AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,323 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: 15,367 out of 18323
  2. Mixed: 2,930 out of 18323
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18323
18323 music reviews
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    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Dreaming Fields
    ltimately, The Dreaming Fields is a deeply moving, gloriously articulated album that should not only reawaken the interest of fans, but should win Berg a multitude of new ones.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Head and the Heart
    There are plenty of bands who literally spend a decade working up to an album as well-crafted, confident, and powerful as The Head and the Heart, and these folks managed to knock it out in a bit over a year; is they can make this particular bit of lightning strike twice, we may be looking at one of America's best new bands.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Alegrias
    Alegrias is a breezy yet luxuriant exercise in cultural fusion with none of the setbacks: it's a quiet stunner.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    ISAM
    ISAM plays out like the soundtrack to some bizarre nature documentary: it continually pauses, goes off in another direction, halts again, then sits unmoving for a time, as though Tobin had been musically ghosting the movements of a tiny insect traveling along a leaf.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bachelorette
    This is the most comfortable Alpers has sounded making music, and the result is some of her best work yet.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks
    Builds on the loose and raw sound of Wold's earlier records, but [the album] is also an extension of them, pulling in strains of folk and country and adding them to his signature trance blues sound. The result is a powerfully good record.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Teenage Hate
    Anyone up for the crazed power of Teenage Hate should enjoy just about everything on his release.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Arabia Mountain
    The timing for a change was right, too, as their 2009 record 200 Million Thousand wasn't one of their best, it was OK but seemed a little forced and uninspired. Arabia Mountain is the absolute opposite and could be their best album yet.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cannibal Courtship
    Cannibal Courtship is easily Dengue Fever's most consistent, sophisticated, and accessible recording to date, and one that should, with any luck, net them more than a few new fans.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's a Corporate World
    With such a terrific combination of depth, melody, and out-and-out charm, It's a Corporate World is the perfect summer jam for anyone who spends more time wearing headphones than swim trunks.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    David Comes To Life
    The 18 songs on the album are all in the heavily layered, chamber-hardcore style established on Chemistry of Common Life, but Fucked Up is taking the idea to the furthest reaches, and somehow pulling it off.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ninth
    "The Godfather of Goth" sounds like the genre's savior here, coming on strong with those Bowie-sized aspirations and nailing that attractive Nosferatu-meets-Art-School style.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sondre Lerche
    The combination of intelligent and punchy songs, the sympathetic production, and Lerche's winning vocals make this a strong follow-up to Heartbeat Radio and further proof that Lerche doesn't need to mess around trying different things to keep people interested.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All 6's and 7's
    Gimmicks abound on this dark carnival of an album, and if you can't hang with some murder talk and misogyny, it's best to stay away, but this fat, epic effort is still a swift thrill ride and doesn't bore despite its size.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Gloss Drop
    Gloss Drop may be more accomplished than the band's debut; even if it's not quite as much of a powerhouse as Mirrored was, it shows that the trio version of Battles is lean, creative, and surprisingly adaptable.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Leisure Seizure
    Vek is a self-made musician who embraces these kinds of flaws and more often than not makes them work to his advantage, and Leisure Seizure's independence and accessibility is a testament to that.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    England Keep My Bones
    Taken as a whole, England Keep My Bones is evidence that Turner is an artist who has fully arrived and knows it. And that's no sin.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lupercalia
    Lupercalia's highly melodic but still resolutely exuberant nature indicates that Wolf's newfound positive outlook on life definitely seems to suit him.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Life Like
    Kinsella's lyrical wit is still affecting, displayed in both song titles ("Howdy Pardoner") and his always honest, direct lyrics about relationships ("Let's cut each other's strings/Give me a hand if you understand").
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    SMOD
    This is the kind of album that drifts by like a lazy white cloud on a beautiful summer day, leaving only positive feelings in its wake.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    PL3DGE
    A guest list that goes from Big Boi to Gucci Mane make the album highly desirable, but it's Mike that makes it vital, rivaling the Slaughterhouse crew when it comes to delivering grown man's hip-hop and Ice Cube when it comes to pimping while preaching.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Channel Pressure
    Channel Pressure is equally enjoyable as a painstaking period re-creation drenched in neon nostalgia and nylon nausea, and as a piece of sterling (if decidedly warped) electronic pop music in its own right.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Absolute II
    The conclusion of Oneida's Thank Your Parents trilogy got some initial attention when word emerged that Kid Millions' signature drum drive wouldn't be featured, but such is the strength of the band that Absolute II functions both as conclusion and its own distinct release.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rise Again
    Hardcore Perry fans will probably be divided on this one, but nevertheless, it's not difficult to conclude that Rise Again is one of his most satisfying releases of the past ten years.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's All True
    For all the sonic shimmer, not much exposure is needed to realize that the album concerns an embittering relationship.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Errant Charm
    This album works both as music that can take you over and take you up on a cloud of pop, and as mood-enhancing tunes that can fill up the empty room with happy ambience. Either way, it's an enjoyable, sometimes beautiful, album, one that Vetiver have been working toward since they began.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Loud Planes Fly Low
    Loud Planes Fly Low captures fragmented moments instead of formless dreams and random wishes: the melancholia that lingers throughout feels like one of experience rather than self-conscious ennui.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Revelator
    Revelator is a roots record that sets a modern standard even as it draws its inspiration from the past. It's got everything a listener could want: grit, groove, raw, spiritual emotion, and expert-level musical truth.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Two Matchsticks
    Unlike Magnolia, which sounded like a band trying on a style for size, Two Matchsticks is a perfectly tailored record that works as an extension of American Analog Set, but will also please any fan of thoughtful, simple acoustic-ish pop.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    EAR PWR
    The slow moves of the partnered voices on the extended verse, rising up toward the cool intoning of the title on the final chorus as the melody lines get even more insistent and grand, and similar moments on the instrumental "Geodes," show that EAR PWR have a way with the epic that doesn't feel overbearing--not a bad spot to be in at all.
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