| | Full Review | Ratings (712) |
Give your Rating |
| 4.5 superb | Tom R. CONTRIBUTOR | January 25th 17 |
An AOTY looked at me.
22 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | Black Daimon | January 25th 17 |
"Conceptual emptiness was cool to talk about, back before I knew my way around these hospitals."
12 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | transgoggle | March 20th 17 |
On a meta level, this album ups the ante on maximizing sincerity in musical expression, minimizing the barrier that is the compositional process, for this, as Phil puts it, is "barely music", it sounds like it might as well all be one-take too. In fact it's in such a direct, almost profane way of putting its sensitive (dunno how to put it but you know) subject, it's seriously discomforting at a level where i feel as though it's imposing a question on me, of whether i'm really sure i really want real authenticity in my music, to what degree at least. I'd say no, i'll take fetishism, stagecraft and artisanry tbqhwy. It's not formally uninteresting though, it's pretty much completely in Free Verse structure with the sparse music following suit dynamically. Phil's also really good with closing lines. (I'm not)
7 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | Preston | March 27th 17 |
"A classic album [...]" -SowingSeason (March 2017)
5 Bumps | Bump |
| 5.0 classic | OldCrime | March 24th 17 |
So heavy. If you thought Skeleton Tree was heartbreaking, this will leave you with nothing left.
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 5.0 classic | TheManMachine | April 28th 17 |
To write it off as excessively sad-sack or musically flagging would be missing the point; and whether you're already familiar with Phil Elverum's work or he's simply a sympathetic stranger, this arrests and lingers and troubles your guts like few other albums do. A genuine-n-recent 38-year old widower with young daughter at his side, he candidly captures a morbid moment in time; their stark shift together into a cruel and changing world. And a mumbler he is no longer, hence the mentions of dust-filled jars+fridge pics replacing a palpable person and gifts from beyond the grave and transforming dying faces being more explicit than anyone should ever hope for. The result of course is so depressing it's damn near unenjoyable -- but its boldly raw bareness is painfully powerful and all-too-befitting given the sitch, not to mention stays far far away from any form of prettying up, uglying up, or melodrama. Over the top yet so not, mechanical-n-slight percussion cuz how could it not be, humble artist going from loneliness-as-cool-concept to loneliness-as-absurdly-fucked-reality: it feels haunted with zero special effects, makes you face mortality with no buffer of beaut. "Death is real", and so is this. And if you'll allow me some humor here, out of his broad discography this may be his most 'eerie' album yet -- his most important, too.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.5 superb | austin01142 | February 27th 17 |
I'm genuinely not emotionally ready for this album, and I don't think I've EVER said that from an album's pre-release songs. I just want to give Phil a big hug  rHowever as someone who enjoys emotionally demolishing themself with the saddest music imaginable I can't help but be count down the days until this gets released
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.5 superb | BillyBrill | December 22nd 21 |
If I wrote reviews I would write one for this. No music or any art has ever made me cry like this. This is not sophisticated lyricism or complex music, this is just raw emotion condensed into 41 minutes that will tear you up. This is real, and knowing that makes me angry to experience this, and cry as if I could ever understand what Phil is going through, so I both respect and hate this piece of art for existing, and for what it did to me emotionally. It is incredible, but I will be hard pressed to revisit it.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 5.0 classic | helti | March 5th 18 |
A crow looked at me is a very distinctive piece of art, but unlike most music, it's quite the
opposite of being a form of enjoyment. rIn fact it is uniquely tragic and depressing, due to the
way each instrument is played for the truly sad state of affairs that is the death of one's wife.
Mount Eerie, or Phil Elverum has achieved in creating a true piece of tragedy, and a tragedy it
is, it is unfortunate that we would even be rating this album, because it's deserving of so much
more than a casual number on an arbitrary scoring system.rEach track is filled with the sense of
sadness, because of how recently the real life events had happened when Phil first created these
songs. The instrumentals are both very disheartened and disheartening, the former usually would
negatively impact the album, but it is not the case because of how Phil, god rest his soul,
conveys his misery and sadness through his singing and playing. The sometimes disoriented way the
lyrics are put together really displays a work of sorrow and mourning, as they are directly
displaying where it hurts but asking many different existential questions. There are times when
you can hear sadness in Phil's voice, for example on the track My chasm, where at the end his
voice cracks as he sings "death is real." It is by far one of the most powerful moments on the
album in my opinion, and makes me cry every single time.rI have shed many tears upon this album,
and I will shed many more.rI'm so sorry for your loss, Phil, I wish there was something I, a
stranger, could do for you.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.0 poor | I Am Saruman, The Multicoloured | April 14th 17 |
It reminds me of Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut". Not because this album has anything progressive in it, but because the concept is exactly the same. 1 hour of musical self-therapy, 14,99? for the ones who'd like to assist it. Probably a reedeming exercice for the artist itself, that should have remained secret, as it's a quite terrible attempt as an album.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | dihstyle69 | April 2nd 17 |
sonically, there's nothing here that will make you want to comeback to it, and the same thing can obviously be sad about the content of the album, which is devastating and profoundly sad to say the least. however, this isn't the type of album you keep coming back to multiple timea, despite how good it is. it's an experience, it belongs to a moment during life, and you come back to that experience when you feel like tou should. 4
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 5.0 classic | valrus | March 5th 24 |
it's reasonable not to like or want to listen to the kind of thing this is, but for what it is, it's perfect
Bump |
| 4.5 superb | impeachnixon | January 17th 23 |
i want to listen to this in full again before i rate it but i don't think i can emotionally take that. sobbing from start to finish. spotify please stop trying to play real death every time my playlist ends and goes to radio. amazing.
Bump |
| 5.0 classic | imyourzer0 | May 7th 22 |
A near perfect album. One of the masterpieces that is only generated from the lowest of lows. Hope you're doing okay, Phil. One of the two albums that genuinely made me cry, but this one was every track. Emotionally destructive while being musically fantastic and intriguing is quite a feat.
Bump |
| 4.5 superb | Gene Gol CONTRIBUTOR | February 22nd 22 |
good lord whoa
Bump |
| 5.0 classic | PrincyAli | July 18th 21 |
This record is not entertainment and not for the faint of heart. Not officially a perfect 5 because it's not a benchmark album, but I dare you to complain about this project. 4.9/5 Favs: All of them.
Bump |
| 0.0 | 2ool | June 8th 19 |
how does one rate this
Bump |
| 5.0 classic | MrTonytheGamer | May 23rd 19 |
This album's emotional premise elicits pure pain out of the listener as we hear of Phil's coping
with his wife's death. The events that Phil describe here are told with such painstaking detail,
to the point where these events are able to start haunting the listener, as they feel like they
were there, just as helpless and lost as Phil was in the moment. This album is painful to listen
to, but I think that is a strength, not a weakness. Phil is just sharing tales and stories about
him and his wife, and beckons listeners to hear his stories, what they do with these stories is
not his choice to make. I listened, and I can say that this album is something special when I can
feel such a range of emotions for people I had never even heard of prior to this release. Phil,
may you and your wife find peace.
Bump |
| 5.0 classic | iGuter | April 4th 18 |
Painful, tragic, and heartbreaking; it's hard listening to the accounts of a grieving, widower and father. But Phil Elverum bares it all here beautifully with sincerity and lyrics that will have you stop in your tracks.
Bump |
| 5.0 classic | AnOrange | March 17th 18 |
Never had an album touch me so intensely. I cry literally everytime a song from this album comes on my playlist.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | kinderfall1 | April 5th 17 |
The songs read like pages torn out of Elverum's tear-stained diary; a fact that makes the project feel less like a well-orchestrated emotional appeal and more like the strewn-together product of one man's grief. A Crow Looked At Me's thematic emphasis on the realness of death and its tangible influence on one's life makes for one of the most compelling releases of 2017. The music is too sleepy and too fleeting to stack up against Phil's most impacting releases, but it's not designed to. Rather, it is a nuanced, subtle, intimate, and reflective album that exists solely as the expression of an artist coping with his loss.
Bump |
| 5.0 classic | Lyandr | January 25th 17 |
Oh boy. He can't even sing and play straight. This is going to be even more intimate than Dawn
PS: I don't like the cover though
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | gagnonov | November 20th 24 |
| 4.0 excellent | lurxy | April 13th 24 |
| 3.5 great | LudJ | April 2nd 24 |
| 3.0 good | spur55 | February 7th 24 |
| 4.0 excellent | doofy | January 9th 24 |
| 3.5 great | Spec | September 26th 23 |
| 4.5 superb | Bren80 | September 25th 23 |
| 3.5 great | ariich | August 14th 23 |
| 4.5 superb | Brabiz | June 10th 23 |
| 4.5 superb | FunJan | March 1st 23 |
| 3.5 great | Illume | January 26th 23 |
| 3.5 great | Timmy | January 18th 23 |
| 1.0 awful | memnite | November 14th 22 |
| 2.0 poor | J | August 17th 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | Get Low | August 6th 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | Oobaloo | April 28th 22 |
| 4.5 superb | eureka | March 8th 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | altfunk | March 5th 22 |
| 3.0 good | toim0 | February 12th 22 |
| 2.0 poor | tellah | January 30th 22 |
| 4.5 superb | Pvzuzu | January 13th 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | Tb1114 | April 26th 21 |
| 3.5 great | Joseph | April 5th 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | Jerbzz | February 14th 21 |
| 5.0 classic | random | January 29th 21 |
| 5.0 classic | MmJj | January 9th 21 |
| 4.5 superb | Scryxer | December 18th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | evolve9 | August 26th 20 |
| 3.5 great | Halez | August 25th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | mrend55 | August 18th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | Sinews | May 26th 20 |
| 4.5 superb | Sowing STAFF | May 24th 20 |
| 1.5 very poor | Trundle | March 25th 20 |
| 5.0 classic | Musings | February 18th 20 |
| 3.5 great | junyi15 | December 24th 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | Skidz | November 25th 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | Kiran EMERITUS | November 23rd 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | Flomink | October 1st 19 |
| 4.5 superb | Moge | September 11th 19 |
| 5.0 classic | LRS94 | September 6th 19 |
| 5.0 classic | john | August 26th 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | ian b | July 17th 19 |
| 4.5 superb | Ben | July 10th 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | wojodta | March 20th 19 |
| 4.5 superb | Josh | March 14th 19 |
| 4.5 superb | Josh F. | December 31st 18 |
| 4.5 superb | luci | December 27th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | Mathias STAFF | December 8th 18 |
| 4.5 superb | Teo | November 12th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | Respawn | September 21st 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | nolanzz | August 12th 18 |
| 3.5 great | FelkFg | August 9th 18 |
| 5.0 classic | Yeet | July 17th 18 |
| 4.5 superb | Gmsod | June 2nd 18 |
| 4.5 superb | Meuric | April 7th 18 |
| 5.0 classic | jer | April 2nd 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | eckoh | March 27th 18 |
| 4.5 superb | Sam C. | March 26th 18 |
| 3.5 great | Macck | March 24th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | Phate72 | March 22nd 18 |
| 3.0 good | Skoop | March 9th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | Javier | March 8th 18 |
| 4.5 superb | xuewen | March 6th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | misha | March 2nd 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | aroyp | February 17th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | JS19 | February 9th 18 |
| 4.5 superb | Filas | January 19th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | Behexen | January 16th 18 |
| 4.5 superb | furpa | January 12th 18 |
| 5.0 classic | Maximo | January 9th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | YAAAOOO | January 9th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | A.R.O. STAFF | January 6th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | mrfixit | January 2nd 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | Martvyk | December 24th 17 |
| 1.5 very poor | Dan H. EMERITUS | December 24th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | verypsb | December 16th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Risodo | December 14th 17 |
| 5.0 classic | P0laris | December 13th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | RAGG | December 12th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Sithese | December 11th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Ulshad | December 6th 17 |
| 2.5 average | Rdv | December 3rd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | rid | November 21st 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | espnil | November 13th 17 |
| 1.5 very poor | dosia | November 13th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | doqtor | November 12th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Pangea | October 26th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Lassie | October 18th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Henry | October 16th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Djang0 | October 6th 17 |
| 3.0 good | Juanpa | September 28th 17 |
| 5.0 classic | tthehoe | September 22nd 17 |
| 5.0 classic | bSmith | September 18th 17 |
| 3.5 great | YayoG1 | September 2nd 17 |
| 2.5 average | wangz | August 31st 17 |
| 3.0 good | Gueero | August 27th 17 |
| 3.5 great | ckssr1 | August 6th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Prole | August 4th 17 |
| 2.0 poor | JJKeys | August 3rd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | bentl | July 31st 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Honza | July 9th 17 |
| 2.0 poor | Steev | July 4th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | elioto | June 26th 17 |
| 5.0 classic | ab1897 | June 1st 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Thane | May 15th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | wg98 | May 15th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Greem | May 11th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | tidal | May 6th 17 |
| 3.0 good | PaabL | April 28th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Zeta | April 27th 17 |
| 2.0 poor | Pon EMERITUS | April 23rd 17 |
| 2.5 average | Hyndez | April 21st 17 |
| 4.5 superb | tyler | April 13th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Jade | April 9th 17 |
| 3.5 great | jmh886 | April 7th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Smeg | April 4th 17 |
| 3.5 great | Nrap | April 3rd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | mikep87 | April 2nd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Rail | April 2nd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Spluger | April 2nd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | sncold | April 1st 17 |
| 5.0 classic | TanMan | March 31st 17 |
| 3.5 great | Trebor. EMERITUS | March 31st 17 |
| 5.0 classic | TwigTW | March 31st 17 |
| 4.5 superb | ziroth | March 31st 17 |
| 4.4 superb | Irving EMERITUS | March 29th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | JWT155 | March 28th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | jesper STAFF | March 27th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Arctick | March 27th 17 |
| 5.0 classic | Wadlez | March 27th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | gilly | March 27th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Wepeel | March 26th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Jordan M. EMERITUS | March 26th 17 |
| 1.0 awful | rc239 | March 26th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Yotimi | March 25th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Corney | March 25th 17 |
| 1.5 very poor | NBA | March 24th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | BoJean | March 23rd 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Veldin | March 22nd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | anat CONTRIBUTOR | March 20th 17 |
| 2.0 poor | Piglet | March 19th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Rowan5215 EMERITUS | March 19th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | adr | March 18th 17 |
| 2.5 average | ian b. | March 17th 17 |
| 5.0 classic | ti0n | March 17th 17 |
| 3.5 great | Runeii | March 17th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Jots EMERITUS | March 16th 17 |
| |
Give Your Opinion on A Crow Looked at Me
|
