AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,280 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: 15,329 out of 18280
  2. Mixed: 2,925 out of 18280
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18280
18280 music reviews
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    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Look Up Sharp
    Look Up Sharp is more forthright than dal Forno's previous work, but it still retains a deep, intriguing sense of mystery.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Two Hands
    While it's hard to talk about Two Hands in 2019 without the context of the stunning U.F.O.F., the album's quality stands on its own, offering its own grade of intimacy, sound, and feel for alternate moods.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    uknowhatimsayin¿
    A unified, deliberate, and conscious work.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    85 to Africa
    Jidenna's cosmopolitan hip-hop is deepened with his second album. 85 to Africa lacks a track with the ferocity of "Long Live the Chief," and nothing is either as charming or as instantly memorable as the multi-platinum "Classic Man," but it's more substantive.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    For You and I
    Tracks like "Scraping My Feet" nail the balance of advanced beats and gorgeous, stirring melodies present in IDM at its best. The entire album is refreshingly devoid of any lingering notion of fitting in or following any rules or trends. James' vision is hers alone, and it's a powerful one.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A Pill for Loneliness
    A Pill for Loneliness suffers from its own consistency as one vaporous, albeit pretty, track blends into the next without leaving much of an impact. Still, as a vehicle for Green's talents, it hits enough highs to mark another worthwhile chapter in City and Colour's development.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Carnage Hall
    It's a strong debut from an excitable band barely able to contain themselves as they blow through their songs like a friendly tropical storm.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Desire Path
    Drawing more from the backroads grit of Little Feat or Hot Tuna than the easier-to-pigeonhole sunshiny daydreams of the Dead, Desire Path sounds like a weird party happening outside of time.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Up and Rolling
    Up and Rolling clears away decades of cobwebs, dust, and wisteria vines from the doorway to the past: It's a family reunion offering that looks to the Hill Country's history and mystery for both its inspiration from the past and guidance to its present.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Emerald Classics
    Similarly to how grungy Gen-Xers both co-opted and rejected the music and aesthetics of their boomer parents, on Emerald Classics Swim Deep conversely embrace and slough off the remaining dust of '90s Brit-pop nostalgia. They may have been inspired by the music that was at its peak around the time they were born, but they aren't going to drown in its wake.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Handfuls of Night
    Conveying a sense of childlike wonder about the natural world, the album is full of life and immensely enjoyable.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Love & Evol
    Love & Evol is an uneven whole. Some of it sounds more tinkered with, more assembled than played. While there is plenty of imagination woven into these tracks, one wishes for more organic cohesion between the set's independent halves.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Closer to Grey
    Closer to Grey feels more like a loose assemblage of good-to-great tunes than it does a cohesive album, especially with the level of production perfectionism Johnny Jewel and company are known for. It's a curious piece of the never-ending Chromatics puzzle, and an excellent offering to tide fans over as the they wait for the next piece to fall into place.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deceiver
    On Deceiver, DIIV have done the work, and the results are new levels of emotional and musical depth.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    All Mirrors
    Though she may have initially built her reputation on stark and brittle atmospheres, it turns out that her trademark vulnerability is only elevated by these stirring, highly stylized interpretations, making it a risk that pays off in spades.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ode To Joy
    Ode to Joy reveals that after their sabbatical, Wilco are more than willing to explore the boundaries of their music, and they do so with the confidence and sense of daring that has marked their best work from Being There onward.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Easter is Cancelled
    Easter Is Cancelled is a soaring and melodic evolution for The Darkness, a fresh step into maturation that retains their campy, fun-loving spirit without all the sleaze and filth.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dreams Are Not Enough
    An absolutely crushing listen, and every bit as powerful as the previous three TTA albums.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Active Listening: Night on Earth
    Equal parts impact and emotion, Active Listening: Night on Earth is a breathless joyride. The nine songs rise and fall in cresting waves of noise, confusion, longing, and abandon for one of the most captivating chapters of punk's continuing evolution.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spectre
    More dense, driven, and complexly rendered than anything else in the band's catalog, Spectre expands on the strongest moments of Lightning Dust's ever-shifting muse. The production, songwriting, and performances all reach new levels of curiosity and unpredictable moves, making it some of the band's most captivating work.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Songs of Our Mothers
    The collaboration as a whole is a unique treat that shows the best attributes of each of its participants.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ghostface Killahs
    The album seems somewhat patched-together compared to other Ghostface albums, but it still boasts some excellent tracks. The main problem is the blatantly homophobic and misogynistic lyrics which crop up throughout. Not that this is anything new, or unexpected, but it still mars an otherwise strong album.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kill or Be Kind
    Kill or Be Kind is a watermark for Fish. Her writing, singing, and playing all serve the truth of what she seeks here: the heart of song.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    C'est ça
    On paper, there's no way all these combinations should gel, but C'est ça is so dense, hyper-focused, and determined that it forces itself to make sense, altering the listener's perception of how music works. What a bizarre, absurd, wonderful album. Easily Fly Pan Am's best.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    In Cauda Venenum
    On In Cauda Venenum, Opeth have thoroughly revisioned prog rock for the 21st century. While there are referents to the past, they have merely been folded into a brand of heavy music that reflects not progressive rock's history, but Opeth's enduring, evolving image.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hot Motion
    It may seem like a backtrack after the experimental nature of Volcano; really it's more like they are heartily reclaiming and celebrating the sound that made them one of the more exciting psychedelic bands of their time.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In the Morse Code of Brake Lights
    In the Morse Code of Brake Lights has a tone of thematic consistency that isn't always apparent in a New Pornographers album, but with this group, music has always carried more weight than lyrics, and on that level, it's an especially strong effort from an act that's never been short on stylistic ambition.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Spirit Counsel
    Spirit Counsel is an ambitious but focused masterwork of Moore's expansive and specific approach to experimental instrumental music.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sunshine Kitty
    As Lo puts her stamp on all of Sunshine Kitty's different sounds and emotions, there's a breeziness that hasn't been present in her music since Queen of the Clouds.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Blue World
    While completely enjoyable, Blue World's true value perhaps lies in revealing the quartet encountering this older material with a fully developed musical character, and changing its shapes, accents, colors, and textures according to its own expressive signature. These versions differ (often significantly) from previously issued ones, making Blue World a necessary addendum to the recognized historical record to be sure. But just as importantly, it adds another very satisfying entry to the music libraries of Coltrane's legions of fans.
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