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For 2,596 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 Exit
Lowest review score: 10 The Path of Totality
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,936 out of 2596
  2. Mixed: 572 out of 2596
  3. Negative: 88 out of 2596
2596 music reviews
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    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything Is Alive
    everything is alive feels practically self-contained, like a Slowdive record blissfully unaware it is a Slowdive record, most likely for the better. Simultaneously, the fact that everything is alive could have been a very different album is hard to dismiss. The songs that contain explicit traces of this minimal electronic framework are easily the strongest cuts and, most importantly, feel like a productive midway point between “Slowdive Slowdiving” and whatever Pygmalion worshippers keep hoping for.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Halcyon Digest
    A great album, tweaked.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Plumb
    The result is something that feels like an exotic journey and a familiar stroll all at once, and the comfort-to-exploration ratio is perfect.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Oyster Cuts
    The listener might not quite know what they’re getting, song by song, but the whole tracklist remains high-quality guitar-driven pop. There are notable highlights - among them the utterly infectious opener “Never Be Lonely”, the immaculate title track, and the drugged-out and strangely hypnotic “Screensaver” - but every tune has its own merits.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Optimist
    Listening to The Optimist is an intense experience, and can have wild transitions from one song to the next given how different some tracks are from others. They are able to make it work though, being an adventurous and engaging continuation, and conclusion, of a past record's concept that still sees the band evolving in a rewarding fashion.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blush
    The bare arrangements are a compliment to her voice, which is nimble enough to meander through all of the record’s introspective verses while also retaining enough power to deliver the occasional knock out chorus.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Toil and Trouble
    Pastel is exchanged for matt, or maybe gloss, via 27(!) instruments, all played/recorded/produced/mixed by our BOI, not that you could tell he’s been that busy. “Memory Palace” is simplicity itself, Melotron and Mustel celeste sneaking betwixt bashful oaken strumming.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt
    This is one of Moby’s most cohesive efforts, so if you don’t dig this side of his musical output or look for a wild diversity, you’d be a bit disappointed. Other than this, the record flows surprisingly nice, unveiling a lot of strong material.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Annual
    With Annual, Modern Nature prove that consistent, understated excellence comes naturally to them.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    X'ed Out
    This album isn't about questioning convention, but rather embracing it. The music radiates melodicism, with each song inviting the listener into an environment of splendorous euphony rather than alienating with irregularity.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Are You In?
    What's really impressive: this is intelligent enough to satisfy the conscious-cats with enough inspiring socio-political discussion (see Gina Loring's "Poetic Greed"), poppy enough for the club with some hype-generating hooks, and ideal for a 45-minute workout.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Older
    In its most proficient moments, Older is heartbreaking, raw, confessional, melodically ethereal, and outright fun in flashes. These moments definitely outnumber the record’s more unfocused offerings.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cheer
    Maybe this album is the fire; the guitar melodies on songs like Strong References and Avoidarama certainly blaze a scorching trail through the middle of rhythm section. But on a record where those blistering tones are juxtaposed against lines like ”Find an oven, stick my head in”, I’m assuming that tenacity isn’t a by-product of optimism so much as it is a spiteful response to expectation and convention. That, my guys, is more punk than vandalizing GG Allin’s gravestone.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tomb
    What we end up with here is Angelo De Augustine’s most brazen step forward to date. Tomb sees him not buried, but bursting forth with flourishing atmospheres.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Grid of Points
    It’s pithy and monochromatic, forcing the listener to pay the closest attention to every movement. Every harmony is a different shade of grey, and this record does yield some of her loveliest harmonies.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Devil You Know
    Shockingly good but reassuringly gimmick-free, The Devil You Know is not only the best Dio or Sabbath release in over a decade but a front-runner for heavy metal album of the year.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pale Horses
    Pale Horses easily stands on its own as one of the year’s better albums. It entails almost all of the band’s greatest strengths, with the vigor that comes from a renewed focus on the post-hardcore stylings of yesteryear.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    These Systems Are Failing
    Stripped of all excess, These Systems Are Failing delivers like very few others do in Moby’s discography. It will no doubt divide a part of his fan base like Animal Rights did, however, it won’t be as shocking as in 1996.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Crucible
    This can be a polarizing LP, especially for fans who are turned on by their poppier side (myself included) or ‘90s works. In spite of that, I believe this musical vertigo is actually a minutely crafted conceptual piece that represents a peak in their career.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tronic
    Black Milk has simply made a completely unique statement in what is typically a pretty stale genre, and with Tronic he has confirmed his status as one of the best.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Obsidian
    The music is more intimate this time around, and makes for an infinitely more telling description of who Baths is.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fading Frontier
    Fading Frontier’s signature is focus though, and it’s evident in the concise and tightly controlled songwriting.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Daisy
    Brand New found a way to create a complete, effervescent album.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
    As such, not much of the sonic territory meandered upon here is particularly new for the band, but they manage to provide highly satisfying renditions of many of the styles they’ve explored over the years. As such, this latest album feels like a rather comfortable, but nonetheless impressive, addition to the canon.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Vitriola
    This album finds Kasher engaging with capitalism in a way not heard since “Dorothy at Forty”, but while that song pointed out the excesses of the stereotypical American dream, songs like “Under the Rainbow” lament the deletion of that dream from our lives.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    3121
    Ultimately, this is the best album The Artist Formerly Known As Squiggle could possibly have hoped to make in 2006.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Baby 81
    A masterful little work of sonic soundscapes, dark edges, muted colors, and low, simmering sexuality.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    925
    Sorry is exactly the shot in the arm that indie-rock has been missing lately – a fearless band that has set out to make its mark on the new decade, and with 925, already has.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Drastic Fantastic
    Drastic Fantastic achieves success due to its near-perfect composition and construction.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Neon Bible
    It's about as good as Funeral and features some truly wonderful songs; although The Arcade Fire have certainly progressed, Neon Bible features everything that made them special in the first place, to even more epic proportions.
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