AllMusic's Scores

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For 18,345 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: 15,387 out of 18345
  2. Mixed: 2,932 out of 18345
  3. Negative: 26 out of 18345
18345 music reviews
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    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kerber
    The new and inviting layers Tiersen adds to his musical history of Ushant take listeners on a rewarding journey.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    333
    For all its sharp turns, 333 has a fluidity and high level of conviction that Tinashe's previous full-lengths lack.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Glow On
    Both vital and respective of the listener's time at just under 35 minutes, Glow On rolls in like a violent, late-summer storm and pummels the power grid but mercifully leaves the lights on.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Black Encyclopedia of the Air
    It takes her music in a somewhat more accessible direction while retaining the creativity and fervor of the rest of her work. Considerably less noisy than previous Moor Mother releases like her 2016 breakthrough Fetish Bones, the album flows through slippery jazz rhythms, mellow R&B vibes, and meditative ambient textures, with Ayewa's lyrics remaining forceful even as she's delivering them in a softer register.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Surrounded
    Surrounded is so overflowing with life that it demands repeated spins to truly take it all in. With songs this strong, however, repeat listening is hardly a problem.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Boy from Michigan
    Despite its occasional uneven moments, Boy from Michigan is a frequently brilliant album from a gifted stylist and songwriter who never stops challenging himself or his audience.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    King's Disease II
    Nas sounds sharp and inspired throughout, giving performances that recall the uncanny brilliance that made his earliest work essential, but also showing he's still capable of taking his art to new places.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV) [Live]
    Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV) offers an astonishing portrait of the many places Metheny has been, and intimates where he may yet go. It's an album that virtually all of his fans can celebrate. It may also lead to another generation discovering him.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    JOSE
    It's a colorful, wide-ranging romp of an album -- and an airy liberation for its titular figure.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    I've Been Trying to Tell You
    Fans of the group more interested in songs might feel short changed at first, but further listens only intensify the cohesive power and pocket grandeur of the record.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cool
    Like many artists who have stripped away the noise and rough edges from their sound, what's left over isn't as interesting as it could be, and it's hard not to imagine that the songs on Cool would be better off with a layer of liberally applied grungy fuzz coating them.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Back in Love City
    For the most part, the band plays things relatively safe. Even so, the Vaccines are adept enough architects of early aughts U.K. guitar rock (Kaizer Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, etc.) to know how to craft an earworm, and the reliable Back in Love City is filthy with hooks, even if you've heard them a million times before.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    God Is Partying
    God Is Partying might be his most honest piece of work. Playing all of the instruments himself and singing in a more direct style than on any of his previous releases, he lays bare his soul with a newfound earnestness that compliments rather than conflicts with his longtime brand.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Comfort To Me
    Their rapid growth is as head-spinning as the songs themselves, lending a triumphant air to Comfort to Me that keeps Amyl and the Sniffers primed and ready to conquer the world -- again.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Texis
    Not so much a retreat as a celebration of what Sleigh Bells do best, Texis' finest moments thrive on the razor's edge between sweetness and annihilation.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hey What
    Sparhawk and Parker are still trying to make sense of a world that seems increasingly alien, and the paradox of raging against the artificiality while using it as a creative choice is powerfully effective here.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Before I Die
    Her self-produced full-length debut feels more elaborate than her EPs while also seeming impulsive and off-the-cuff.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Star-Crossed
    Listen closely, it's evident that Star-Crossed is a quintessential divorce record--the story is laid out quite clearly in its 15 songs--but in a practical sense, the album delivers sophisticated mood music, providing a soothing soundtrack for all manners of quiet domestic activities.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    History of a Feeling
    Both occasionally cringy and refreshing for its willingness to express bitterness, History of a Feeling's greatest strength lies in its emotional honesty.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mirrors
    Seinfeld has mentioned that the album's title refers to how he's been able to reflect on who he is through experiences such as relationships and family trauma, and his music skillfully expresses a mixture of loneliness, uncertainty, and wistful nostalgia.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Certified Lover Boy
    As it stands now, the album is an overlong, undercooked, and cliched listen that will no doubt appeal to the Drake fans who can't get enough of him, but will leave anyone looking for something new sadly out of luck.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Senjutsu
    The epic Senjutsu is another distended late-career triumph, albeit one that requires multiple spins to set up camp in your Homeric metal-craving cranium.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Witness
    The Witness is a consumptive listening experience, designed with precision and purpose in the same way as the immersive albums that came before it by Portishead, Talk Talk, Radiohead, and other artists willing to take their time systematically disassembling and rebuilding their music.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Donda
    Donda isn't without its highlights, but taken as a whole, it's both confused and confusing.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Only Up
    Tess Parks' simmering vocals on the title track drive home the range of Korody's colorful vision, simultaneously offering up a reimagination of Manchester's swirling '90s peak, while at the same time feeling futuristic and unfamiliar.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Liberation Time
    At under 40 minutes, Liberation Time is relatively brief but free of excess. Despite employing three very different ensembles, McLaughlin delivers a focused album that is as dazzling as it is thought provoking.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Septet
    Remarkably, the most effective moments in this vein occur when the leader assumes a background position, lending synthesizer shading and warped effects as mallets and flute link and skip at the fore of "P64 by My Side." For the most part, this is a jazz date -- an inviting and beatific one that frequently evokes classic '70s jazz-funk.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971
    Feel Flows moves the microscope over to one of the group's more interesting and quietly transformative phases, a curious time when their hopes to remain culturally relevant lived alongside some of their most inspired songwriting moments, and an earnest desire to grow artistically.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lost Futures
    There's a lot of subtlety here and it might take a number of listens to fully appreciate Lost Futures' peculiar spread of dynamics. But, like any grower, its slow revelation is part of its charm.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Harmonizer
    The songs jump from pounding metal excursions to tightly wound modern rock to synthy weirdness, each one ripping cleanly through the speakers with nary a ragged edge or stray shard of feedback. Take any track and let the guitars loose, add some unhinged drumming, do some howling instead of harmonizing, and almost every song would be vintage Segall. Wrapped up tightly in slick modern clothes, they are something new. ... Harmonizer is an exciting and intriguing addition to his bursting-at-the-seams discography.
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