Exclaim's Scores

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For 5,096 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 57% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 75
Highest review score: 100 Vol.II
Lowest review score: 10 California Son
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,315 out of 5096
  2. Mixed: 753 out of 5096
  3. Negative: 28 out of 5096
5096 music reviews
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    • 57 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    California Son
    For the most part, Morrissey sounds like a cheap facsimile of himself; an aged crooner without any latter-day grace. Moreover, the features list on this album, including Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, occasionally comes into play with no impact. Coupled with Morrissey's complete lack of finesse in his vocals are the instrumentals, which are, for the most part, the dictionary definition of clinical.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hotel Sessions
    Far from essential, Hotel Sessions is a glimpse of a once great songwriter in mid-process.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Heart Blanche
    Green is too talented to not make a decent-sounding album, but Heart Blanche, while delivering Green's usually masterful take on gospel-influenced and pop-minded R&B, feels listless and lacks passion.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Peace Trail
    What a mess. ... The album sounds more like a rehearsal than a completed record, with Keltner's pacing off, Young flubbing lyrics and Bushnell at times just guessing.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    O.N.I.F.C.
    O.N.I.F.C. starts off with "Intro," a Cardo and Sledgren joint that sums up the production: 808 drums, skittering hi-hats and saccharine melodies, although the atmosphere is meaner than Rolling Papers.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Enslaved
    This is the band's best yet.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    I Declare Nothing
    While I Declare Nothing wastes no time solidifying a ruthless groove and builds on its own breathtaking walls of sound, it's album closer "Friendlies" on which Parks and Newcombe shine brightest, a four-and-a-half-minute bliss-out that could soundtrack a pro-hallucinogen PSA.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Drogas Light
    DROGAS Light isn't quite memorable, but Lupe's talent shines enough to save it from total obscurity. Not a bad effort, though.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lotus
    This might not be the golden, triumphant comeback Aguilera had hoped for, but it's pretty close and, let's face it, it's better than most Top 40 music right now.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Monastic Living [EP]
    Although both fans and newcomers alike would benefit from a more substantial, cohesive project, it's enough for now.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Closer Than Together
    Sadly, precious little restraint is found on the stuffy, haughty Closer Than Together.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Operator
    The MSTRKRFT formula of tight, catchy loops remains unchanged after all--they've just gotten a lot darker.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mount Ninji and Da Nice Time Kid
    All in all, there's ample material on here for fans, even if Mount Ninji lacks a lot of the bite that made albums like Ten$ion and Donker Mag so fresh and exhilarating.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Man of the Woods
    Immaculately produced and performed, it's hard to imagine Man of the Woods not being a hit, its tracks a steady stream for playlist fodder. But sound and feel are no substitute for soul.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Head Above Water
    Across the record's 12 tracks, Lavigne tries on a variety of styles, inhabiting each with ease, but rarely manages to rise above and make the sound her own.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Medicine
    Levi hasn't exactly grown with each and every album, and his wheel spinning has gotten the better of him again, because, apart from a couple of catchy tunes, Medicine isn't very exciting.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Based on a T.R.U. Story
    2 Chainz's debut album is a triumph on so many levels.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tend No Wounds [EP]
    Tend No Wounds sounds very much like a transitional record, one foot firmly planted in the tar pit of their sludge roots while the other steps forward into a more punk-influenced, high-energy hard rock mode, and this liminality leads to moments of awkwardness.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Excuse My French
    Montana's selection of trap beats falls flat. It's the kind of sweatshop beat-making mainstream producers have learned to accept as they cash their cheques.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Déjà-Vu
    One wonders what could have happened if Moroder explored a little more, rather than playing it safe.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Zukunft Ohne Menschen
    The music lacks the sheer immensity that must have graced it originally, as it's virtually impossible to recreate something so grand at home.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Conceived in Sewage
    Excellent production by Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal) at his Mana Recording Studio in St. Petersburg, FL takes Conceived in Sewage to a higher level of eviscerating brutality.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Neon Future, Vol. 1
    Aoki initially carved a niche with this sound, but we have to wonder when a progression from the safety of this oversaturated market will eventually occur.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Snoop Dogg Presents Bible of Love
    While his intentions may have been pure, Snoop's attention to the assembling of this album needed a little more love.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Good Intentions
    In so far as 'vibes' and 'moods' become more important in hip-hop, Nav captures the feeling of boredom exceptionally well. Surrounding himself with hip-hop's most superficial, NAV somehow manages to represent even less.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Still Run
    The tracks are well-produced, but lack the soul to make a deep enough impact.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Blacc Hollywood
    Blacc Hollywood, an LP titled like it might bring some overarching theme, is the audio equivalent of the Transformers quadrilogy: a series of in-your-face, mass-appeal blockbusters that lure crowds and teach them nothing.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    $ome $exy $ongs 4 U
    A mostly forgettable but sometimes good album.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Prophets of Rage
    Corny super group-nostalgia act trying to live up to the untouchable legacy of the members' previous bands? Or timely, and much-needed visceral response to trying times? It depends on your outlook. Prophets of Rage might not be the rap-rock group we need, but maybe they're the one we deserve.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hood Billionaire
    The sparse "Phone Tap" tells a tale of drug dealing paranoia, while the Big K.R.I.T.-assisted "Brimstone" is a remorseful hymnal. These moments are still few and far between, and the rest of Ross' tales of pushing fall short of revealing whether his ascent to boss status is factual or purely fictional.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Aladdin
    As a standalone collection of songs, the Aladdin LP doesn't reach the heights of his recent recorded output, but it's an interesting companion piece that will please the Green faithful and fans of the film
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Jesus Is King
    It could have been much better. Kanye's foray into gospel should have been a heavenly experience, but it's half-baked, incoherent and ultimately falls short of godly.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wiped Out!
    Ultimately, Wiped Out! comes off as a "see what sticks" effort; it's slick and polished, but hits varying levels of satisfaction throughout.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Weezer [Black Album]
    Weezer's latest is an utterly skippable collection that'd be entirely unremarkable if not for the fact it was released by Weezer.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Reincarnated
    The Diplo-directed record is a somewhat sloppy mish-mash of reggae cuts that rarely attain an authentic air.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Faith
    Despite poor production choices and lazy song structures, Pop Smoke's energy and solo spurts of brilliance won't allow for this stale posthumous release to tarnish his legacy.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Donda
    Though its creation process was an overarching performative event in itself, Ye still managed to (for the most part) control his narrative, and deliver his best body of work in recent memory. It's just hard not to think that some trimming and sequencing tweaks could have made this LP that much greater and his message that much more poignant.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Animal Ambition: An Untamed Desire to Win
    Animal Ambition showcases a very creatively confused 50 Cent, trapped in some sort of musical purgatory we can only hope he find his way out of.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Bad Habits
    It isn't inherently bad, but it isn't great either.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Nuthin' 2 Prove
    The album's only memorable line comes from "Yacht Club."
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    New Glow
    Beyond a few flaws, Matt & Kim have put together a fun record, and in the pop game, that comes first.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Blood of My Enemies
    It's not quite as bad as you might think. I mean, it's only embarrassing 40 percent of the time, which for Seinfeld, is pretty impressive.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Baptize
    It's clear Atreyu crave rebirth in the crucible of lifeless arena rock, but with a selection of tracks this dull and inoffensive, they'll probably get their wish.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beerbongs & Bentleys
    Beerbongs & Bentleys contains banger after banger; it's an incredible drug-induced album.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    DS4EVER
    DS4EVER is certainly a good mainstream rap record, and fans of Gunna and the community of high-profile Atlanta artists he's aligned with will find plenty to enjoy across the album's 19 tracks. Still, the question of where he goes from here is left for listeners to wonder.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I Am Not a Human Being II
    While not an absolute mess, I Am Not A Human Being 2 isn't very good.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Come Home the Kids Miss You
    There are good moments here and there, and the only sin Harlow truly commits is that much of the LP is boring and forgettable, not even bad enough to be entertaining besides a few head-shaking lines.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Lil Boat 2
    The album is so riven by corporate overtures that it bears no resemblance to its prequel.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Revival
    We can say that the real Slim Shady does show up and prove himself on a handful of Revival's songs, but many of the more 'noteworthy' moments are buried under a mountain of contradictions and cringe-worthy attempts at shock value.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Screamer
    By opening up their sonic palette, Third Eye Blind has highlighted their sheer strength as a songwriting unit and demonstrated that any path they take, they'll throw themselves into fully and unreservedly. Sounding both fresh and classic, Screamer is a great place for new fans to jump on, or for previously jaded listeners to give one of rock's most underrated groups a fresh shot.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Messier Objects
    As a listening experience in and of itself, Messier Objects offers very little to stimulate or engage and will likely only resonate with the most diehard among the Notwist's fan base.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    9
    Conley's lyrics and vocals are the boldest missteps on 9. Contained in what sounds like a grown adult emulating the vocal tonality of an angsty teen, are even stranger lyrical approaches.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The King & I
    Evans tries to preserve authenticity by enlisting producers like Chucky Thompson, Stevie J and DJ Premier (who all worked with Biggie in life). It's an understandable move, but the album's production is simply too dated to resonate.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Donda 2
    The current release of the album otherwise known as Donda 2 — is a noticeably unfinished album. ... Not that the album is unfinished to the point it's entirely unsatisfying; there are clear winners here.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Rich Gang
    All the songs on Rich Gang bleed into one another; they all have the same slow-to-mid tempo, overproduced, synth-heavy beats; and almost all the rappers sleepwalk through their verses.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    PartyNextDoor Two
    One gets the sense that as an artist, PND has yet to even scratch the surface of his potential. Two serves as evidence of such; perhaps the third and successive instalments will see continued artistic progression. Or not.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    MEMORIES DON'T DIE
    Tory Lanez manages to inject Memories Don't Die with a few quality tracks, but overall it misses the mark on classic appeal.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sweet Silence
    While not as artful as one would like, it's a strong effort and a step in the right direction.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    This Is My Dinner
    There is a sense of indulgence here, moments that could read as self-important, particularly when Kozelek dips into criticism, but themes of loss, of displacement, and of holding onto what has held you in the past bring completeness.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    NAV
    It's a lack of originality that turns the sound stale rather quickly.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    What The...
    It's a puny representation of a big sound made all the more unlistenable by the nuisance of the vocal lines.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Super Collider
    While there's nothing abhorrent about this album, it's so unobtrusive that it's practically not there, just one more forgettable release from a guy we're all secretly rooting for.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    143
    If it was offensively bad, at least it'd be camp. Instead, each track is an ADHD simulation — so understimulating you forget what it sounds like seconds after it ends.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Stay Awake
    There is still strength, a tenacious hopefulness that coils around every song, even as Stay Awake revels in its delicacy.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Disrupted Ads (Audio Dispensary System), Vol. 1
    With Disrupted Ads, Oh No manages consistency, even when cleaning out the vaults.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Man
    The textured, varied sonic flourishes provide a sumptuous foundation for Omar's malleable voice to articulate the album's lyrical theme of embracing maturity and responsibility, preserving and reaffirming his impressive artistic relevance.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dream Widow EP
    Despite many of the songs not building on the promise of the opening track, there is a sense of playfulness to the proceedings. You can practically hear Grohl grinning throughout as he indulges in some thrash metal cosplay. Unfortunately, it sounds like Dream Widow was more fun to record than it is to listen to.
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