AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,275 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: 15,324 out of 18275
  2. Mixed: 2,925 out of 18275
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18275
18275 music reviews
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    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    All Her Plans
    All Her Plans isn't an album for folks looking for a playful, pop-punk experience, but it's a brave, powerful record that's a reminder of how much punk rock can communicate with so few moving parts.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Only See the Moon
    I Only See the Moon's more diversified approach is an engaging one that, frankly, evades the potential slog of some of the Kids' prior LPs without surrendering heartache, nostalgia, or slow tempos and grace in the process.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    On Pain
    On Pain is overall both an exciting artistic achievement and a record that should fit the bill for anyone looking for a very cold and sad synth pop update.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Melodies on Hiatus
    Though Melodies on Hiatus' experiments sacrifice some of the single-minded purpose of Hammond's previous albums, it delivers a bumper crop of songs that embrace the complexities of life and music with a sense of adventure.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Orpheus Descending
    Mellencamp's blend of sinewy rhythms and burnished acoustics is recognizably his, yet it draws upon a sound that's now part of a shared past. It's a sound that's aged well, and Mellencamp has aged within it.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Eight
    Eight is energetic, inspired, and hits with one melodic hook after another, capturing the sound of a band overjoyed to be back and having the time of their lives.
    • 95 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Smash: The Singles 1985-2020 [Box Set]
    The pair has assembled this durable catalog almost without interruption, reliably delivering singles, albums, remixes, and EPs almost annually since their debut. Work ethic and quality don't always go hand in hand, but Pet Shop Boys have both in spades.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dream Box
    One of Metheny's aesthetic signatures is an often euphoric character in his composing and playing. While that's absent here, emotion, vulnerability, and poignancy aren't.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Life Is But a Dream...
    Avenged Sevenfold go further down the rabbit hole with an innovative set of progressive metal epics rooted in existential crisis.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bright New Disease
    Bright New Disease has some jarring sonic clashes, but both bands seem to be on the same wavelength in terms of their modes of cathartic expression and their disregard for stylistic boundaries.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Beggar
    A definite improvement over leaving meaning, The Beggar is a riskier yet more successful effort that feels like a step in a more fulfilling direction.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Brain Worms
    A record that's as catchy as it is emotionally overpowering.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Peace... Like a River
    Peace...Like a River is a labyrinthine trek through original songs that nod at the band's classic rock influences, creating an album that sounds like it was written and recorded during the 1970s.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Yawning Abyss
    At once more serious and more playful than Mr. Dynamite, Yawning Abyss homes in on what Creep Show do best, and the ways they skewer corruption and indifference are a treat for fans of any of the artists involved and for anyone else who enjoys eloquent, darkly humorous electronic pop.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Versions of Us
    Taken together, the album is an engaging and rousing affair with more than enough down-to-earth awareness and poignancy to keep it grounded.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ticket to Fame
    Ticket to Fame's balancing act between jumbled weirdness, edgy pop, and occasional respites of synthy atmospheres is a fantastic introduction to Decisive Pink's insular and contorted but often magical take on pop.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    In Times New Roman...
    While the thick, churning grind may feel familiar, it never seems staid, not when QOTSA rely on clouds of vocal harmonies to push them onto a psychedelic astral plane, a shift that can amount to the subtle colorings of "Time & Place" or be as startling as the chorus of "Emotion Sickness."
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
    The stricter members of the metal community might see King Gizzard as interlopers with no real metal cred, but after Rats Nest and now this thrillingly massive album, there's no reason the band shouldn't be considered one of the best practitioners of the genre around.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Guy
    Its structure of pop songs threaded together with interview clips makes it feel a bit more essay-ish than the debut, which was named after a phrase Jayda often used in her final thesis. That said, Jayda does a magnificent job connecting deeply personal stories with accessible music.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Omnichord Real Book
    Even though it was created by enough people to fill a starship, including the HawtPlates, a vocal group heard throughout and granted the spotlight on a moving a cappella piece, this is as intimate as any of Ndegeocello's previous albums. It's almost as varied as any of them in sound.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Off Planet
    Rarely does a double album (or a quadruple EP?) sound so revitalizing, but Django Django somehow pull it off on their best release in years.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Social Lubrication
    Social Lubrication is the work of a band that believes music can actually make a difference, and in Dream Wife's hands, it's a feeling that's contagious.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Heaven Is a Junkyard
    By and large, Heaven Is a Junkyard finds Powers in pastoral mode. Even in its most orchestrated moments, the album feels primarily reflective and still, like Powers is gazing out on a silent field of wheat and offering us a look into his brain as the thoughts, memories, and scattered hopes all float by.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Almost Healed
    He continues to process trauma, grief, and guilt, with tracks like "Pelle Coat" and the J. Cole-featuring "All My Life" being some of his more emotional material to date.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent
    Tracks like "Wishing You the Best," "Pointless," and the unexpectedly clubby "Forget Me" are soundtrack-ready anthems that nicely showcase Capaldi's throaty croon.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Amatssou
    Like all Tinariwen releases, Amatssou is compelling and strange. They are a musical entity like no other, translating the essence of their culture through creative exploration and complementary collaborations, yet always attuned to their inner compass.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shadow Kingdom
    The result is surprising and singular, revealing new twists in songs that seemed to be set in stone decades ago.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Weathervanes
    This LP is a triumph, an outstanding set of songs and performances from someone who has already proved they're one of the strongest, truest voices in American roots rock.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Space Heavy
    While observing the spaces between, Marshall's songs, reflective, consumptive, instructive and compelling, simultaneously create and destroy spaces between worlds he observes, so he might remake the world he lives in with restaint, grace, a broken heart, and brutal honesty.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Paranoïa, Angels, True Love
    Though Chris fully commits to Paranoïa, Angels, True Love's sweeping scope, as a whole it doesn't feel as rewarding as the diamond-like clarity and brilliance of Chris or La Vita Nuova. Even if it's missing some of the electrifying immediacy of those works, there's a lot of challenging and emotionally powerful music here for fans to appreciate.
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