Based on 10 reviews from outlets we track. Scores run 60 to 100.
By the numbers: Scores ran from 60 (Record Collector) to 100 (The Guardian). The third best-reviewed Rock album of 2013 we've tracked.
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Guardian via Wikipediaby Dom Lawson | 5/5 | 100 | 2013 | “Former Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson covers a bewildering amount of ground on his epic, magnificent new album, writes Dom Lawson” |
| Clash via Wikipedia | 4.5/5 | 90 | 2012 | |
| Louder via Wikipediaby Polly Glass | 4.5/5 | 90 | 2013 | “A progressive masterpiece.” |
| Sputnikmusic via Wikipediaby Hernan M. Campbell | 4.2/5 | 84 | “Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) review: How much do you like '70s prog?” | |
| Q via Wikipedia | 4/5 | 80 | 2012 | |
| AllMusic via Wikipedia | 4/5 | 80 | ||
| Spectrum Culture | 4.0/5 | 80 | “[xrr rating=4.0/5]It’s so tempting to be jealous of prog-nerd Steven Wilson. As the post-rock Golden Child, he seems to have it all. It was one thing when he built Porcupine…” | |
| PopMatters | 7/10 | 70 | “When Steven Wilson released his first "official" solo album, Insurgentes, in 2008, it felt like a massive breath of fresh air. Wilson, whose multi-project” | |
| musicOMH | 3.5/5 | 70 | “Since the esteemed prog rock group Porcupine Tree, led by English musician Steven Wilson, embarked on an unspecified hiatus following the release of their” | |
| Record Collector | 3/5 | 60 | “When Steven Wilson gave us the majestic Grace For Drowning in 2011 it seemed like an unquenchable outpouring of stylistic experiments that still coalesced” |
More Rock from around 2013
Would you spin it again?
Be the first to answer. Results show once 3 listeners weigh in.
How the Breakdown works
Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59, a B+ is 88) and averaged. Grades follow the B-Side scale: A is 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 75 or higher; the Breakdown shows green at 75 and up, red below. Divisiveness asks a different question: not how many critics liked it, but how close their scores are to each other. Five critics who all give it 50 are Unanimous, even though none of them liked it. The labels run Unanimous, Broad agreement, Some debate, Divided, and Contentious. Replay rate comes from listeners, not critics: yes counts fully, a few tracks counts half, no counts zero. The gist quotes each outlet’s own summary of its review. Published is the date on the review itself, read from the outlet’s page, so you can see whether an album’s reputation came at release or years later. Scores marked est. come from reviews that publish no number. Scores marked via Wikipedia are archive ratings, mostly for older albums, taken from the “Professional ratings” box on the album’s Wikipedia page (published openly through Wikidata); each links to the original review when we can find it online, and to that Wikipedia entry when we can’t. When an outlet reviewed an album twice, years apart (often for a reissue), both scores count, each labeled with its year.
A-Side marks the critics’ top tier. An album earns it automatically, from its numbers alone: a Breakdown of 90 or higher, from at least 5 reviews, with at least 75% approval. Nobody hands it out and nobody can buy it; if new reviews pull an album below the line, it loses the badge.
Leave a Reply