STARSET: All Albums Ranked
If there was ever a band that could be described as cinematic, it would, hands down, be STARSET. With an intricate series of dystopian lore told through music videos, tours, books, and, of course, the songs themselves, lead singer and self-proclaimed ‘nerd’ Dustin Bates has crafted a truly special project that genuinely is out of this world. And with a collaboration with video game Arknights confirming a new track for 2026, not to mention a new book and elusive sixth album on the horizon, there is no better time to dive into the world of THE STARSET SOCIETY. Check out this playlist of fan favourites and have your say in the comments!
STARSET do not have a ‘worst’ album, and to call Transmissions their worst album just feels wrong. It is, however, perhaps their least stunning record, missing a big wow-factor to make it perfect. Despite this, the album has a lot to say, and the hooks of the songs will make you listen.
The opening track, First Light, welcomes you for the first time to the mind of Dustin Bates and the world of PROX, detailing the story of the transmission sent back in time that the concept album revolves around, an adventure later adapted into Dustin’s first book, aptly named “The PROX transmissions”. This carries us smoothly into Down With The Fallen, which features one of very few heavy moments of the album with the violent chant, “This Is WAR!” in the breakdown. The album sounds phenomenal too, thanks to Dustin’s understanding of musical production from his previous band Downplay. Each song gloriously segways into the next through soaring instrumentals, moving through some of STARSET’s best songs like the hauntingly beautiful Dark On Me, and the band’s most popular track, My Demons.
But it is these interlude sections that are the biggest issue of the album. The majority of tracks end with talking, further explaining the storyline surrounding the record, and it disrupts the flow of the album entirely. The songs that suffer the most are Carnivore and It Has Begun, two powerful tracks that just end in voice notes that extend the already long tracks. There are some interesting motifs behind the messages, but they aren’t enough to make these sections a necessary part of the listening experience.
Overall, the album is glorious. Putting it in last place does feel cruel, but when every STARSET record is of such an impressive quality, Transmissions simply doesn’t do enough to beat the tough competition.
Standout Tracks: ‘My Demons’, ‘Down With The Fallen’, ‘Carnivore’
SILOS is a weird album, with a debate surrounding it as to whether it counts as an album at all. The release structure was undoubtably questionable, with eight of the ten full length tracks thrown out as singles, mixed with six previously unheard interludes. It has since been speculated that this is not the legendary fifth album Dustin has been hinting at since the release of HORIZONS, but rather a placeholder record weaving the singles into an admittedly jumbled story.
That being said, there is a lot to praise here. The opening track, praesens, builds up the suspense with a reoccurring motif that features in several other interludes, and the album sonically explodes with DEGENERATE, its monumental riff promising that this is STARSET at their absolute heaviest. The title track follows, giving us Dustin at his angriest in the line, “BURN, BURY IT, SEAL IT AWAY!” that opens the second verse. The album offers some of the bands’ catchiest sing-along choruses in DARK THINGS and BRAVE NEW WORLD, as well as some heart-rending ballads, the most notable being the climactic AD ASTRA that you’ll need a tissue for drying your eyes when listening. Another strong feature is the production: each instrument is crisp and clear, from the raging bass guitar in DEGENERATE, the blissful crowd chanting in DYSTOPIA and even a cheeky guitar solo hiding in the fade out of SWAY.
However, SILOS is significantly flawed. While it is nice to have the interludes disconnected from the tracks, many of them share similar ideas instead of doing something completely unexpected. The inclusion of not one, but two, covers is an interesting choice given that they aren’t part of the overarching lore, which, for this album, remains largely unknown. This isn’t an issue for the grand reimagining of Johnny Hates Jazz’s SHATTERED DREAMS, a powerful and emotional rollercoaster of a track that deserves its place on SILOS, but is more of a problem for the Tears For Fears cover, HEAD OVER HEELS. The distorted vocals and repetitive Ohs and Ahs that close the track make this song sound more like an interlude than a full song.
And that is without mentioning the largest issue: TOKSIK. The song is good – it was actually this song that brought the band to the attention of those at All Things Rock - but it doesn’t sound like STARSET at all. The spontaneous rap section, the admittedly cheesy lyrics, and the songs overarching themes of criticising American politics and TikTok, just make it seem lost and out of place on the album. Regardless, SILOS is still an incredible record full of incredible ideas. You’ll definitely have a great time with this one.
Standout Tracks: ‘AD ASTRA’, ‘SILOS’, ‘BRAVE NEW WORLD’
As a record, HORIZONS is very close to perfect. It acts as the sequel album to DIVISIONS, continuing a captivating story surrounding the dystopia man will one day create, following the struggles of residents of the NEW EAST, slaves to their own minds thanks to the BMI, or Brain Machine Interface, which shares eerie similarities to Elon Musk’s proposed Neuralink device. Songs such as the raw, in-your-face opening track, THE BREACH, propose themes of escape and the futility of freedom that run rampant throughout the record. Dustin’s voice becomes intoxicating and stunning, joining forces with the majestic violin on OTHERWORLDLY to create an experience that lives up to the song’s name.
Ideas of falling and losing a war with yourself, presented in the symbolic ICARUS, contrast with dreams of flying to safety that tracks like LEAVING THIS WORLD BEHIND and EARTHRISE carry so well. However, the heaviness has been significantly toned down for this album: while some riffs can be pretty explosive, the only harsh vocals in the album are present in DEVOLUTION and the magnificent closer, SOMETHING WICKED, one of the bands most volatile tracks; a cry for help that truly leaves you in awe. The reduction in heaviness isn’t a negative though: ballads such as DISAPPEAR are able to shine bright as standout songs.
As much as it pains me to say it though, there are a couple of unavoidable issues that the album struggles with. The record is LOOOONG, at an hour and ten minutes, a length partly due to the interludes, some of which are epic, some of which are unnecessary, and some of which are actually uncomfortable to listen to (looking at you, ALCHEMY). Excluding the opening instrumental, there are fifteen songs here, all of which are good, yet many sound very similar. Sadly, this makes DREAMCATCHER and TUNNELVISION, among others, take a backseat and become forgettable when they are still both excellent tracks.
Despite its few faults, HORIZONS remains a magical and transformative listen; you just might need to appreciate it one half at a time.
Standout tracks: ‘EARTHRISE’, ‘DISAPPEAR’, ‘SOMETHING WICKED’
Fueled by the enormous success of their debut album Transmissions, STARSET were now looking to create something bigger and bolder, focusing on the quality of songs and reducing the in-your-face lore sections that plagued the previous record. And out emerged Vessels, a more adventurous record than its predecessor that sonically stuns the listener thanks to a greater focus on an otherworldly sound, creating a unique and grandiose record that accomplishes many incredible things.
There is a greater number of slow burn, atmospheric tracks designed to floor you with captivating lyricism and creative instrumentation revolving around the violins and synthesiser that make the experience so commanding and powerful. The most obvious example of this is Ricochet, a collapsing love song surrounded by themes of loneliness and self-isolation, as well as emotive tracks like Starlight and DIE FOR YOU. But that certainly doesn’t mean the heavy tracks are omitted; in fact, until the release of SILOS in 2025, this was undoubtably STARSET’s angriest album. Breakdowns in Frequency and Bringing It Down, as well as numerous appearances of harsh vocals in Gravity of You and Into The Unknown merely foreshadow the lethal album closer, Everglow, a seven-minute epic that cascades from slow section to sing along chorus to Dustin’s most powerful scream ever to an ultimate instrumental climax that closes the track and the album. Mix these in with some of the band's most popular songs, being the iconic Monster and the hooky Unbecoming, and you have a triumphant record, with only a few minor faults holding it back.
The production of Vessels is stunning... in some places. In others, it becomes murky, never truly letting one instrument shine. Dustin’s vocals take the biggest hit; they become cloudy and distorted, especially in the opening of Frequency where the autotune becomes slightly rough around the edges. This doesn’t subtract from the overall experience, but the issue that does is the lore. Or rather, the lack of it. In complete contrast to their story-driven debut, Vessels is more of a collection of cool space themed songs with a larger concept that either hasn’t yet been unearthed or simply does not exist. The only apparent link is the title of the intro song, The Order, referencing The Order Of Teslonia, a group present in the first album and book who sought to ‘fix the future’.
Regardless of these small drawbacks, Vessels remains an engaging listen full of sing-along moments that will keep you running back for another listen. The only real issue is the reduction in storyline; concept albums are what STARSET do best, and an absent narrative feels like a wasted opportunity.
Standout Tracks: ‘Everglow’, ‘Ricochet’, ‘Monster’, ‘Unbecoming’
DIVISIONS had to be the best album. No doubt about it. The whole record feels so distinctly STARSET, from the huge choruses to the glorious, euphoric intrumental sections, and especially the world-building of the songs. The lore is neatly injected into the outros of a handful of songs, never becoming invasive or bringing down the flow of the album. It feels weird to describe sound as visual, but try listening to the outro of PERFECT MACHINE and tell me you don't see a man lighting a cigarette on a train as propaganda cycles down billboards outside.
And what a gripping story the album tells too. The intro song, A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE, sharing the same title as the excellently crafted partnership book, takes us to the dystopia that is the New East for the first time, a world that HORIZONS would continue to develop. MANIFEST and ECHO continue the lore, highlighting how people long to escape from their own minds, enslaved by a synthetic worldview manipulated by a supercomputer known as The Architecture. The album is crisp and clear, smooth and serene for calmer songs like WAKING UP, and rough in monstrous heavy sections in TELEKINETIC, creating more than enough variation to never retread old steps. At 58 minutes long, surprisingly short for STARSET, the record leaves you wanting more, especially thanks to the sudden end of the heart-breaking, soul-destroying DIVING BELL before the album finishes with a hauntingly hypnotising chant.
One of the strongest aspects has got to be the symbolic, ambiguous lyricism, left up to personal interpretation. Returning to PERFECT MACHINE, lines like, “I want to watch you change, from a butterfly and into chains” and “Lay your heart into my perfect machine, I will use it to protect you from me” are genuinely spell-binding. The instrumental sections are fantastic too, from the synth-heavy shockwave of a bridge the STRATOSPHERE offers, to the outro of SOLSTICE that just keeps on building. The catchy hooks have been turned to 11, especially in TRIALS, now considered the STARSET ‘anthem’.
Are there any issues with the record? Yes. Are they big problems? Not at all. WAKING UP and SOLSTICE both have choruses that repeat the same phrase, becoming a little less captivating, but there’s enough variation instrumentally to keep you engaged. Most of the interludes, rather than being cool sci-fi film instrumentals, instead revolve around developing the album’s world but stay short and sweet, and actually elevate the experience to be truly one of a kind.
Every album could come first on this list, thanks to the band’s consistency in crafting masterpieces. But this album takes the top spot, delivering every single great aspect of STARSET at their absolute best. Every record is a must listen, but whenever you’re heading off on a journey to space or taking on a corrupt dystopian organisation, DIVISIONS needs to be your soundtrack.
Standout Tracks: ‘PERFECT MACHINE’, ‘DIVING BELL’, ‘MANIFEST’, ‘STRATOSPHERE’
