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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    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pulse of Defiance
    Hayashi's music can be hard to grasp at first, but it's clear that he's interested in channeling the spirit of all the music he loves while taking it to a different place, and listening to his music is a fun and mysterious experience.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Earth Man Blues
    Earth Man Blues stands out slightly from the several records that came before it, for both its abundance of hooks and its tendency to take the songs even further off the deep end. As with most GbV albums, it's a wonderfully bizarre and occasionally disarming ride through warped thoughts and cracked beauty.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Coral Island
    Coral Island is the band at their best, effortlessly conjuring up the glorious ghosts of rock & roll's past and turning those sounds into something timeless and instantly rewarding at once.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Million Masks of God
    There's also an unexpected flow to the album, with the more robust, high-energy tracks appearing earlier and the more subdued, introspective ones coming later; all of which beautifully reflects the ebb and flow of life. The Million Masks of God captures this flow, taking you on a theatrical journey that's often as moving and poignant as it is aurally engaging.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Endless Arcade
    They are pop journeymen who can bid a fond farewell to one member as they look forward to where the music and the Endless Arcade will take them next.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Typhoons
    Typhoons is designed as a late-night party record and if Homme occasionally pushes Royal Blood to lean in a bit too hard in this direction, the results are quite effective.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    She Walks in Beauty
    She Walks in Beauty is a loving testimony to the power and lasting vigor of the Romantic poets, and also a reminder of how lucky we are to have an artist as gifted as Marianne Faithfull giving us this remarkable tutorial.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Second Line
    Although there are fewer flat-out astonishing moments here than on the earlier LPs, numerous cuts elicit blues-shedding movement and seem unfadeable.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rosegold
    The lack of instrumental country accouterments heightens the album's stylized spaciness; it's not earthbound, it floats upon a breeze. Sometimes, Rosegold threatens to drift away yet it's never threadbare: it's a singular mood piece, one that suits a spell of twilight reflection.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Electrically Possessed; Switched On, Vol. 4
    While there might not be quite as many essential tracks here as on the other Switched On volumes, Electrically Possessed is a reminder that Stereolab were releasing so much good music that it was easy to take it for granted at the time, and it's well worth a listen for fans who may have missed or glossed over these songs when they were first released.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Carnage
    It's the work of two collaborative artists who are in the midst of a later-period renaissance that has spawned powerful, evocative music that speaks to its time without being confined to the crises that sparked its creation.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Assembly
    For anyone who hasn't explored the music Joe Strummer made after the Clash, Assembly works well as a compact introduction.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Smiling With No Teeth
    The style/substance balance is a difficult one to negotiate -- "Whip Cracker" transitions from upstart energy to Daft Punk-ery with minimal grace, while flecks of futuristic dance don't quite land on "I Don't See Colour" -- but for the large part, Owusu is a blessing to his genres, gifting them with his vivid personality and potent narrative threads.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Promenade Blue
    This is entertaining from front to back, if not quite as much of a thrill as Waterhouse's previous studio LP.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mutator
    Easily as good as the music that he released when it was recorded, Mutator is an enticing first dive into the Vega vault that will whet fans' appetites for more.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Superwolves
    The few songs where Oldham and Sweeney strike up the band -- guest shredding and revved-up rhythms by Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar and his band on "Hall of Death" or the tense brooding of album closer "Not Fooling" -- are lively fun, but much like Superwolf many years before it, Superwolves is at its most powerful in its calmest, most clearly articulated moments.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rare, Forever
    Even at its most experimental, Vynehall's music radiates with energy and spirit, and Rare, Forever brims with a different type of excitement than his past work.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Let the Bad Times Roll
    Mostly, Let the Bad Times Roll sounds like what it is: the work of middle-aged punk lifers who don't change their style, sound, or perspective.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Surrounded by Time
    Surrounded by Time is magnificent -- it's redolent with wisdom and a raging lust for life that is free of camp. It offers abundant proof that despite the passing of years, Jones has lost none his power or swagger.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fire It Up
    Fire It Up showcases Cropper's joyous brand of grit & groove with swagger and attitude.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    11 Past the Hour
    With 11 Past the Hour, May has crafted a generous, collaborative album that feels like she's lifting others up, just as they are lifting her.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    BN9Drone
    Compared to Dekadrone, BN9Drone doesn't quite lift off, staying closer to the ground for its duration, and at 64 minutes (including a false ending), it simply goes on for roughly twice as long as it needs to. A shorter dose of it can be effective, however.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Flat White Moon
    Full of smart nods to their pop inspirations, Field Music's Flat White Moon is a poetic and beautifully realized production.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sweep It Into Space
    Sweep It Into Space boasts some of the catchiest and most immediate songs Dinosaur Jr. has released since their reunion. There aren't many sharp turns or wild surprises, just a one-of-a-kind band doing what they do best.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pale Horse Rider
    Pale Horse Rider is lonely, lamenting, and distant but beautifully warm, marrying Hanson's love of psychedelic experimentation with a more cosmic take on country. It's more immediate than his sometimes-deranged earlier work, but never so straitlaced as to feel safe or predictable.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Never the Right Time
    What might look and sound like merely another Stott album has the deepest well of emotion.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass
    With this collection of poems, Lana Del Rey offers an alternate view of the sun-dazzled California dreaming that fuels her songs. Her spoken word pieces reveal a more immediate lyrical sophistication, but they maintain the strange and powerful magic Del Rey has been cultivating her entire career.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Californian Soil
    Californian Soil is a standout in London Grammar's catalog and a significant step forward in the trio's artistic maturation.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Head of Roses
    More transformative than dour, Head of Roses is a journey toward healing and marks another strong entry in Flock of Dimes' growing catalog of work.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fearless (Taylor's Version)
    Swift largely re-creates the arrangements and feel of the original 2008 album, yet her voice and phrasing has aged, giving the music a hint of bittersweet gravity. That said, it's only a hint; Fearless (Taylor's Version) serves the purpose of offering new versions that could be substituted for the originals for licensing purposes. It's to Swift's credit that the album is an absorbing (if long) listen anyway.
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