Porcupine Tree – In Absentia

Same mastering and sound as the 2018 copy. Identical runouts. Only difference between my two copies is the inner sleeves which are printed o the 2018

I’ve gotta disagree with the comments that the sound of this is not good. Found a copy used for $27 today, decided to give it a try and it sounds great! Very full and rich sound with no surface noise.

I grew up listening to this band and had the privilege to watch them live as well. It’s fair to say I know the band’s sound well.

Listening to this record is an amazing sonic experience. The drums don’t sound tiny like many modern rock records, the bass is well rounded (so happy to see how Colin Edwin’s groovy basslines are finally getting the right treatment) and the guitar stands out really well. The synth/keys sit in the mix well. The vocals are upfront and centred well. Every instrument and vocal have their own space and you can hear/feel the air between them.

The soundstage of the vinyl is audiophile grade in my humble opinion. You can hear light compression during the loud ages but that is not at all bothersome.

Ordered 3 times. All records had a slight warp, thankfully the one I settled on didn’t seem to affect the playback. Pretty happy with the sound, although I prefer the digital () remaster over the LP.

This is one of my favorite albums of all time so the disappointment was immense the first time I gave this a spin. It is utterly flat with almost no sound-stage; everything is just muddled together in the mids. No brightness to speak of. Muddy when things get heavy. A few spins later and my opinion hasn't changed.

Very good modern prog album. Occasionally singer- songwriter pop like, mostly Pink Floydish with a more than functional dose of hard rock. This pressing is soundwise oke, vinyl is silent, but both of my records are wobbled and have no protective innersleeves. Since the price setting of these records I expected a better overall quality. The cover however is nice.

I just recieved this and it came with plain paper sleeves. Anyone else have this issue? The notes here says they are coated which I would assume has some kind of poly lining?

Pressing - 5/5
My copy is flawless. After seeing some comments about quality control, it sounds like I got one of the good ones. Nice, heavy vinyl, perfectly flat, perfectly center, and very little surface noise / almost no artifacts.

Mastering - 4.5/5
It's mostly excellent. Really nice dynamics, great soundstage - it's very wide sounding. But, it does have a touch of muddiness in certain places when it gets heavy - noticed it in particular on the outro of The Creator Has A Masterpiece. But, the quieter songs sound incredible, so it makes me think the muddiness is inherent in the recording. I don't have another lossless version to compare it to, but hard to imagine there's a lot more to be gained by a better master.

Packaging - 5/5
Nice gatefold, records came nice and clean in poly lined sleeves. No complaints!

Overall - 5/5
Not much to criticize here, this is a phenomenal album and Stephen Wilson's attention to detail is very clear in the mastering job. About as much of a "how the artist intended it" sound as you're ever going to get, mastered by the artist himself.

Definitely a repress of the 2018 version. Really good sounding record with nice dynamics. Surprisingly, I didn't hear any problems which would've indicated poor QC. Having listened to the 2021 Deadwing release before this, I expected some distortion and clicks/pops but this was 100% clean!

Disappointing dynamics compared to the original album on CD, from 2002. I have both, and the CD just kicks more air than the LP. Makes me curious how it compares to the K-Scope reissue on vinyl, from 2018.