New Musical Express (NME)'s Scores

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For 6,302 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Lowest review score: 0 Maroon
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,469 out of 6302
  2. Mixed: 1,680 out of 6302
  3. Negative: 153 out of 6302
6302 music reviews
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    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Positions
    It’s a pleasant listen, but this feels strange juxtaposed with the lyrical content that flits between brazen vulnerability and all-out raunch-fest, demanding something more. As an introduction to the next era of Grande’s career, it’s solid, but you can’t help but feel it’s missing some of her trademark sparkle.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Policy
    Policy is a gloriously unhinged sprawl of a record, but fittingly for the man who constructed sparse piano tech-paeans for the soundtrack to Spike Jonze’s 2013 movie Her, the downbeat moments resonate, too.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cut and Paste
    There’s surely enough here to bag him some space under Rihanna’s umbrella-ella-ella.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Have U Seen Her?
    The lyrical complexity of this mostly killer, little filler debut suggests that the singer, prone to pop bangers and searing confessionals, will dig up more compelling insecurities for whatever’s next.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Black And White Album
    Four potential singles are dropped in the first 15 minutes and, frankly, they're all about as good as it gets.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Is the Is Are
    Forget all the baggage, this is just a band in a room, and the noise they make is thrilling.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    What the World Needs Now
    Yes, PiL have made better records. But it’s nice to know John Lydon still cares enough to rage.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Enemy Mine
    The actual music on this album is excellent--the sort of Canadian indie beloved of people who live in cities yet dress like the Unabomber....A hole is kicked in the side of it by Carey Mercer’s berserk singing however.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Micah P. Hinson And The Opera Circuit
    A dark, beautiful collection. [26 Aug 2006, p.43]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    She's In Control
    These blow-dried disco numbers are unmistakably well-toned. [18 Sep 2004, p.65]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Carbonated
    London duo Mount Kimbie are stronger than the latter temptation; this six-track mini-selection bows to no imagined commercial pressure.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Long Live the Angels
    Sandé clearly has the chops to stand out in the sophisticated cross-platform arms race of modern pop music--the soaring ‘Shakes’ and ‘Sweet Architect’ are proof of that--but you still wish she didn’t fall back so readily on cliché.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Revolution Radio
    As a simple collection of songs, it’s as strong as anything they’ve come up with since 2004’s ‘American Idiot’.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Architect
    The album’s glossy production and lyrical vagueness mean these songs could just as easily be about relationships.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Port of Morrow
    Even if the Mensa-folk crew feel dumbed down on, there's just enough Mercer magic on Morrow to light up your local drop-in centre.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Set Free
    Terrific to get stoned to, the unfortunate upshot being that this is music that makes you fall asleep. [3 Sep 2005, p.74]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Last Laugh
    [Danger Mouse's] electronics in ‘Lucid’ detract from the caper and the sub-Lily Allen skank of ‘Jelly Belly’ is ill-advised, while ‘The Running Goblin’’s harpsichord mires it in a midden of shtick.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Augustines
    As a self-conscious play for stadium-rock ascension, it may prove successful. As a successor to one of the most honest and affecting debuts of recent years, however, it feels a little empty.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Czarface Meets Ghostface
    The album’s inner momentum offsets any occasional wrong direction.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Whiskey Tango Ghosts
    Trading bolshy indie for pin-drop lullabies and pedal steel guitars, 'Whiskey Tango Ghosts' is Donelly's 'I'm a full-time mum and dammit I'm happy' record. [24 Jul 2004, p.49]
    • New Musical Express (NME)
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dear John
    Dear John is more or less all about getting dumped, blending hymnal keyboards, tender strings and pained vocals.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Compassion
    Packing too much tunefulness and pop sensibility to ever feel crushingly miserable, Compassion is nevertheless ripe for wallowing in.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Load Blown
    There are glimmers of loveliness in the industrial-calypsos of 'Drool' and 'Bananas,' but that just makes the wilful awkwardness all the more frustrating.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    13
    The good news is that 13 is an amalgam of everything you’d want from a new Black Sabbath album featuring three of the original members.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    TRST
    Trust never want to be seen to be trying too hard, but finale 'Sulk' is where it all comes together, like Chromatics with an evil glint in their eye.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Handwritten
    The result is a weighty collection of tunes that toughens up the band's predilection of a softly rendered, Cure-indebted jangle and nudges the harder edges of Green Day's stadium punk.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Helping Hands
    There's certainly a good ear for a melody in evidence (most noticeable of all on Imperial), but testicles are nowhere to be seen.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whine of the Mystic
    The music shambles between arid Americana and early Strokes pep, but ultimately it’s Chapman’s grizzled longing that enchants.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blood
    By recording the album with his live band, he frames his unmistakably husky countertenor with a set of warm, natural sounds that form a bedrock for the raw emotions on Blood rather than distracting from them.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Something Beautiful
    So while ‘Something Beautiful’ probably isn’t Cyrus’s most hit-packed album, it does feel like a fully realised artistic statement. This post-genre pop star has pulled off another pretty big swing.
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