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For 18,295 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: 15,344 out of 18295
  2. Mixed: 2,925 out of 18295
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18295
18295 music reviews
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    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    in|FLUX
    Consistently theatrical but intimate, the song increases in volume, adding components like strummed guitar and active tom drums as Savage's plea -- "Stop haunting me/Please/Just leave me be" -- gets more insistent. While the rest of in|FLUX maintains that song's often captivating sense of brewing urgency and poignancy, arrangements alter as it passes through even sparser balladry ("I Can Hear the Birds Now," "Hungry"), skittering, full-kit indie rock ("Pavlov's Dog," "Crown Shyness"), the eventual acoustic cacophony of "Say My Name," and an art-funky title track.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Quest For Fire
    The tracks on Quest for Fire go for instant dancefloor gratification, but they're far more refined and nuanced than the brostep ragers that made Skrillex a household name in the early 2010s.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Food for Worms
    On Food for Worms, Shame don't so much discard everything that came before as they strip away what doesn't fit anymore. Occasionally, the results are a little muddled, but at its best, the album is a thrilling testament to creative bravery.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Strange Dance
    Strange Dance is gentle enough to constitute adventurous background listening but complex enough to reward a closer inspection, a curious combination that is not without appeal.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    nature morte
    It's the band's most dynamic, full-bodied recording to date, and a clear improvement over their somewhat rusty-sounding early releases, moving between lulling spaciousness and cathartic violence.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Good Riddance
    Gracie Abrams focuses in and doubles down on the wispier ruminations of prior EPs, this time in full-on collaboration with This Is What It Feels Like contributor Aaron Dessner, who co-wrote and produced the entire album.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    High Drama
    More often than not, he delivers on High Drama, particularly on the insistent glitter march of "Holding Out for a Hero" and a smoldering electro makeover of "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me."
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Moving On Skiffle
    Moving On Skiffle is light and lively, an easy record to enjoy.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fantasy
    Fantasy isn't for the skeptical; Gonzalez demands you dive in with him, and a lot of fans will be happy to take the plunge.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Oh Me Oh My
    Some of the album's most gripping moments directly draw from Holley's storied past. ... The album ends on a puzzling note with "Future Children," in which Holley's gruff intonations are processed into a stark, robotic tone over jittery, post-minimalist recorder sequences.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    V
    It's just as easy of an album to drift off in thought to as it is to obsess over its patchwork of details and strange coloration, reaching a deeper, more thoughtful expression of the kind of bizarre beauty the band excels at.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    September November
    September November is a collection of songs that says, "We're Still Here!" a subtle but vitally important difference, and the Long Ryders make us glad that they were alt-country before there was alt-country and haven't thrown in the towel.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Good Luck
    While the energy level feels drastically different between the album's clubbier first half and its slower second, Friday's music is always dramatic, honest, and futuristic.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Since I Have a Lover
    As a vocalist, 6LACK still often sounds enervated (if always lucid) in a way that rewards only close listening from those who value crooners over belters.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    True Entertainment
    True Entertainment often feels like a culmination of Dutch Uncles' music. At its best, it finds them growing into the kind of cult-favorite act that would have inspired them at the beginning of their journey -- and that makes it a true testament to their creativity.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Plastic Eternity
    Plastic Eternity shows Mudhoney are capable of surprising us (and themselves) thirty-five years in, and judging from the results, it won't be the last time they'll pull that off.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    72 Seasons
    It's difficult to discern how 72 Seasons could've been tightened yet it's hard not to wish that it was about a third shorter: the force would've had a greater impact if it wasn't quite so diffuse.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Stereo Mind Game
    Produced by Tonra and bandmate Igor Haefeli, Stereo Mind Game is an album that sounds like it was assembled with care, as Daughter change things up while remaining instantly familiar.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    1982
    The whole set affirms the band's continued relevance with a clear sense that they're having a ball with their past and influences while linking with another cohort of homegrown talent.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    No Highs
    While his music generally fits under the category of ambient, it's never been the type of safe, soothing ambient solely meant to function as background music. ... No Highs especially focuses on dealing with depression, anxiety, and isolation, and its pieces often feel nervous and unbalanced.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Big Picture
    The album goes on to offer a range of dreaminess, arguably reaching its lushest and loudest point on the jammy outro to "Superglued," its liveliest on the appreciative, post-breakup "Lights Light Up" (though there is a case to be made for the jaunty but fatalistic "Pick"), and its sparsest on the brittle, comfort-seeking "Henry," which still features a full band. The musical contrasts aren't far-ranging, however, and similarly, even the most optimistic lyrics seem to be biding time.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Henry St.
    Henry St. seems no less sincere or heartfelt than anything Matsson has recorded in the past, yet here he embraces an unforced joy that connects in a way his more dour work did not, and it makes this one of the Tallest Man on Earth's most purely pleasurable releases to date.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Angels in Science Fiction
    Their most tender, intimate album yet.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    All of This Will End
    She continues to say her piece on alt-rockers like "You Can Be Mean," "Wasting Your Time," and the shrieking "Always," but takes a decidedly philosophical, even accepting turn on the more reflective "Losing" ("There is nothing I can do when the winds of change blow through") and a wistful title track that speaks of forgiveness. Along the way, De Souza delivers some surprises.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Enigmatic Society
    Enigmatic Society is neither as powerful nor as weighty as the debut, and certainly doesn't seem intended to match it in those regards. It's altogether a calmer, more romantic work.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Future Never Waits
    More consistent than 2021's Somnia and 2019's All Aboard the Skylark, The Future Never Waits is, at once, more exciting and musically adventurous -- even with the (minor) missteps. This is a significant late-career highlight from Hawkwind.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon
    The "unplugged version" has become a common trope in rock music; more often than not, it appears as a listless bid to extend a parent album's commercial lifespan for another year or two. Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón, while quite possibly achieving that aim, feels like something more fully realized and artful, and carries more weight than a mere catalog curiosity.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I Don't Know a Thing About Love: The Songs of Harlan Howard
    Happily, Nelson sounds sprier here than he has on other records of contemporaneous vintage, which gives a light, lively quality that's quite welcome.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Rat Road
    The Rat Road is the type of sprawling, inconsistent work that likely only its creator fully understands, but it contains several fascinating, inspired moments.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Rites of Percussion
    Lombardo has complete control over the entire musical picture. This control, combined with ambitious stylistic explorations, keeps an album that's primarily comprised of solo drum performances engaging and dynamic as it travels through its various pockets of intensity and calm.
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