get bumped up to this bracket if it's of especial historical importance to the genre, or massively influential.

70 - 77: Generally pretty good records, but will invariably have some lesser tracks or tail off on side 2, or just be quite good overall but with not enough really standout moments to warrant a higher rating.

60 - 69: Pretty similar to the above, but the record will often be considerably more inconsistent, have a couple of stinkers on it, or not reward repeat plays. Albums in this bracket are more likely to be 'decent' than 'pretty good'.

50 - 59: Rather average or mediocre albums that will be lifted up a little by a few stronger songs here and there. Also albums that have a good idea but not necessarily realised that well.

38 - 49: Mediocre. Will possibly have one or two worthwhile songs. Records in this bracket are not usually outright bad but are probably just fairly dull and not really worth a listen.

30 - 37: Starting to stink. Albums which are not just dull but which are unpleasant listening experiences, or exceptionally boring. A rating here may also signify an album which has one very good or decent song surrounded by a pile of crap, or a musical experiment which is potentially interesting but doesn't work.

20 - 29: Really stinking now. Generally not recommended as a listening experience and it is advised to avoid these records. There may occasionally be a half decent song here and there, but generally they are few and far between. If a pretty poor album which would generally be rated in the above bracket is made by a band with a previously good track record, it may end up here as the band in question should probably have known better.

10 - 19: Not many redeeming features at all, general garbage for the most part.

0 - 9: Downright offensive. Complete and utter crap. Avoid at all costs.