All these bands, even Kalmah, Norther, Ensiferum and Wintersun, can't stand the heat when compared to COB. They didn't produce enough original material that was good, and had too much filler material. There's a reason why one of them excelled and others didn't. They're nice bands and all of them have great bits to them, but they don't sound dark enough and their records had too much crap in them. They're epic and satisfying warm-up bands for the true bands. And I won't even start with the aspiring new bands. With COB you can honestly hear there's wild creativity and richness of brutally honest material, they weren't born to play around, but to actually make great records. Having a few cool songs just isn't enough.
Of course, you'd think if absolutely shit bands like Megadeth became successful, why didn't they. Maybe it's because of producing original material. It's strange, but a trained ear can sense when a band isn't a source of dark art, but rather a lover of dark art that mimics others and maybe puts in a style of their own. The aspiring new bands however are just fans of real bands, trying desperately to come up with one cool melody or riff. It's cool to praise and love Kalmah, Norther, Ensiferum and Wintersun, but placing them above COB is a bit much.