Porcupine Tree – Fear Of A Blank Planet

Yeah this isn't a good pressing. Not sure what happened with the mastering here, it has no depth, lacks mid range and punch and sounds shrill, especially the higher frequencies are really harsh. My copy also has noticeable surface noise throughout.

There's no doubt the presentation is great here, with the slipcase, the gatefold and the inner sleeves made of quality matte cardstock. My copy that I bought from Tonefloat back then also came with an oversized Tonefloat postcard with the artwork of the poster on the front.

I wish they'd put similar care into the sound, which seems like an afterthought here... This is only worth the money if you want this as a collector's piece, if you care about the sound I recommend getting a remastered version (any pressing from 2016 or later), which isn't perfect either, but still much better.

It's a real shame the tonefloat pressings sound bad, because not only does the record look amazing with it's marbled color mixture, but the record's surface noise is nice and silent which is what the kscope pressings lack. The book and poster are great as well as how well made the record jacket is, however I recommend buying one that has been opened, because I bought mine mint and not only does the record jacket have seem splits, but the inner record sleeves have seem splits too, which was expected since it's been sealed for well over a decade.