Kerrang!'s Scores

  • Music
For 1,700 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 63% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 33% 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 Yellow & Green
Lowest review score: 20 What The...
Score distribution:
1700 music reviews
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    At its finest, this album is indecently exciting. [16 Apr 2011, p.50]
    • Kerrang!
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is music to be inspired by. [27 Apr 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's a visceral, straightforward assault,, and what really shines through is a grasp of songwriting that was once sorely underused and a sense of commitment and passion that was never really in doubt. [27 Jul 2013, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Light and breezy strummer Her majesty's Service occasionally reads like a string of Fallon-isms (rolling stones, a girl named Elsie, etc.), but it's blown away by the hulking brass of Sleepwalkers, which straddles the line between grandness and outrageousness perfectly. [10 Feb 2018, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Like Patton's day job, Nevermen succeed in making the world a much weirder and interesting place. [13 Feb 2016, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's not for the light-hearted, but Deafheaven have delivered a deranged, damaged, majestic treat here. [8 Jun 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is a record that seethes with fury. [25 Jul 2015, p.50]
    • Kerrang!
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A deliberate and delightful mess of punk and rock'n'roll out to deliver a black eye, Master Volume ends with the almost beautiful strains of Evil Side which buzz with an infectious, if troubled, vitality. But rather than falling apart, The Dirty Nil are simply solid. [15 Sep 2018, p.55]
    • Kerrang!
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cyr
    Does it need to be quite as much of a lengthy binge as it is? Maybe not. But second helpings of something that’s fundamentally good are never a bad thing. And in the moment that Smashing Pumpkins currently find themselves – three-quarters reunioned, confident, dare one even say comfortable – there’s joy to be heard throughout, as they turn over rocks and see what they can find.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While it's easy enough to pinpoint parallels, True Widow's appeal lies in the manner of their mixing, of the tremendously turbulent with the undeniably immediate. [27 Jul 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    That’s not say it’s unlistenable, far from it. In fact, it’s addictive to see where the record goes next. While most hardcore bands are adamant about getting heavier, The Armed are going poppier and, ultimately, weirder, often in the space of one verse. ... Sure, it’s not something you’re going to dip in and out of on a whim, but when you’re in, you won’t want to leave.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While Wretched And Divine might not be a game changer, for many people it could--and it should--be an opinion changer. [5 Jan 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It sounds like a band making music for the sheer love of it, but Taylor and his hard-rocking amigos also bring some top-notch songwriting. [12 Apr 2014, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Aaron and mewithoutYou have authored what's possibly their best album. [25 Jul 2015, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Normal Isn’t is a more subtle beast than Existential Reckoning, a cohesive collection of electro-goth tunes that runs deeper, darker, and in Bad Wolf and ImpetuoUs, hookier than its predecessor.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    They're strutting along a tightrope without a downward glance here. [27 Jan 2018, p.50]
    • Kerrang!
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It’s okay to not be okay, and Spanish Love Songs celebrate that with no small amount of knowing grouchiness here. The result is an album that’s not perfect – but those who get it will fall in love with it.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Millport is a welcome postcard from a busman's holiday taken by a fine songwriter. [11 Mar 2017, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Signed And Sealed In Blood finds Boston's finest as raucous, rowdy and riotous as ever, without sounding hoary or hackneyed. [5 Jan 2013, p.55]
    • Kerrang!
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fantastic album. [27 Jan 2018, p.51]
    • Kerrang!
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ultimately, though, this is a record with the kind of undeniable quality that will captivate fresh-faced newcomers just as much as weathered veterans.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The soft strummed title-track is saturated with heartbreak and rage. By the time the downbeat End Times Sermon dissolves into its ponderous parting sample, it’s hard not to feel drained and dejected, but also utterly connected to the chaos of the world falling apart around us.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is a bloody good CoB album. [8 Jun 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Making massive noise for a three-piece, buzzsaw rough guitar noise is expertly managed, combing Sabbath-inspired heaviness with some of Kyuss' spaced-out-ness. [29 Aug 2015, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Impassioned and intense, packed with killer riffs, compressed, barely-controlled energy and a driving sense of momentum. [19 Oct 2019, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's not wholly original, but there's plenty here to keep the (Gnar)wolf from the door. [20 Sep 2014, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    We didn't expect Asking Alexandria to raise the bar this high. [3 Aug 2013, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Their most accessible album to date. [20 Jul 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Luc remains an expert in experimental extremity, with Forgotten Arrows, reminding us that Gorguts were trawling prog-death waters long before Gojira. [17 Aug 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Amity Affliction have polished their beauty-and-the-beast sound and frankly, it couldn't be better. [29 Sep 2012, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This quality archive release is a timely reminder of the strange beauty and hypnotic potency of mainman Dylan Carlson's vision.[13 Nov 2010, p.51]
    • Kerrang!
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is We Are The in Crowd--without apology, pulling no punches and making good on the promise they've been threatening to trade in on for years. [15 Feb 2014, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Like Clockwork may have been wrought from turmoil, what it delivers is the sound of Queens Of The Stone Age back at the top of their game. [15 Jun 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A riveting convergence point for 14 years of expert graft. [7 Oct 2017, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This may be a much more conventional form of hardcore than their alumni have been doing recently, but here Angel Du$t are truly flexing their muscles.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is both an unpredictable, risk-taking venture and the truest hearted Alice Cooper album in many years. [10 Sep 2011, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The cloud of heaviness that hangs over the whole thing is matched only by the emotion on display, and the momements of beauty once again reveal YOB to be not just another doom outfit, but one of the finest heavy bands on earth. [9 Jun 2018, p.55
    • Kerrang!
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Just because you can't see what's about to hit you, it doesn't mean it can't knock you off your feet, and that's exactly what All Pigs Must Die do here. Repeatedly. [3 Aug 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Their gloriously off-kilter approach is compelling and then some. [30 Aug 2014, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's been a hell of a ride, one where the journey is just as much fun as reaching the journey. [12 Mar 2016, p.51]
    • Kerrang!
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This 10-track effort is rammed with classic moments. [28 Jan 2012, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In their own distinct ways, they both sound like the end of the world, and this jointly-created album sees them gleefully pulling preconceptions out of shape.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Every single one of these songs flags up Bad Waitress as a genuinely exciting prospect.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Not only do tracks like Looking For A Tornado sound great, they also have a distinct air of authenticity about them. [5 Apr 2014, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Arcane Roots have delivered one of 2013's best albums. [4 May 2013, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The resulting shift in sound not only suits Lemuria, it sets them apart from the indie pack. [15 Jun 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deafheaven have flourished magnificently here. Not just by making a god album, but by creating something that perfectly captures what they have become--a genuinely brilliant creative force unencumbered by genre, going wherever they will. [7 Jul 2018, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Georgia’s bass tone, not only disgustingly good, is a storytelling tool: in one instance it’s slurring and drenched in gloopy, thick fuzz, and then in other pockets it snaps awake, crunchy and computerised, but alive like a robot driven on revenge. Amy experiments with classical operatic vocal wails on opener Glory, while elsewhere her vocals become like fight talk, are enunciated with the confident cries of the Supernova era.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The end product is cathartic metalcore that pumps out southern grit on a par with records like The Bled's Pass The Flask or Every Time I Die's The Big Dirty. [3 Aug 2013, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    After a few listens, you realise this was lurking in them all along. [19 Oct 2013, p.55]
    • Kerrang!
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    An instantly likable example of how good Weezer an be. [25 Mar 2016, p.50]
    • Kerrang!
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    If one thing about The Used’s eighth LP stands out above all others, it’s how thrillingly modern it sounds.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Busy with songs that fizz with life and are packed with the kind of choruses that exist in a glorious, endless summer. [17 Aug 2019, p.55]
    • Kerrang!
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's the new songs (and remixes) that deserve the attention. [23 Feb 2013, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Taking cues from the Pixies and '90s grunge--Sell Yourself or Japanese Buffalo could be Pixies mainman Black Francis in a rage--but rowdier and caustic, they are compelling. [19 Mar 2011, p.51]
    • Kerrang!
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everest remains Halestorm, yes, but in dazzlingly diverting ways that are gonna take you time and several plays to appreciate properly.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Welcome Home is definitively a wonderful time, and a fitting farewell to an irreplaceable metal hero. [5 Oct 2019, p.55]
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Sleeping have finally shaken off the emo scene shackles and explored their personal sonic palettes. [02 Oct 2010, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sounding like every member of the band is determined to be the loudest and most aggressive mothertrucker on Earth, this is all-out war. [23 Feb 2013, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is a record made with care, craft, and nothing allowed in that isn’t just-so. It may seem an odd thing to praise a band as flamboyant as this for, but Rammstein know the value of quality rather than quantity. When they deliver, they still deliver the best.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With Sparse arrangements and songs that are never less than smart, How Do You Love? is an album for lovers than fighters and for anyone with a little romance in their heart, this is a doozy. [17 Aug 2019, p.55]
    • Kerrang!
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Six years since their last full-length release, this is the sound of one of desert rock’s greatest bands digging deep – and delivering all the groovy brilliance we’ve come to expect.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    One of the most hard-hitting records of the year. [30 Aug 2014, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's not perfect by any means, but taking this for what it is, Vultures is a gnarly debut effort. [29 Sep 2012, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's a record with an electric crackle, a halogen glow. [25 Feb 2017, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 50 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While they may have grown up, Good Charlotte have clearly not lost sight of who they are. Perhaps most importantly, though, they still know where they're going. [30 Oct 2010, p.50]
    • Kerrang!
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The band's most accessible release for a long time, with two or three songs that could muscle in on a Greatest Hits. [5 Oct 2019, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's a beast from start to finish. [7 Oct 2017, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A trip worth taking, over and over again.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Shed boasts a freshness that roots it very much ion the present, and the raw adrenaline driving the whole things is simply exhilarating. [14 May 2011, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    If you like metal so underground, it stinks of the sewer, this one's for you. [2 Jun 2012, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    There's a fresh, East-meets-West ingenuity on culture-clash cuts such as Wrestling Israel, amid the straight-up, old-fashioned fury on the title track, and closers #OccupyEarth and Stop the Apocalypse. [8 Sep 2012, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    After that opener sets the tone with its intentionally sloppy orchestral dramatics, the frenzied Totally Fine bursts out of the gate with the kind of paranoid urgency that’s defined the band’s 12 years of their existence.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's almost perfect in its imperfection. [5 Dec 2015, p.50]
    • Kerrang!
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Foo Fighters like this feel fresh, energised and essential.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Violence Unimagined sounds exactly as you imagine it will, but still surprises in just how much Cannibal Corpse have left in the tank.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A deeply unsettling, murky digital fog of a release. It's also brilliant. [24 Nov 2012, p.54]
    • Kerrang!
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is a rip-roaring, multi-faceted rock fest. [17 Dec 2011, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Chats have the same natural knack for this stuff as The Ramones, able to make their point in 90 seconds while also having ripping punk tunes galore that sound no different to those on their High Risk Behaviour debut. It is quite brilliant.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The highlights are plentiful, from the misanthropic maelstrom of People Person, to the lolloping The Digger You Deep and the Pixies-esque Hate The Polis, but you don’t need to pan for gold when there’s so much of it.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's prime Alice In Chains, and the work of a band still managing to hit new peaks of their powers. [25 Aug 2018, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This is an excellent ensemble of songs. [30 Aug 2014, p.50]
    • Kerrang!
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    You won't realise you've been possessed til it's too late. [20 Jan 2018, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    OOFP propels Robbins' melancholic take on post-hardcore to exciting new heights. [ 17 Dec 2011, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's six tracks bleed with conviction and emotional commitment, while a sense of austere grace adds depth to the jagged musical content. [21 Dec 2013, p.69]
    • Kerrang!
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    These songs gleam like freshly polished diamonds. [ 23 Jun 2012, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    VI
    The sound of a band who are wide awake again, not just finding their feet, but coming out confidently swinging. [29 Sep 2018, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rage Against The Machine's debut is still a record that would shock and shake foundations were it released today. [1 Dec 2012, p .48]
    • Kerrang!
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Each of their previous three albums have proven invigorating examples of their punishing aesthetic, but Atlas Vending finds them pushing things forward, broadening their horizons to tremendous effect.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The slo-mo mantras of this three-part suite successfully blast the divisions between high and low culture to smithereens. [5 Dec 2015, p.52]
    • Kerrang!
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's been a long wait for this, their debut album, but it's well worth it. [20 Nov 2010, p.51]
    • Kerrang!
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With Things Will Matter, one of the most distinctive bands to have emerged in recent years continue to make bold strides into the unknown. [21 May 2016, p.50]
    • Kerrang!
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A superb dose of head-banging fun by way of The House That Heaven Built brings this record to a joyous conclusion, and caps off an experience courtesy of Japandroids that overflows with vitality.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    There is an explosive exuberance at the heart of Enter Shikari’s superb seventh album.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    [An] excitable, artistically emphatic album. [28 Jan 2017, p.51]
    • Kerrang!
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Serpents Unleashed doesn't expand Skeletonwitch's armoury, but this band never disappoint. [26 Oct 2013, p.53]
    • Kerrang!
    • 65 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It's brighter, somehow more optimistic album, in which sweet melodies surface from growling, howling guitars and a storm of whirling noise. [1 Sep 2012, p.51]
    • Kerrang!
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A satisfying, feisty record made for blasting loud enough to annoy the neighbours, and for partying the existential dread away. This band’s not cooling down anytime soon.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Its longer arrangements are glacial expressions of the grotesque; sludge-speed metal that taps doom for tonal contours but keeps the texture popping enough to remain compelling. [21 Dec 2013, p.70]
    • Kerrang!
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    While this is certainly different from anything they have released previously, it is unmistakably an Amenra album – they’ve lost none of their razor sharp edge and are every bit as crushingly oppressive as they’ve always been. However, De Doorn has allowed for them to explore a much wider range of the emotional spectrum that their music is skilfully able to express and, as such, breaks down the boundaries that they have spent decades expanding on and pushing the limits of.