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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    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Roach
    Rays of light shine through on the glitzy, sparkling "So Clear," where she realizes after "ten thousand days" — as in, the late-twenties — fucking up is necessary to incite change. At this point, Folick looks back at the first half of the album with a fresh, wisened perspective. In doing so, it feels euphoric to see the extent of her growth.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Unravelling
    Unraveling is cut from a richer, darker cloth than their earlier works, making it a bold departure and a tense new direction well worth exploring.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Days into Years
    This is clearly their best work to date.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Signs Under Test
    Tejada's Signs Under Test comes across differently--there is a timeless quality to the album, one that suggests it will still be as relevant and appreciated long after many of its contemporaries have faded away.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    People Who Aren't There Anymore
    A great, often excellent effort containing at least a couple outstanding moments that see Future Islands really crystallize as its best self. There are some overly familiar moments and the album essentially offers more of the same, but it’s arguably their best work since Singles, the group’s still-reigning high-water mark.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At.Long.Last.A$AP
    A much more risky, expansive and intriguing listen [than Long.Live.A$AP].
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Trouble & Love
    She's a straight shooter, and Trouble & Love hits right to the heart.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Human Performance
    With Human Performance, Parquet Courts have managed to cram in a lot. Lesser bands might have made a mess attempting a project like this, but what separates Parquet Courts is their adaptability and understanding of the subject matter.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Never Were the Way She Was
    Recorded live with no overdubs or loops, Never were the way she was is a perfect blend of Neufeld's violin virtuosity and Stetson's outside-the-box approach to saxophone and clarinet, their styles complementing yet pushing each other to new heights.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    High As Hope
    High As Hope is a welcome chapter in Florence + the Machine's career. Welch is writing reflectively but with a firm rooting in the present; singing with clarity about life's biggest questions as she and her fans continue to figure it out side-by-side, in both the loud and quiet moments.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tracer
    Tracer is a complete LP that's unified yet fluid, providing a full club experience for those who choose not to leave their bedrooms.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sugar the Bruise [EP]
    Duffy relinquished control and precision — and perhaps loneliness — in favour of something more immediate, striking, and impulsive. The resulting six-song record has a looseness to it that celebrates the uninhibited power of spontaneity and invention.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Atra Mors
    The music is troubling and absorbing, a fascinating progression of textures and tones, telling the lugubrious narrative through remarkably tactile sound.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Delusion Moon
    The songs are more interesting and less formulaic, akin to the approaches of Q and Not U and No Knife.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Splid
    Kvelertak aren't creating any surprises on Splid, they are simply doing it better than they ever have before, showing they are greater than all the individual parts of their sound.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    AZD
    Musically, it takes listeners through a dystopian dance-floor dream universe, with the shiny but comforting hand from its cover as our guide.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Brutalism
    Brutalism finds Pierce at his most confident, musically, but his most vulnerable, personally. He's able to explore new sounds without worrying about expectations, and open up about emotions that he's never touched on in his music before.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kindred [EP]
    This is a release worth snapping up on vinyl when it finally comes out.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Love In Constant Spectacle
    Love in Constant Spectacle features all of Weaver's strengths and none of her (very few) weaknesses. There's a kind of magical play here that conceals the emotional weight the album continuously heaves skyward, any evidence of the effort smoothed out in the subtitles.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    R.E.M. at the BBC [Box Set]
    Freed from the studio sheen that bogged down much of the material in the post-Berry years, the songs are given the room they need to breathe, and make a case for R.E.M.'s second act being filled with overlooked gems.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Softer Focus
    With Toral's help, rousay has presented a musical vision that is newly inviting while retaining all of the elements that have made her music so special
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Somewhere
    Taken as standalone stories, they're almost brazenly mundane; considered as a whole, Somewhere paints a picture of the small pleasantries and anxieties of everyday life.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Somersault
    They've always had an ear for melody, and here, the shimmering soundscapes put that gift on full display. The result is a compelling, immersive addition to the Beach Fossils catalogue, an effort that chronicles a band truly freeing themselves and expanding outward.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Transfiguration Highway
    Continuing to navigate everyday life experiences with insightful wisdom, reimagining biblical language with more universal interpretations.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sentenced to Life
    The album brings the dead back to life with the best kind of dark thrash, which is dripping with West coast hardcore aggression.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We Get By
    A little more understated than her recent collaborations with Jeff Tweedy, who similarly wrote songs and produced them for Staples, We Get By is still a gem and Mavis Staples and Ben Harper clearly hit upon something special in working together.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jackrabbit
    His predilection for marrying sublime pop melodies to bombastic arrangements laced with classical avant-garde flourishes has reached a new level of focus, and, resultantly, potency, on Jackrabbit.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Inner Song
    Owen's second album is nonetheless a triumph of soundscapes, an album not meant to analyze and decipher but to daydream, sleepwalk and stargaze through.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Like the River Loves the Sea
    On Like the River Loves the Sea, Joan Shelley proves she may be the only active musician who can surround herself with collaborators and sound exactly like herself.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lost Girls
    Pleasure and happiness live alongside unease on Lost Girls. Khan is able to pierce through the darkness while still honouring it, and in doing so, acknowledges the validity of her emotions.
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