Sputnikmusic's Scores

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For 2,595 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: 1,935 out of 2595
  2. Mixed: 572 out of 2595
  3. Negative: 88 out of 2595
2595 music reviews
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    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Heimdal
    Heimdal has a more organic feel than its most recent predecessors, a less polished approach that gives it a rawer edge while remaining complex and adventurous. This more unrefined blackened aesthetic, though present throughout the album, is magnificently explored in 'Congelia', which delivers a constant and overwhelming flow.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    One Thing at a Time
    The album’s music is a similar story, theoretically well-equipped with its slick production and generous emphasis on slide guitar, yet so heartlessly procedural in its composition and homogenous in its tempo that its encapsulation of the country Experience misses the elation and dynamism of wind-in-your-hair and ends up for more cholesterol-in-your-burger.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    Weathervanes
    Weathervanes is a bit of a downer. Regardless, though, it’s Isbell’s reliably exceptional songwriting, the bursting-out-of-the-gate energy of the 400 Unit (just listen to the barnburner that is “When We Were Close”), and a talent for subtle but inescapable hooks which make the doom and gloom of these songs not only bearable, but rather inviting.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    What Matters Most
    Despite its long gestation period and pristine production, it sounds as though no one believes in What Matters Most less than Folds himself, and this bleeds through every single vocal performance and instrumental arrangement on the record.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Shadow Kingdom
    As a whole, Shadow Kingdom might not be a revelation, but it’s an interesting experiment with plenty of solid results.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Formal Growth in the Desert
    Every member audibly leveled up with each LP and Formal Growth in the Desert again takes it up a notch. There are bits of everything the quartet crafted so far and more, all incorporated into a cohesive and intense narrative. As the instrumentals become more evocative, so does the storytelling.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    But Here We Are
    While not reinventing the wheel, and still struggling with occasional blandness, there are plenty of moments here which simply provoke more excitement and emotion than I’ve felt from Foo Fighters’ music for a while.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    Bunny
    Bunny's performances are pristine: the record navigates its hooks, sonic sways and immaculate v..v..vibes with palpable ease.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality
    Its songs are generally brisk, compositions tame, nuances readily graspable and holistic color palette decidedly uniform.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Maps
    Kenny Segal, a true and varied talent in and of himself, has a firm grasp on the gift that billy woods possesses, and has doubled down on his instinct to assist, to foreground the whims of a true poet in prime form. billy woods takes the bearing, and we follow.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    All of This Will End
    All Of This Will End is the type of album that will alternately satisfy and disgruntle the existing fanbase, but for me, it’s just another uneven but worthwhile step on an emerging artist’s journey.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Hard Cold Fire
    None of them break any new ground for the act, however, they are really tight songs overall.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    Museum
    It is every bit as excellent as I could have hoped for. Museum is a haunting affair, delicate and understated at all times yet bold enough to be decidedly impressive.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 44 Critic Score
    Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon
    Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon doesn’t expand on its original ideas, it gives you less – a familiar, now tenebrous and barren wasteland. The bottom line being; when your reimagined version makes an already lethargic album look like an action-packed thrill ride, you know you've got problems.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Variables
    Variables is not only much more ambitious than its predecessor (sorry Bring Backs), but also the most forward-thinking album Alfa Mist has put to wax thus far, and an experience far more suited to ruminative cigarettes by candlelight than vape-assisted marathon study sessions.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    Devil Music
    It’s not as seamless a blend as last year’s Ashenspire, but both idea and execution are exquisitely fresh among the extreme scene. Portrayal of Guilt always had the potential to craft a definitive album, and if Devil Music is not it, then they sure are on the right track.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    Ceremony
    In all its ethereal beauty, Ceremony is an ideal companion, whatever you’re going through right now. It’s a perfectly suited album to fill your earbuds while going on a walk, or for the next time you’re lounging on a chair in your backyard as the sun shines down.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Fuse
    Fuse lands as a welcome sampler of the Everything But the Girl sound updated to the ‘20s, but not quite the powerhouse comeback they are so clearly capable of.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Spectral Lines
    Spectral Lines is a batch of quietly luminous tracks that feel just as interlocked as the secrets of the universe, sharing pianos that blossom to stunning effect, vocal harmonization that whisks your mind off toward the ether, guitars with just enough bite to lend traction, and seamless transitions that give the entire experience an effortless, elegant flow.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    That! Feels Good!
    Ten tracks, forty minutes really is the perfect package for a pop record that oozes sophistication while not taking itself too seriously, and that knows when to trade the bomb-ass-thicc with lovers' lullabies.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A River Running to Your Heart
    This album is exactly what you’d expect from Fruit Bats. It’s fairly slim in runtime, very chill, and could conceivably be described as anything from indie pop to country rock without a listener batting an eye. There are songs notably catchy (“Rushin’ River Valley”), affecting (“We Used To Live Here”), and both of those previous descriptors at the same time (the goofily-titled “Jesus Tap Dancing Christ (It’s Good To Be Home)”)
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Scaring the Hoes
    I also really like the album, and I would give it 4 bags of popcorn.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    A Kiss for the Whole World
    A Kiss For the Whole World remains eminently-listenable low-calorie fun despite its intermittent slip ups.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    No Highs
    The palettes on offer are frequently gorgeous and sometimes even transcendent, but No Highs' pervasive gloom and downer vibes render it more standoffish than the lofty fear and trembling of Ravedeath or the playful eclecticism of Radio Amor.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    Henry St.
    All in all, Henry St. marks a triumphant return for The Tallest Man On Earth, as he once more emerges from the Swedish countryside to take the folk world by storm. This time, though, he’s got companions, leading to a fuller and richer sonic journey than ever before.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    ...So Unknown
    ...So Unknown is a flawed record, but still a worthwhile one to check out. Underneath its misguided bells and whistles lies a grueling trench of hatred and rage, one that demonstrates Jesus Piece’s capability to pulverize their audience with a sort of backwards grace.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Rat Saw God
    Without polish or overproduction, Wednesday sound is a powerful exclamation of a narrative, full of noise, beauty, and deeply relatable feelings and stories. It may not feel perfect, but it’s real.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    72 Seasons
    With a smattering of new influences combined with the homage to their own past, Metallica’s 72 Seasons is another solid release in their discography. It’s an album that feels more consistent and original than anything they’ve done since the Load releases from forever ago.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    The Price of Progress
    From the slowed tempo of the cinematic opener “Grand Junction” to the animated “Sixers”, they’ve crafted some of the most unpredictable and sweeping arrangements yet. This is an odd one, folks. And like much of Finn’s work, I’ll be racking my brain on its many idiosyncrasies for the foreseeable future.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    the record
    The overarching weakness seems to be that, while this is a set of songs being performed by talented musicians clearly having the time of their lives, it often feels like nothing more, simply a (great) set of songs rather than a coherent album statement. The previous paragraph’s fleeting criticism is just that, though: fleeting. The Record, when compared to Boygenius, inevitably comes out much ahead, reflecting the singer-songwriters’ substantial growth as musicians in the intervening half-decade.
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