AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,293 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 32% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 The Marshall Mathers LP
Lowest review score: 20 Graffiti
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15,342 out of 18293
  2. Mixed: 2,925 out of 18293
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18293
18293 music reviews
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    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Twilight Saga: New Moon [OST]
    Despite a few upbeat moments that stick out like a thumb that isn't sore, songs like Grizzly Bear and Victoria Legrand's "Slow Life," Editors' "No Sound But the Wind," and Bon Iver and St. Vincent's lovely, truly odd "Roslyn" are morose enough for die-hard Twilight fans and stylish enough to please the most discerning music snobs.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Give Up The Ghost
    Carlile still prefers sobriety to levity but it never feels affected; it's music that gets under your skin and cuts to the bone.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Machine Dreams
    There's no way around the fact that most of Machine Dreams is icy electro-pop, but it is not as if the truly singular Yukimi Nagano, an enamoring vocalist, has switched to drone mode, forsaking her grounding in R&B.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    What Will We Be
    Banhart's persona emerges intact despite the mainstream sound, however, and What Will We Be becomes a pleasantly fresh album to follow the ponderous, sprawling "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon."
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Somedays The Song Writes You
    Somedays the Song Writes You is another choice album from one of the greatest songwriters to ever come out of the state of Texas.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Natural Forces
    As before, Lyle gravitates toward gentle, moody songs, with Tommy Elskes' slyly sarcastic blues, 'Bohemia,' being the liveliest of the bunch, opting to give Natural Forces some humor and tempo through his originals.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    My Dusty Road
    The set is both familiar and fresh-sounding at once.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everybody
    Rarely does an independent album sound so assured, so polished, and so agreeable.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Geneva
    If you weren't already on the Russian Circles bandwagon, this is the perfect opportunity to jump on.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Live At The Olympia
    A tighter, cleaner band than the scruffy renegades of the '80s, but still the same band, which is evident here in ways it never was on the perfectly fine R.E.M. Live. That was a production. This is rock & roll.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Phrazes For The Young
    It may not have the sugar rush immediacy of the Strokes, and at times it's downright indulgent, but Phrazes for the Young shows that Casablancas has more than enough ideas for several albums on his own and with his band--and perhaps most importantly, he sounds more enthused about making music on it than he has since "Is This It."
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In Love & War
    Amerie returns with In Love & War, an album that is much more creative than its title indicates while also playing out a bit like Because I Love It redux.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Is Not Pop
    The sonic touches Hagg adds to her songs only makes them better. The combination of their gifts has resulted in something pretty special, possibly the best work either of them has done to date, and hopefully something that will continue.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Say Anything
    This is an impulsive album, an odd piece of work that manages to be puzzling without alienating the listener.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Attention Deficit
    The biggest complaint has to be that the early single 'Nike Boots' is missing, but otherwise, this unique debut does not disappoint.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love Comes Close
    Love Comes Close is a strong debut not just because Cold Cave embraces their darkness so fully, but because they find so many shades within it.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    New Clouds
    Impressively impressionistic, New Clouds is a rare mix of restful and engaging, and a significant step forward for Forkner.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Them Crooked Vultures
    While there are melodies and hooks that certainly dig into the skull, what impresses is chemistry, how the three play together, how they instigate each other, and how they spur each other on, to the point where their familiar tropes sound fresh.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    1372 Overton Park
    With its captivating set of beer-stained rockers and heartfelt ballads, 1372 Overton Park offers a triumphant example of gritty, sweaty, all-American music.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Butter
    Sometimes needlessly complex and, at its worst, goofy for the sake of being goofy--proper boots-in-a-dryer bizniz with shrill flotsam swirling about--these tracks can be as off-putting as they are exhilarating.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Real Estate
    June. Though half of Real Estate was already released by the band as singles and EPs, that just adds to the album’s instantly familiar feel--which is a large part of this unassuming debut album’s appeal.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    For Your Entertainment
    Lambert sounds larger than life on these, just like he wants to be, and if there’s no sense of danger here, at least there’s a lot of pure pop pleasure here, more than any immediate post-Idol album has ever delivered.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rated R
    Whether the album seems ridiculous or spectacular (or both), Rihanna's complete immersion in the majority of the songs cannot be disputed. That is the one thing that is not up for debate.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Fame Monster
    The lead single is a powerhouse of dance waves and infectiously produced beats, but the album doesn't always stand out as definitive, even though it's consistently fresh and innovative.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Balm In Gilead
    Jones' faith in her own creative judgment is well-founded, and this is a work whose modest scale belies its emotional strength.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Under Stellar Stream
    This is the most compelling recording Youngs has cut since 2004's "River Through Howling Sky," though it doesn't resemble it a bit, and is, in its way, considerably more beautiful, unquestionably more accessible, and equally as magical.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ay Ay Ay
    If this is not the most live-sounding dance album made with synthetic instrumentation, it must be pretty close.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Unbalance
    Everything sounds livelier, more active. Huisman fills the empty spaces, never over-stuffs them, and the percussion is practically spring-loaded--from several angles--in comparison.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Midnight Soul Serenade
    While Midnight Soul Serenade may not be the best Heavy Trash album (their debut takes that honor), it's still some of the best rock & roll around. Anywhere, anytime.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Til The Casket Drops
    There’s plenty of dazzling wordplay related to coke dealing and showing off, but the album carries a more redemptive tone and a higher level of self-awareness.
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