Sputnikmusic's Scores

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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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    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    IX
    The robust rock songs fall flat, rarely achieving lift off from their rote, chugging origins, while even the band’s worst proggish impulses are neatly trimmed down into manageable four-minutes-and-under transitions and slapped with a typically Trail of Dead-ian name, a middle finger in disguise. Only closer “Sound Of The Silk” really marries the two histories of the band into the kind of complete performance that made Tao of the Dead such a thrilling ride.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Gutter Tactics
    Gutter Tactics flow and overall rhymes pale in comparison to those found in "Abandoned Language." It is as if Gutter Tactics thick, doom sound that defined Dälek’s approach has now turned back and smothered any attempt at a unique change.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Bird And The Bee
    Most of The Bird and the Bee is average, albeit highly danceable and fun, Pop music: worth the download, but hardly the purchase.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mines
    Mines is one of the better rock albums to come out this year, and yes, it's interesting.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cults
    Fantastic songs that have an uncanny ability to lodge their way firmly into your head.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Dark Was The Night
    With every compilation, tracks are bound to fall flat. However, the turnover rate is relatively low, making Dark Was The Night so refreshing and ultimately a worthy purchase.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Human Romance
    It's safe to say that Darkest Hour are not as good as they used to be--sorry, fans, but The Eternal Return and The Human Romance are both indicators of that. But the band have certainly got their bearings back this year and have made the best album that they possibly could have without Kris Norris.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mountaintops
    These moments of stepping outside of the indie pop comfort zone are what give Mountaintops a bit of zest, but it's also what makes the album less than a stellar affair.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lights Out
    There are certainly a few noticeable misses (such as the overwrought ‘Ready to Lose’), but the occasional home runs are more than enough to offset those moments.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Stupid Things That Mean the World
    This is a beautiful, cohesive album that stirs so many emotions and speaks for itself. It might not be as immediate or as catchy as ADD, but does the most important thing: paving new grounds.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    How to Be a Human Being
    Less eccentric and exciting than its predecessor, perhaps, but only by choice. Glass Animals are at their peak in 2016, and perfectly content to be slower and quieter, worming their way into your head by inches but settling in for the long haul once they're in there.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nowhere Generation
    Nowhere Generation is merely a good album that offers us a worthwhile batch of late-career songs.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Almanac
    Widowspeak’s greatest accomplishment is maintaining that same sense of simmering, uncertain wonder over the course of one wonderfully blurry album.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    God Help The Girl
    This remains, however, a good album, and another triumph for Stuart Murdoch.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hardwired...To Self-Destruct
    There’s no attempt to recapture their classic sound, no blatant radio single, and not even an attempt at performing more than what they’re comfortable with. If you’ve followed Metallica beyond the black album, you’ll find a very good, honest, release in Hardwired… To Self-Destruct.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Let's Start Here
    Let's Start Here. is messy, ridiculous, admirable in its ambition and absolutely insane in its execution. If the albums you love are loved because you get tangled in the weeds with them, be absolutely baffled by them and come out wondering what the hell you liked about them, time to go in for another spin to find out? Then, hop up on the ride and keep those damn questions to yourself.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Music
    The number of songs and the length would be a bit more understandable if there weren’t also the feeling that some of these songs are woefully undercooked and underdeveloped, but it feels like a true russian roulette to engage with the totality of Music when you get a song that feels kinetic and lively and progresses, only to then be met with a bonafide voice memo that repeats one idea over and over.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    180
    There you have it; young lads just starting out make poor-to-average debut record. Not an unusual occurrence, and no doubt a thousand other albums released that day were no better or worse than 180.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Aufheben
    Much like the Socialist commune they share a part of their name with, BJM retains the mysterious cult image that attracts a few but repels many.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Let's Rock
    On all counts, “Let’s Rock” succeeds in its mission. Hit the road, roll down the windows, and play it loud.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    The Next Four Years
    The Next Four Years isn't the best record of the year, but it is the most honest--and sometimes that means so much more.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Rolling Blackouts
    It works from top to bottom, to take songs from, and it fits the Go! Team canon with assumed confidence.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Texis
    Sleigh Bells have not sounded this rejuvenated or fun since they first appeared on the scene over a decade ago. Their core spirit and whatever magic it contained is back in full force, and it’s arguably more potent than ever.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    The Art of Survival
    The Art of Survival picks up where The Kingdom left off, but it doubles down on the sludgy, heavier, direction of its predecessor while dumping most the alt rock influences. What’s more, in this era where heavy music is the norm, Bush almost sounds fresh because there’s very few artists blending grungy heaviness with a more accessible songwriting formula.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Central Market
    Instead of rhythmic exploration Braxton is working with a variety of harmonic and melodic developments and in doing so has made a refreshing and similar counterpoint to 'Mirrored'. Central Market may not be as calculated, but it is more fun and in general more easy to digest.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 52 Critic Score
    WE
    This may well be the group’s most sonically diverse outing yet, for good and for ill; even on the many occasions it isn’t convincing, it often manages enough novelty to entertain nonetheless, and Nigel Godrich's impeccable production job certainly makes the whole affair easy on the ears.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    KOD
    J. Cole’s raps, but KOD sounds like someone who is either unfamiliar with drug abuse, or is completely unsympathetic to the dynamics of drug abuse in America.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Simple Math
    Remember what I said about this band being capable of a classic? Well 'Simple Math' is their first. Just a shame about Simple Math.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Magic
    It stands well alongside any classic Springsteen record you can mention.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Write Me Back
    The duology of Love Letter and Write Me Back has been his most soulful and inspired work since Chocolate Factory.
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