The riffs from the beginning are similar whith the first riffs of At the gates ”Blinded by fear”

It's probably/arguably the best music they recorded in last 20 years. I am loving it but I am very cautious one swallow does not make a summer they say. The whole album maybe crap like few previous but definitely hopes are up

Maybe not quite at the level of their albums from the 90s, mostly due to the fact that Anders can't really growl as he did back then, but this is by far the best song they released in two decades. Strange how it took bunch of ex-members to band together and form a band that sounds like old In Flames, to actually make In Flames sound like old In Flames again.

That is a lot of in flames in one sentence.

Actually I find the growl vocals here to be some of his best.
We're in a weird timeline, it's official.

Some one scored it 6...why? 🤣🤔

Written by Litvin on 15.06.2022 at 02:06

Some one scored it 6...why? 🤣🤔

What's wrong with that?
6/10 means average, and that's exactly how I would rate it as well. It's a decent song, but it's neither ground-breaking nor the catchiest track they've ever recorded.

I believe that as long as individual preferences and personal tastes are allowed, 6-star ratings can only be called "wrong" from a very subjective perspective. Just to give an example, there's a surprisingly high number of people who have good arguments as to why Ride The Lightning is a mediocre album. And on the other hand, there are quite a few people who would say the same about Lulu.
In my opinion, extreme ratings, and I'm talking about both ends of the scale, should be scrutinized with a way more skeptical eye than moderate ratings. And that's because the former are often fueled by extreme emotions, such as bitter disappointment or blind adoration. Ironically, these two conditions are more closely related than one might think.

No idea what I'm trying to say?
Okay, here's an excellent example...

Siren Charms: 1/10
Battles: 1/10
I, The Mask: 1/10
State Of Slow Decay: 10/10

So according to your ratings, In Flames have tortured their pitiable audience with "the worst shit ever" three times in a row, just to terminate this long phase of being the most godawful band in the history of music by releasing a perfect single that is up there with the most iconic metal songs of all time.
Seriously now, do you actually believe that?
And do you really think that your grossly exaggerated ratings are justified while a harmless 6/10 is not?


However, I'm very sure that in a few months from now, nobody will still be talking about State Of Slow Decay. It may indeed be the best IF song of the last 15 years, yet it's pretty unspectacular and nothing to write home about.

Written by Starvynth on 16.06.2022 at 00:48

Written by Litvin on 15.06.2022 at 02:06

Some one scored it 6...why? 🤣🤔

What's wrong with that?
6/10 means average, and that's exactly how I would rate it as well. It's a decent song, but it's neither ground-breaking nor the catchiest track they've ever recorded.

I believe that as long as individual preferences and personal tastes are allowed, 6-star ratings can only be called "wrong" from a very subjective perspective. Just to give an example, there's a surprisingly high number of people who have good arguments as to why Ride The Lightning is a mediocre album. And on the other hand, there are quite a few people who would say the same about Lulu.
...

Inflames dead for me since early 200x so I was really surprised hearing this new single. I personally believe that this is not average song because it is reminds me a lot of their original style and the way they played before (there is no accounting for taste)

So yeah this is just one single, even if they released it back in 2010 I would still score it 10, however I believe that their upcoming album will be rubbish anyway...no high hopes here.

My judgment for bands is simple, if I like their stuff I score it high if I do not like I score it low. If a band that I really like changes their style in a way I don't like I score it very low because I know they can do better, that is all.

Here is a few more Inflames albums that I score 10.

1996 - The Jester Race 10/10
1999 - Colony 10/10
2000 - Clayman 10/10

Written by Litvin on 16.06.2022 at 09:03

If a band that I really like changes their style in a way I don't like I score it very low because I know they can do better, that is all.

I see, but that's exactly the problem. Because our rating system is not up for personal interpretations.
There are four degrees of "bad", and each is clearly defined:

4/10 - bad
3/10 - very bad
2/10 - pure shit
1/10 - worst ever

Your "they can do better" is not listed there, nor would it justify a 1/10 rating, since 1 point literally means unlistenable. Your drunk grandpa trying to perform a free jazz version of the worst Sonic Syndicate song on his panpipes at 3am while your neighbor's chihuahua is barking the chorus, that's a 1/10.
Even if you want to punish your favorite band for changing their style, you should still adhere to the given rating scheme.
6/10 is the most neutral rating we have and it usually does no harm. That's why I just don't see the point of publicly complaining about a random 6/10 user rating, especially if you don't quite understand the rating system yourself.

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 09:42

6/10 is the most neutral rating we have and it usually does no harm.

I wish everyday for this to become true one day. Way too many people here complain about a 6 rating on their favourite albums, just because it is lower than the average rating over all albums and users (which is around 7.8).

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 09:42

I see, but that's exactly the problem. Because our rating system is not up for personal interpretations.
There are four degrees of "bad", and each is clearly defined:

4/10 - bad
3/10 - very bad
2/10 - pure shit
1/10 - worst ever

Your "they can do better" is not listed there, nor would it justify a 1/10 rating, since 1 point literally means unlistenable. Your drunk grandpa trying to perform a free jazz version of the worst Sonic Syndicate song on his panpipes at 3am while your neighbor's chihuahua is barking the chorus, that's a 1/10.
Even if you want to punish your favorite band for changing their style, you should still adhere to the given rating scheme.
6/10 is the most neutral rating we have and it usually does no harm. That's why I just don't see the point of publicly complaining about a random 6/10 user rating, especially if you don't quite understand the rating system yourself.

For me, I've yet to encounter a more obvious definition of a 1/10 than Grinds Insides's classic Sir, You Are Dead; since I've given Lulu a 2 and the new Leviathan Project album a 3, those are apparently my reference points of the descent from 'very bad' to 'worst ever'

Written by Redel on 17.06.2022 at 10:18

I wish everyday for this to become true one day. Way too many people here complain about a 6 rating on their favourite albums, just because it is lower than the average rating over all albums and users (which is around 7.8).

Yeah, I should have said "6/10 is supposed to be the most neutral rating" instead.

Off-topic, but an interesting fact: the overall mean value of the average ratings (each user's average rating thrown into a pot and the total devided by the number of users with at least one rating) is even higher, last time I checked it was a whopping 8.7.



It's hard to believe, but over 60% of our users have an average rating of 8.5 or higher. I'm afraid this is a clear indication that our rating system, which is actually very simple, has never been fully understood by the majority.

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 11:27

the overall mean value of the average ratings (each user's average rating thrown into a pot and the total devided by the number of users with at least one rating) is even higher, last time I checked it was a whopping 8.7.

That is interestingly high, indeed. I have "computed" it differently: I have filtered all studio albums, ranked them by their average rating, and jumped to the middle of the ranking. The albums displayed there had an average rating of 7.8. So this should be the median rating of all studio (!) albums on ms.
I have to think more about why this value differs so much from the value you computed.

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 11:27

It's hard to believe, but over 60% of our users have an average rating of 8.5 or higher. I'm afraid this is a clear indication that our rating system, which is actually very simple, has never been fully understood by the majority.

or it means we mostly rate the stuff we like
for example, i don"t go looking for Doom Metal albums to downvote them, but if i were to hear a lot of them i"d have much lower average ratings too

Written by theFIST on 17.06.2022 at 12:35

or it means we mostly rate the stuff we like

That is exactly what is going on if you ask me.

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 09:42

Written by Litvin on 16.06.2022 at 09:03

If a band that I really like changes their style in a way I don't like I score it very low because I know they can do better, that is all.

I see, but that's exactly the problem. Because our rating system is not up for personal interpretations.
There are four degrees of "bad", and each is clearly defined:

4/10 - bad
3/10 - very bad
2/10 - pure shit
1/10 - worst ever

Your "they can do better" is not listed there, nor would it justify a 1/10 rating, since 1 point literally means unlistenable. Your drunk grandpa trying to perform a free jazz version of the worst Sonic Syndicate song on his panpipes at 3am while your neighbor's chihuahua is barking the chorus, that's a 1/10.
Even if you want to punish your favorite band for changing their style, you should still adhere to the given rating scheme.
6/10 is the most neutral rating we have and it usually does no harm. That's why I just don't see the point of publicly complaining about a random 6/10 user rating, especially if you don't quite understand the rating system yourself.

I really put 1 if I can't really listen to the end, I think that is fare

Written by Litvin on 17.06.2022 at 16:16

I really put 1 if I can't really listen to the end, I think that is fare

That doesn't make any sense either. How do you know there isn't at least one decent, or maybe even good track on any of your 1/10 albums if you never made it to the end?

HOLD UP... In Flames made a good song again? I dont believe it!

Written by Redel on 17.06.2022 at 12:22

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 11:27

the overall mean value of the average ratings

the median rating of all studio (!) albums

Have given this a bit more thought...
(And I am aware of off-topicness, so keeping it short.)
Aside from studio albums vs. all albums, which should not make a bigger difference...
Also mean value vs. median should do no harm here because the rating scale is limited on both ends, and the rating distributions are not too skewed.
But what we have calculated is of course two different things, theoretically.
Basically, you have averaged all mean user ratings and I have averaged all mean album ratings. You have weighted users equally and I have weighted albums equally, neglecting how many ratings they have.
We both have neglected within variation -- you within users, I within albums.
What I would like to see is the mean value of all individual ratings, weighted equally. And that value could be somewhere completely else.
Does that make any sense?

Written by Redel on 17.06.2022 at 22:09

What I would like to see is the mean value of all individual ratings, weighted equally. And that value could be somewhere completely else.
Does that make any sense?

Yep, this makes perfect sense. But I will keep it even shorter, because we are indeed totally off-topic.

So just to satisfy your curiosity, the mean value of all 1.048 Million individual ratings on MS as of Dec. 2021 was 8.2079.
Crazy, eh?

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 22:50

the mean value of all 1,048 Million individual ratings on MS as of Dec. 2021 was 8.2079.

Great! Thanks for the quick reply and the figure right there, as if you had it in the top of your head.
Good to know the figure falls about in the middle of the range we both figured.
Tells me not too crazy things going on here with ratings.

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 22:50

all 1,048 Million individual ratings on MS

Final off-topic question, I promise:
Did you really mean to write 1,048 million, which would literally be a billion? Or are we talking about one million?

Written by Redel on 17.06.2022 at 23:19

Did you really mean to write 1,048 million, which would literally be a billion?

Nah, that was just a stupid mistake on my part. I tend to forget that my spreadsheet program runs in German mode where the comma is used as decimal separator.

Average rating of 8.2 doesn't surprise me. For a site that publishes mostly metal, and attracts metal aficionado, they are surely gonna rate their favorite genre high.

Hypothetically if this site was populated by metalheads and non metalheads the score would have been lower.

A listener's bias may cause that high average score.

Written by Starvynth on 17.06.2022 at 16:39

Written by Litvin on 17.06.2022 at 16:16

I really put 1 if I can't really listen to the end, I think that is fare

That doesn't make any sense either. How do you know there isn't at least one decent, or maybe even good track on any of your 1/10 albums if you never made it to the end?

eventually by skipping tracks >>

p.s oh, may be saying "from start to the end" would be better way of putting it then, sorry for not being as clear.

Back on topic, this does indeed take much from "Blinded By Fear" and that's the good part of the track. The chorus is not good at all. However, I had to change the style from "alternative metal" to "melodic death metal" and I never expected to do that for a new In Flames release.

Written by nikarg on 18.06.2022 at 08:28

However, I had to change the style from "alternative metal" to "melodic death metal" and I never expected to do that for a new In Flames release.

Gothenburg metal: exists

Holy fuck this sounds amazing!! this was unexpected

Written by tintinb on 18.06.2022 at 04:33

Average rating of 8.2 doesn't surprise me. For a site that publishes mostly metal, and attracts metal aficionado, they are surely gonna rate their favorite genre high.

Another point that people tend to rate only albums they like. We have thousands new releases every year and at least hundreds of albums we love and listen to for decades. I doubt many fans can check out 4-6 point albums and even fewer are not lazy enough to rate them here. In the long run, most of us use rating system to find new and old good albums, not the bad ones, so the system works.

Written by nikarg on 18.06.2022 at 08:28

Back on topic, this does indeed take much from "Blinded By Fear" and that's the good part of the track. The chorus is not good at all. However, I had to change the style from "alternative metal" to "melodic death metal" and I never expected to do that for a new In Flames release.

I did an experiment cutting out the choirs using audacity, the track squeezes to 3:25 min (blinded by fear 3:01min length), if I had a bit more time polishing the cuts I will upload that version up online. What I am trying to say is that no choirs version brings the track so much closer to Blinded By Fear. So I believe that these new IF members are big fans of ATG, haha

Written by Litvin on 15.06.2022 at 02:06

Some one scored it 6...why? 🤣🤔

I'd probably score it a 3 or 4, what's wrong with a 6?