Progressive Melodies' Review System Explained

Reviewing progressive albums is a difficult business, and it's hardly an exact science, especially when using arbitrary markers of quality such as stars, numbers, or even single words. But at the same time, these are necessary, given the way average scores are calculated, and factoring in the visitors who want the basic gist of a review.

Due to this, I think that it's important to explain how the site gives "scores" to albums, exactly what they mean, and how readers should understand them.

• Most importantly, I would urge readers to read the full text of an article, or at the very least, the first and last paragraphs. A five star system doesn't allow for a lot of minutia in the scores, so that minutia will be found in the text of the article.
• As for the stars themselves, I include them only as a formality to connect them to the "quality word" that I use to rate albums.
  
• For reference, zero stars-terrible, one star-bad, two stars-average, three stars-good, four stars-great, five stars-incredible
  
• At many other sites, a three-star review is considered "bad" or "average." That's absolutely not the case at Progressive Melodies, which is why each review is accompanied by a word describing the quality of the album. A good/three star album is just that: good.
• All reviews will incorporate the full experience of listening to the album, including all songs, the production, the songwriting, the lyrics, the vocal quality, and the instrumentation. Even if a review does not mention one of these factors, it was considered during the review process.
• Fans of progressive music generally look for different things in music than the general listening public. Because of this, reviews will often hold some aspects of the music more important than others, such as the talent of the musicians and the originality of the melodies/instrumentation.
  

Questions about the review process are always accepted, as are your own thoughts about an album in the comments section of a review.