David Bowie Blackstar [Digipak]

4 stars out of 5 -- "[O]ne of the most aggressively experimental records the singer has ever made....BLACKSTAR is a ricochet of textural eccentricity and pictorial-shrapnel writing."
"[A]rt-damaged ballads on which several excellent musicians flesh out tricky time signatures and unexpected chord progressions....BLACKSTAR finds Bowie and longtime producer Tony Visconti as hungry as they ever were..."
"Like nearly all his records, this one is a fully immersive experience; trips to Bowie-land - a place where every encounter is a metaphysical hall of mirrors, all the hours are after hours, and the cult of personality has its own G-force - don't really come any other way." -- Grade: A-
"[O]ne of the most compelling and original works in a 50-plus-year career loaded with such transcendent moments."
Billboard - "BLACKSTAR is unmistakably a band record, showcasing a talented group of musicians who are comfortable navigating the songs' harmonically twisty byways....They give the record a distinctively eerie, muscular stamp."
"BLACKSTAR spins the spaceship back around and points it at the moon. Bowie's formidable record of reinventing himself with each new album remains intact."
Paste (magazine) - "He never sounds less than marvelous....BLACKSTAR's theatrical bent is what is most striking."
Pitchfork (Website) - "BLACKSTAR becomes whole with its two-song denouement, which balances out the bruises and blood with a couple of salty tears. These are essentially classic David Bowie ballads..."
Clash (Magazine) - "BLACKSTAR may well be his final gift to us mere mortals, but it's an incredible final chapter."