The only exposure I had of David Bowie included the singles "Space Oddity" and "Starman", I also knew him for his performance of Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (I loved his acting in it).
After hearing the opening track "Blackstar", words can't describe how I felt after finishing the song... It truly was something else. That song and the entire album get the credit for introducing experimental jazz to me.
The album was meant to be Bowie's parting gift before he died. At the time of recording, he was terminally ill from liver cancer. Songs such as "Blackstar", "Lazarus" have lyrics talking about impending death, though the latter does a much better job at conveying the message. The sixth track "Dollar Days" also does the same.
Meanwhile, there's "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" and "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" have very dark and violent lyrics. The former and "Girl Loves Me" feature Bowie singing explicit lyrics to great effect. The overall production of the album was done by regular collaborator Tony Visconti, a jazz quartet consisting of- Donny McCaslin, Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre, Mark Guiliana, and Ben Monder. Among all those musicians is Bowie- at the center of it all...
As I mentioned here, this was the review I was referring to. The reason for its delay from last month is 'cause after I finished, I realized that there were only 15 days left for Bowie's birthday, which happens to be the day this album was released (which also happens to be 2 days before he died). It felt everything was aligning for me to release it at this time.