My favorite genres and what take up the bulk of my listening are metal, progressive metal, rock, progressive rock, and a bit of blues, country, pop, jazz, and classical.

My least favorite types of music are generally punk, indie, rap, and hardcore. I value musicianship just as much as I do songwriting, so I stick pretty closely to the genres that tend to put a good amount of emphasis on things like technical prowess and harmonic complexity. I'll give pretty much anything a chance though and will try and approach it with an open mind.

I rate primarily on the music and how good I thinks it’s written, arranged, performed, and produced. I don’t take things like influence, historical importance, social relevance, critical acclaim, general consensus, or popularity into account when rating an album.