U.S. pop review site Metacritic gives highest acclaim to new BTS album

/사진=방탄소년단 ‘Black Swan’ 뮤직비디오 캡처 (빅히트엔터테인먼트 유튜브)

Metacritic, an American pop review compiler, has given the latest album by K-pop super band BTS its highest rating of “universal acclaim,” its website showed Thursday.

According to the rating result posted on the website of Metacritic, which aggregates media reviews of films, TV shows and albums, “Map of the Soul: 7″ was rated “universal acclaim” with 82 points out of 100.

The title is the highest of a five-stage rating system that starts from “overwhelming dislike” at the bottom and moves through “generally unfavorable reviews,” “mixed or average reviews” and “generally favorable reviews” to “universal acclaim.”

The latest result is based on album reviews by 12 media outlets.

Among them is U.S. magazine Variety, which said, “Taut and primal, ’7′ is a kind of self-referential homage. … Each get solo turns to shine here, (but) their collective work is what stands out.”

Pop magazine Rolling Stone said, “‘Map of the Soul: 7′ is their most smashing album yet, showing off their mastery of different pop styles from rap bangers to slow-dance ballads to post-Swedish electro-disco to prog-style philosophizing.”

The album, released on Feb. 21, topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for this week and its lead track, “ON,” debuted at No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart.

Also on Thursday, BTS unveiled a video for “Black Swan,” a track from the new album.