Florence + The Machine* – Ceremonials

I don't usually leave poor reviews, but in case you're on the lookout for a copy and stumble upon this variant, please stay away from it. Decent soundstage, but vocals are severely distorted all throughout the album. Whoever mastered this probably didn't bother listening to test pressing. I've had two copies of this variant and both sound the exact same. (Ortofon Black / Rega Fono MM MK5 / B&W DM 603 S2)

PS: I don't mean the chamber effect you might notice. The album was recorded in a church, her voice is meant to sound a bit echo-y.

Pressing sounds somewhat flat. There's so much depth to the sound of this album and this mix doesn't really capture that.

Also, it doesn't include several songs from digital releases. Although the album is in theory only 12 tracks, there are some fantastic songs on the digital version (such as "Strangeness and Charm") that aren't on here. The album comes in at 56 minutes, which is plenty of room to get the 12 tracks here on sides A-C, and then throw some of the other material on D. To be honest, I didn't even realize that some of those tracks were bonuses until today.

Received a copy of this pressing today and it has a small white "Made in Czech Republic" sticker affixed on the back of the shrink.

amazing pressing! beautiful photos inside. High quality and silent play.

I have had the original US copy which was very confusing for me to grade, since the album was the recorded with the notion of ''Loudness wars''.

I replaced my US copy with this repress (2018 - IRC 2784790) and I must say the pressing sounds wider than the original US pressing. Even though the distorted loud ages from several songs sound the same as the other pressing and the digital version. (most common example: the catharsis multilayered ending of "Shake It Off")

I believe it is hard to grade this pressing as the mastering of the original masters of this LP are quite distorted and loud. I even reading somewhere that the mixing engineer of the album was so overwhelmed with all the layers that are found in the songs.

The other difference from my previous US pressing is the packaging: the US pressing had thin paper sleeves whilst this one has thick cardboard ones. Frankly I prefer the sturdy ones of this version.

The cover artwork also has a greener/bluer tint whilst the US pressing one had a warmer tone: Florence's skin looks paler in this one, even though the rest of the palette looks exactly the same.

[Fingers crossed for a 15th anniversary boxset in 2026... I would very much love that]

Great dynamics. Great sleeve quality. Quality pressing. There are details in the drums and instruments that I have never heard before.

My copy has runouts 246051E3/A on side C and 246051E4/A on side D

Haven't heard any other pressings, but this sounds very compressed. To me it's not really enjoyable because of this, so I would avoid until there is a proper remaster.

I don’t normally expect much from Florence albums on vinyl, her albums can at times be sonically monstrous and her voice is extremly powerful and loud so her albums are probably a challenging task to put on vinyl and I am a bit more forgiving than I normally am just because it’s a lot to master for vinyl, however this one really impressed me! Compared to How Big How Blue and the deluxe edition of Lungs this is probably the best I’ve heard her sound on vinyl, lots of depth, very punchy and for the most part this sounds very clear! The presentation is stunning and it proves that a record doesn’t have to be color vinyl to be a cool release visually as the packaging is really gorgeous, and both discs on my copy have dead silent backgrounds. My only complaint is around the last few minutes of both sides on disc one there is a noticeable lack of bass and a slight drop in volume, and side D suffers from some inner groove distortion. That being said I’m really impressed with this pressing and I love it!

The pressing I have in hand is excellent. Great depth, sound stage, and clarity. Excellent bass, too!