34 minutes ago, Vixen Eyes said:

If there's another alt version for vinyl I might get it eventually so I have one variant in a different format.

There is this version: https://www.hhv.de/en-BO/records/item/florence-the-machine-everybody-scream-indie-exclusive-red-marbled-vinyl-edition-1304880

8 hours ago, ahauntingnearu said:

??

 

7 hours ago, Ichinaru19 said:

You're gonna have to specify because...?

I asked, "Which way should I go?"
Through cigarette-smoke they said
"Chile, how would we know?"

 

1 hour ago, HonourableVomit said:

 

I asked, "Which way should I go?"
Through cigarette-smoke they said
"Chile, how would we know?"

 

girl it's 'child' skdjfk

OK, I'm sending this out in the world for exactly 0 people to care or read, but I've been meaning to get my detailed thoughts written down for two weeks; so I'm jotting down everything I think real-time as I listen

 

1. Everybody Scream
   • I love the choir in the intro and outro but do wish it was more of Florence's vocals.
   • I loved this song from the first listen and it literally gets better and better with each listen. Didn't expect this to be one of my favorites of hers but it has easily entered my top . . 20?
   • People were worried she was treaded too much familiar territory with this, but though she's talked about this topic, it hasn't quite been put into lyrics/song. I think it's the perfect intro, sonically/vibe-wise, as well as conceptually. It introduces everything she's talking about (especially the list at the end) and is almost like putting a spell on the listener. Like "here you go, are you actually ready for the show to begin? Get ready!"
   • The chorus is so catchy and I love that she sings it each time (a) with different lyrics + (b) on different notes. I just wish the gorg harmonies were more prominent
   • I only recently realized she says "come FOR" not "TO you". creepy queen
   • Using "ragged" twice within 15 seconds of each other is inexcusable - MAMA!
   • "shaking my gold like a tambourine" is sung so sexy; I move my hips, oh yes
   • the second "screaming my name" harmony scratches an itch for me
   • the outro absolutely gags me. IK some people think it's too literally but it's literally EVERYTHING the album is about. it's so good, and the word play!!
2. One Of The Greats
   • This has grown on me immensely. I liked and appreciated it immediately but didn't think it was the right song for the second release, nor second track in the listing. Never doubt Florence, I was reminded 
   • The lyrics are just so descriptive. Like so much territory is covered in this song and it's so thought-provoking. Her songs don't mean just one thing like so many other simply written songs by other artists (no shade). She's complex and even her more straightforward songs have so much depth.
   • I don't the "streetlights bursting"? I think she mentioned she had an idea of a woman walking down the street, but IDK it's weird to make it so prominently repeated? Random to me
   • IK some of the lyrics are tongue and cheek or meant to be funny; the only one that bothers me is the "sexy" part. It's just a little heavy-handed to me Lol
   • "That I could be great being helped up" I always think the pause is a mistake Lol 
   • The '10 other women' lyric slaps so hard; like, wordy yes, but wow.
   • This is the first of several songs I'll say that HBHBHB girlies really won; like how is this not VS&S' angrier sister. Maybe a few other songs I'm not thinking about rn . . like the modern, matured version of KWAF, GWOE, and a few other rockier old unreleased, too. I love how she always changes up her sound but always references back to early sounds - so that you're never too bored of her direction but it's so cohesive altogether.
   • The outro shocked me; the strings sound like daggers at parts - it's SO good.
3. Witch Dance
   • Bedroom Hymns' naughtier, older sister - IKTR
   • A modern-day, witchier Bohemian Rhapsody, some could argue!
   • The choruses are giving VOCALS. The spoken word bit is great, too. This gagged me on my first listen - I just love
   • The lyrics are so weird Lol only Florence...
   • The belting in the second chorus .. I go back and forth between loving it, and also thinking she should have done the vocal take again? It's not quite GREAT to me, IDK?
   • I'm so happy the 'clearing full of wailing and keening' she teased made it to a song; it's so poetic, and maybe my favorite set of lyrics across the alboom. The harp in this part, too, is so good.
   • AND I MET EVERY MONSTER! ugh this song just keeps growing.. I'd have added a higher-up belted harmony when she gets to this, though.
   • Overall, such a fun song that just keeps growing. I need a video - oh, yes, I do! 
4. Sympathy Magic
   • She premiered this live at her intimate NYC interview, and I cried. This song hits pretty hard for where I am in life right now and I can't quite listen without getting emotional.
   • I wish she'd kept the choir and prominent bg vocals from live performances in the studio version? It's truly a bummer
   • Anyway this song is MASSIVE, one of her biggest ever? Oh, Mr. Daniel, thank you. Like when 'aliiiiiiiive' comes in has me genuinely shook. I think her songs now have fewer, larger loud peaks... whereas on Ceremonials there's so much overwhelm and nonstop 'bigness'. I know people miss the hugeness of her choruses, but I think she refined her songs in the last three albums so that most of them have a big peak (vs. consistently big)
   • 'la da da da da da' is underratedly incredible Lol
   • The synths towards the end really help this song get even bigger than I thought it could. 
5. Perfume and Milk
   • I liked this song the first listen but would have put it in my bottom 2 . . and now it might be in my top 2? The melody is infectious and I'd argue this has some of her career-best vocals. And the folk sound I didn't necessarily want her to explore, but now I am so happy she did/
   • OK HBHBHB reference #2: if you like L&L, you LOVE this song; there is no exception to that statement. Just . . incredible
   • I will say the lyrics get a little heavy-handed, IDK How to word it but at times I feel like she's just listing things vs. actually something. But only at a few times, it's not bad at all
   • This is such a broody, autumnal song 
   • 'clothes of silk and satin' and the lyrics after . . she changes the melody there and the way she does is incredible
   • The chorus harmony and melody is so good. The growth this song has without getting unnecessarily large is so amazing?
   • 'healing is slow it comes and it goes'  
6. Buckle
   • Didn't expect this song to become my #1, but here we are? It's so simple but I tend to adore her simple, less bombastic songs?
   • The lyrics hit so hard for someone in a long-term relation that is (naturally) imperfect. I'd call out my favorites but it's honestly just so many. the "therapy and money" one is fantastic, though; she's just so raw, honest and clever so often. Oh and "too old for this" "Over this" . . like . ..  I just..
   • Another HBHBHB callback but this sounds like one of her WKOM/STW/SJ acoustic performances she did a few times. Does anyone know what I'm talking?
   • The backing vocals help this song grow ridiculously well; they're just so, so good; I can't get over it.
7. Kraken
   • She's so weird LMAO
   • Parts remind me of beginning of Cassandra!
   • If you'd told me Dave did one song on this I would have known it'd be this one. It gives Mermaids x Daffodil to me, similar vibe and melody in places
   • Clever concept, anyway - like I love she doesn't write just the same song over and over again - about the song things - like some artists!
   • The instrumental chorus (I guess?) is so great. I think it starts so high, though and doesn't have anywhere else quite to go.. not a big deal
   • 'tentacles so tender' makes me cringe a little bit. this song gets a liiiiiittle too silly for me Lol but I really like it
   • 'one unblinking eye' she threw GWOE-sters a one, I just know it
8. The Old Religion
   • First seconds I always think The Rush by Aly and AJ skfjds
   • Ceremonials stans unite
   • 'am i would so tightly, i hardly even breathe' - just kill me now
   • The strings in the back that keeping growing, and the huge ass drums in the chorus get me. This song is so melodramatic and I absolutely love it
   • "and scratch at the door of HEAVUUUUHHNNNN" is my favorite vocal moment on the album, hands down
   • Separately, the chamber version is immaculate. I think her vocals on this studio version get a liiiittle watery, but the chamber version's are just crystal clear.
9. Drink Deep
   • OK creepy intro?
   • This is probs my second least favorite song - and I still really like it, which is a testament to how much i like the album - but one's definitely a little weird and over-the-top with the lyrics? It's just a little dense, unnecessarily so - for me. Very Ceremonials, too, though - like if Flo did Seven Devils in 2025 LOL
   • So the choruses . . I don't like the melody, and I've gone from disliking it to kind of liking it to disliking it again to being OK with it? It's just a little lazy and awkward for me. At the very least I wish she'd jumped the octave and/or added an extra harmony on it. But as it stands it's just a little weird and tryhard-weird for me.
   • Still really like the song and find it interesting. The choir - esp the outro - is fantastic. The growth in that final chorus to the end is insane 
   • I have to wonder if alcohol plays into this at ALL!  Like the description in verse 2 seems like someone drinking. IDK, maybe too literally for this metaphorical song I guess.
   • Overall, not my favorite song, but it's so cool and important for the album and I'm so happy we have it. More collabs with Danny would be very interesting to see what they could do next. 
10. Music by Men
    • This reminds me of something . . I guess very straightforward folk/acoustic song so could remind me of a million things, but def Florence at her least 'interesting' and most straightforward in a while
    • Really interesting callouts to a long-term, complicated relationship.
    • The chorus is so buttoned-up; she either makes really non-melodic things, or makes PERFECT melodies.. kinda no in between with her lmao just so good tho
    • I sound stupid.. but I don't quite understand why MBM is the title. I can speculate but it still just doesn't quite fit what this song is about to me; like it seems like the title was chosen to stand out / make noise, vs. being 'the right title'? IDK. Plz someone clock me if I'm missing something.
    • The strings definitely give folkmore, not distractingly so, but just like Girls Against God reminded me too much of Jack/Norman, this reminds me too much of Taylor/Aaron's sound. Not a huge deal, but normal Florence is pretty unique in sound and doesn't lean too far into other artists' or producers' sounds? Not a big deal.
    • 'breaking my bones, 4 out of 5' lyric is so badass
    • 'let me put out a record and not have it ruin my life' and the prayers at the end kind of accomplish what she was trying to do with And Love, so much better / more interestingly? Like this could have been the closer... But more on that later
11. You Can Have It All
    • This reminds me of something and I just can't figure it out. 
    • This is another where I think she leans too much into the metaphor / witchiness, and could have benefitted from some more direct, straightforward personal lyrics instead. Just my opinion i guess. EDIT: like the apple slice thing? What?
    • 'piece of flesh, million pounds, am i woman now' LIKE OMG
    • The production in the chorus is one of the finest parts on the album. This song is giving 100 Years x Covered In Blood lovechild
    • The 'dug a hole middle part' is a little heavy-handed for me, plus she repeats the same thing .. maybe didn't need to? The wind instruments here, though, are so cool/unique
    • Screaming leading into the second chorus has me SHOOKETH! omfg her belting here, like ma'am you still got it. I need more of this Ceremonials-esque PLZZZZ
    • I would have loved an instrumental outro from this point onward a la WTWGM. Like this song didn't need to be only 4 minutes - goes so quickly
12. And Love
    • So, definitely my least favorite - which is shocking, cuz No Choir is arguably my favorite on HAH? I just think it's so clear she only wrote this song to get the 'positive prescience' thing out of her system. Not undermining her at all, but it doesn't seem like a non-artificial thing, but very much a contrived thing to end on - which she all but admitted to. No big deal, I really like it (and most important, it's basically a full song, AKA No interludes on this album! )
    • The harp is gorg tho. I just don't think this song actually added anything that MBM didn't; it's just very pretty but I'll never listen on its own /outside of full-album listens. 

 

All-in-all, this album is absolutely NOT Florence on autopilot, but I could see why some could think so. We're just so lucky to have someone who consistently shares their pain and puts those difficulties into song for us, so raw, on an album. We don't deserve it, nor do we deserve her. I wouldn't put ES in my top 3, but I certainly can't figure out where it ranks yet. It'll keep me so fed for years, though; soooo, so much depth and complexity to everything here. I can't stress enough how refreshing it is to have her write about such interesting, unique things that other artists don't generally. My thoughts are beyond provoked!

 

Finally, my song ranking as of now (could very easily change LOL):

B

ES

SM

TOR

PAM

YCHIA

WD

K

MBM

OOTG (I appreciate ha so much tho)

DD

AL

yeah I switched so hard on the title track. As a single package it didn't really do much for me because it was next to Dance Fever in my mind but it's a fantastic bridge now knowing that the rest of the album is not harping on the same point.

Kraken
And Love
Music By Men
Everybody Scream
Perfume and Milk
One of the Greats
Sympathy Magic
Buckle
You Can Have It All
The Old Religion 
Witch Dance

Drink Deep

I've been pleasantly surprised at the way this has grown on me. The Old Religion, You Can Have It All, and Sympathy Magic are immediately added to upper tier Florence for me. I've found that some of the songs I thought were most underwhelming initially like Witch Dance (though I still don't think I love the spoken second verse tbh) and Perfume and Milk have grown on me a lot. I do kind of wish Buckle had a little more kick to it (I saw the interview where she said they tried different production which intrigues me).

 

I do think at times the freeform melodies just take some getting used to but I also have moments on the album where I wish she'd let her voice go wild a bit more. Some of the choruses feel a little bit monotonous because I feel like she's restraining herself, which is interesting because there's other moments where she actually sings out a bit. Overall though, I definitely like it more than Dance Fever at this point and I don't really have any skips.

Ngl I've been waiting for my CD to listen to the album in full. Now that I have the chamber CD I'll listen to it tomorrow before work

I'm such a bad stan. I still haven't listened to it yet. Will try to this weekend.  

Just listened to it at last. I thought this was a very well made album and it feels very raw. I didn't connect to it as much as I'd like to on first listen but maybe it will grow on me. Buckle, Kraken and The Old Religion are amazing

My ranking as of today:

 

1. One of the Greats

2. The Old Religion

3. Sympathy Magic

4. Buckle

5. Perfume and Milk

6. You can have it all

7. Music by Men

8. Everybody Scream

9. Kraken

10. Witch dance

11. Drink Deep

12. And Love

 

However, Buckle is trying so hard to force itself into a number 1 spot. It's SO infectious I can't get it out of my head

Spotify Weekly Albums Chart

Global: #88 (NEW)

United Kingdom: #14 (NEW)

United States: #37 (NEW)
Austria: #24 (NEW)
Ireland: #26 (NEW)
Germany: #44 (NEW)
Canada: #50 (NEW)
Belgium: #65 (NEW)
Poland: #76 (NEW)
Switzerland: #79 (NEW)
Netherlands: #80 (NEW)
Sweden: #90 (NEW)
Finland: #93 (NEW)
Romania: #103 (NEW)
Norway: #115 (NEW)
New Zealand: #131 (NEW)
Australia: #135 (NEW)
Hungary: #135 (NEW)
Czech Republic: #179 (NEW)
Slovakia: #182 (NEW)
Denmark: #189 (NEW)
Ukraine: #196 (NEW)

HBHBHB
Ceremonials
Lungs
HAH
DF

Still can't rank ES. maybe above DF or HAH, time will tell

Debuts at #1 in the UK with 31k, exact same debut as Dance Fever 

 

Album totals in the UK btw:

2,015,109 - Lungs

1,061,271 - Ceremonials

440,141 - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

165,647 - High As Hope

122,981 - Dance Fever

 

Didn't know Ceremonials surpassed 1m 

 

Drink Deep being in the bottom of so many rankings. The blasphemy.

Her first #1 in Austria: 

https://oe3.orf.at/charts/stories/oe3austriatop40longplay/

The Chamber Edition CD book is bigger than I was expecting  It's about 6.5 in × 6.5 in (16.5 cm × 16.5 cm) where a normal CD is about 5.5 in × 4.5 in (14 cm × 11.5 cm)

7 hours ago, BODERLINE said:

Drink Deep being in the bottom of so many rankings. The blasphemy.

!!! Drink Deep is serving the core of the witch theme for this album, it's so freaking good

This damn album 😭😭😭😭

 

She just sounds SO GOOD. 

I don't think I can actually rank all the songs so I'll put them in tiers

 

God Tier - Among her best: 

One of the Greats

Witch Dance 

Perfume & Milk

Kraken

Music by Men

 

S Tier:

Everybody Scream 

Sympathy Magic

Drink Deep

You Can Have It All

 

A Tier:

Buckle

The Old Religion

And Love

 

But I genuinely like every song so this is bound to change a lot 

The way Sympathy Magic is actually getting better each passing day, it might be  her top 5 songs.

Strongly suggest listening to Divinize by Rosalìa and immediately following it up with The Old Religion. A true religious experience 

On 11/7/2025 at 11:08 AM, ahauntingnearu said:

 

1. Kraken
   • She's so weird LMAO
   • Parts remind me of beginning of Cassandra!
   • If you'd told me Dave did one song on this I would have known it'd be this one. It gives Mermaids x Daffodil to me, similar vibe and melody in places
   • Clever concept, anyway - like I love she doesn't write just the same song over and over again - about the song things - like some artists!
   • The instrumental chorus (I guess?) is so great. I think it starts so high, though and doesn't have anywhere else quite to go.. not a big deal
   • 'tentacles so tender' makes me cringe a little bit. this song gets a liiiiiittle too silly for me Lol but I really like it
   • 'one unblinking eye' she threw GWOE-sters a one, I just know it

her funniest song for real  has she ever sung so explicitly about her fanny 

 

The Old Religion is one of the best songs of 2025.

On 11/5/2025 at 4:51 PM, Ichinaru19 said:

Florence serving me a GHOST signature, I can barely see it  

Customer service sent me a replacement thank god! God an extra vinyl now too out of it  (Dead at me now have 2x regular vinyls, 1x bloodwood edition vinyl, 1x chamber vinyl, 1x regular CD, and 1x chamber cd)  

Edited November 9, 2025Nov 9 by Ichinaru19