A Black Mile To The Surface
by Manchester Orchestra

A Black Mile To The Surface by Manchester Orchestra
Year: 2017
Release date: 2017-07-28
Overall rank: 4,000th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 71 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2017 (74th)
Award Top albums of the 2010s (708th)
Award Best albums of all time (4,000th)

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Manchester Orchestra bestography

A Black Mile To The Surface is ranked 2nd best out of 9 albums by Manchester Orchestra on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Manchester Orchestra is Mean Everything To Nothing which is ranked number 3222 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 467.

Manchester Orchestra album bestography « Higher ranked (4,000th)
A Black Mile To The Surface
This album (4,000th)
A Black Mile To The Surface
Lower ranked (4,002nd) »
The Million Masks Of God

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Jun
03
Wed
Andy Hull (Of Manchester Orchestra) with Special Guest Brother Bird
Mr Smalls Theatre, Millvale, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 

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A Black Mile To The Surface rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 4,000th | 2010s rank: 708th | 2017 rank: 74th
Filter Filter
Sort Sort by
YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 Patman360Top 100 Music Albums of 201738/1003
2026 AAL2014Top 55 Music Albums of 20174/555
2026asimpkinsTop 73 Music Albums of 201741/732
2026AledJamesTop 100 Greatest Music Albums71/10030
2026 RasmVMy 100 most listened albums in 202538/100 -
2026jonny5244Top 30 Music Albums of 201718/302
2026sunnydhammTop 46 Music Albums of 201735/461
2026jlsfourthTop 100 Music Albums of the 2010s52/10010
2025 HelsinkiSnorkelTop 86 Music Albums of 201722/864
2025AledJamesTop 100 Music Albums of the 2010s40/10012
2025AledJamesTop 50 Music Albums of 20178/504
2025rfowlerTop 50 Greatest Music Albums39/5023
2025stangetzawayTop 32 Music Albums of 201727/321
2025 IgtonumamaTop 100 Music Albums of 201795/1000
2025 AAL2014Top 100 Music Albums of the 2010s52/10010
2025 MilhaudTop 100 Music Albums of the 2010s10/10018
2025 RasmVMy 100 most listened albums in 202344/100 -
2025jlsfourthTop 10 Music Albums of 20176/103
2025 RockyRaccoonTop 100 Music Albums of 201714/1004
2025 RasmVMy 100 most listened albums in 202437/100 -
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 66
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 361
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

A Black Mile To The Surface collection

A Black Mile To The Surface ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 71 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 71 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
50/100
 
03/01/2026 22:06 cicadelic  Ratings distribution  12,12073/100
 
45/100
 
01/17/2026 05:34 Herdandhokies  Ratings distribution  35355/100
 
15/100
 
01/10/2026 04:29 Proto  Ratings distribution  4,10933/100
 
90/100
 
12/19/2025 19:59 vanmcman  Ratings distribution  4691/100
 
90/100
 
07/19/2025 08:16 Milhaud  Ratings distribution  1,85370/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 6% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.6/100, a mean average of 74.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.3.

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A Black Mile To The Surface favourites

Showing all 4 members who have added this album as a favourite

A Black Mile To The Surface comments

Showing all 5 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
85/100
From 02/06/2020 21:13 | #247543
I loved I'm Like a Virgin, liked Mean Everything to Nothing quite a bit, but then they lost me for awhile. This is their first album since METN that I've liked. There's a bunch of good tracks here that stand up to anything on the first two albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 08/10/2018 16:48 | #219486
I do like this album, but I feel as if it leaves a little to be desired compared to past Manchester albums. I can't help but feel it is a little one dimensional and over-produced. For the most part the songs are there and there are a number of great moments scattered throughout but a lot of the message of the record for me is buried in reverb and studio effects.

Not bad by any means but not close to Andy and company's best work.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 04/09/2018 16:48 | #212589
My first listen to a Manchester Orchestra album as well, and I really like it. All songs are good, and the transitions from The Alien-The Sunshine-The Grocery are just beautiful. Great album. one of the best of 2017 in my opinion, and very underrated.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 09/18/2017 06:12 | #198176
This is my first MO album experience and I like it, its IMO one of my favorites for 2017 . It's got some really solid songs in there along with a couple of meh moments as well . I recommend this album & cant wait to explore their back catalogue. Nice one MO !
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
55/100
From 07/29/2017 18:23 | #195133
Really cool album. It's a step in the direction of "Hope" as a opposed to "Cope," which while I prefer the variety of sounds, emotions and dynamics captured in Mean Everything To Nothing and Simple Math, it's still a very interesting album and I also think that following in the quieter direction of Hope is better for the band and fits in better with the late 2010s than the heavier Cope. Tracks 5-7 flow straight from one into the next with the same beat/chord progression as some sort of trilogy and it's awesome. Track 7, The Grocery, brings it to a sort of triumphant finish, and I think it's probably the best song on the album, up there with Lead SD.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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