AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,310 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: 15,355 out of 18310
  2. Mixed: 2,929 out of 18310
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18310
18310 music reviews
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    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Brain Candy
    Brain Candy is still rock indie pop first, with a garage rock sidecar. Most of this is an up-tempo blast, and Stephenson's vocals are excellent while the guitar work and drumming is expert and fully engaged. Brain Candy isn't kid's stuff, but rather the word of two guys determined to make adulthood work for them without spoiling everything, and Hockey Dad hit that target with flying colors.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Indistinct Conversations
    These subtle but confident, sneakily catchy songs reaffirm that Land of Talk is as relevant to the singer/songwriter movement of the 2010s and 2020s as they were to the noisy indie rock scene of the 2000s when they first emerged.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    West Coast Highway Cosmic
    This aptly titled set is perfect for driving fast on long, lonely stretches of highway with the windows down and the wide-open night for company.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Celebration of Endings
    Ultimately, A Celebration of Endings fits with Biffy Clyro's long-standing knack for combining stadium-sized rock uplift with an undercurrent of wry post-punk thrills.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Music From First Cow
    There is plenty of warmth, sadness, kindness, and quiet desperation in Tyler's lovely pieces that drift liminally between musical score and ambient soundscapes, leaving plenty of room to roam among the gaps. As an artistic collaboration with Reichardt and accompaniment to her warm-hearted tale, Music From First Cow is a gem.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Floor It!!!
    If you share the same perspective (as well as the same sense of humor), Floor It!! is a blast: it sounds like your favorite classic rock playlist kicking up forgotten favorites as it cycles through a perpetual shuffle.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dreamland
    Glass Animals' most cohesive and satisfying album to date, Dreamland is a well-deserved triumph that's as rewarding for fans to hear as it was for the band to make.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jaguar
    At only 25 minutes with another part in reserve, this effectively leaves listeners wanting more. Even certain tracks -- like a feel-good interlude with backing that resembles mid-'70s Earth, Wind & Fire -- are tantalizing on their own.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whoosh!
    Whoosh! is musically superior to its immediate, Ezrin-produced predecessors, but it's more, too: If it's the last album Deep Purple release, it should be remembered as among their best.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pyramid
    While just as brainy and elaborate as Jaga Jazzist's other albums, Pyramid is the sound of the group letting themselves go and following their instincts, arriving at some of their most unbound, easily enjoyable material.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eight Gates
    It's just a short but compelling set of songs from a singular artist, and however it made its way to a public hearing, listeners can only be grateful it has emerged at last.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Microphones in 2020
    Time has only made Elverum's music more transcendent, and anyone who loves the Microphones or Mount Eerie will find the album's fresh yet timeless perspective on it a fascinating and moving listen.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Limbo
    Mature and consistently satisfying, Limbo is a statement-making highlight in the rapper's discography.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Prisyn
    Even more audacious than No Trail and Other Unholy Paths, Prisyn proves Jaye Jayle's music can thrive as Patterson lets tradition go by the wayside.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Total Freedom
    Total Freedom is aptly named, as these songs are the work of a songwriter who demands no more and no less; now more than ever, Kathleen Edwards is living and making music in a way that honors her own spirit, and it reminds us why you don't take the work of someone this talented for granted.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bad Vacation
    Liza Anne isn't merely bloodletting here, she's writing with barbed wit and raw feeling, a combination that gives Bad Vacation an impact that lasts long beyond its initial pop dazzle.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Even in Exile
    The key to Bradfield's album is how it respectfully salutes Jara while conveying the emotions and ideas stirred within the singer/songwriter -- a rare trick that is quite compelling on this urgent yet nuanced song cycle.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Recover
    Rife with beautifully intuitive pathos, Recover is the sound of the Naked and Famous turning feelings of heartbreak and desire into powerfully relatable pop moments.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crave
    A triumphant return for longtime fans and a winning introduction for newcomers, Crave shows Kiesza has only gotten better at reinventing the idealism and big emotions of a bygone era for another generation.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shutting Down Here
    From its eerie beginning to its twilit end, Shutting Down Here's rotating and lapping elements are remarkably conversant with each other, at times evoking works like 1995's Terminal Pharmacy and at others nodding to his prolific output in the 2010s and 2020s in mysterious and poignant ways.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
    Down in the Weeds avoids being either a phoned-in nostalgia trip or a wildly new direction that would alienate fans. Instead it continues Bright Eyes' evolution without skipping a beat, and manages to be one of their stronger records in the process.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Goat
    The Goat is full of daring approaches, intense performances, and skillfully constructed songs. Its best tracks give a sense that Polo G, already a captivating talent, is capable of even greater things.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Twice as Tall
    The production is at the same level of detail and quality that Burna Boy has maintained for most of his releases, but the songs flow in a cohesive, sometimes narrative fashion that offers a more direct emotional impact than some of his earlier work.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Source
    Source, with its adventurous, kinetic, and sophisticated approach in wedding modern composition, improvisation, and production to rhythmic and harmonic traditions, is one of the very best.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dinner Party
    The brief set overall evokes some of the same feelings as 9th's Black Radio Recovered remix of "Afro Blue," Kendrick's "These Walls," and much of Martin's Velvet Portraits, all connected and nutritive recordings offering solace and strength. There's no crosstalk, just completed thoughts.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Dirt and the Stars
    By using her own empathic band for The Dirt and the Stars, Carpenter was able to erase all boundaries between singer and song; she entered their experiences nakedly, bravely, and completely, making this one of her standout albums.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Data Lords
    Data Lords is a poignant and pointed jazz masterwork that adds weight and spiritual heft to our existential struggle.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Neon
    The Neon is stacked with what Erasure does best: Sharp melodic hooks, efficient, hip-shaking beats, and yearning lyrics that both relate and motivate.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Freeze, Melt
    Freeze, Melt is a daring move for the band; they aren't exactly turning their backs on the huge, happy sound that earned them their glittering place in the dance rock firmament, but they do bring their sound down to earth in admirable, emotionally affecting fashion. In the process, they prove that they don't need to make music that's great to dance to in order to make music that's great.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Twelfth
    There's plenty of great, satisfying twangy rock on Twelfth, which is what we've come to expect from the Old 97's. There's also a level of self-awareness and maturity that's new to them, and that makes Twelfth a brave and valuable release from this great band.
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