The Quietus' Scores

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For 2,374 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 61% higher than the average critic
  • 8% same as the average critic
  • 31% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.2 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 76
Highest review score: 100 Promises
Lowest review score: 0 Lulu
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,109 out of 2374
  2. Mixed: 244 out of 2374
  3. Negative: 21 out of 2374
2374 music reviews
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    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    absent origin
    What is impressive about absent origin is that the sprawling album does have a focus. There are repeated themes — feminist and internationalist snippets as well as musical motifs. And the albums winds down in a logical way as the soothing string arrangements and bird song of ‘an infinite thrum (archipelago)’ give way to the piano and more operatic singing of album closer ‘the abandoned colony collapsed my world.’
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    In Free Fall
    In Free Fall often feels like floating, but it never really makes the crash-landing you’d expect from gravity’s pull. Rather, it stays in the atmosphere, lingering on the feeling of uncertainty of a jump, right before your feet touch the ground.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Age of Pleasure
    There’s plenty of intricacy in the intimacy of this record. In the end, though, The Age Of Pleasure is an easier ride. Less densely packed with ideas but it’s no bother.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Maisha
    The album is a gorgeous stew of musical openness and stylistic shape-shifting, without once abandoning the heritage that has birthed it.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Through Other Reflections
    The pop hooks in contrast to their previous two albums are more subliminal. The melodies don’t always go in places you expect, but this music is best left to stew in the background before the magic manifests.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Weightless Hour
    While Stein’s arrangements are frequently simple, they are never sparse. Despite the minimalist approach to the songs, the production still sounds full, allowing distant echoing sounds to emphasise what’s there rather than imply what’s missing.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    McCartney, It'll Be OK
    The earlier EP was impressive but they’ve noticeably pushed themselves further here, achieving something sharper, more their own.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Black Noise
    A fearlessness in operating in obscurity is Black Noise, demonstrated in its abstract nature. ‘Art of Survival’ brings forth a mass of overwhelming sounds before dulling into inaudible speech that is both numbing and ominous, in amongst defiant lyricism. ‘Black Orpheus’ bares mystical unease, dominated by streaky violin chords intriguingly met with rhythmic drum patterns that create fanatical theatre.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Collapse Of Everything
    However dark the underlying motives are, The Collapse Of Everything gives a sense of hope, rising from ashes.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Xiu Mutha Fuckin' Xiu: Vol. 1
    In scratching their own itch, Xiu Xiu have made a brave record.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Live from KCRW
    Live At KCRW is a fine declaration of where The Bad Seeds are in the here and now. It would be a fool who would second-guess as to where they're headed to next but at this moment in time they sound as comfortable in their music as they do the fine suits they wear.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Death Peak
    The daring, innovative breadth of his artistic imagination is given full licence in the sense of expansive space each track so effortlessly conjures--no doubt helped by his previous soundtrack work.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Matangi
    Matangi sounds like a mess on first, second and third listen--and it doesn't help that the album's worst missteps, the lumbering Britpop-worthy ballad 'Come Walk With Me' and the squeaky irritant 'aTENTion', weigh down its first half. But when it coheres, it's a thrill.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dream a Garden
    Dream A Garden is an album full of admirable ideas and clearly coloured by his past, but as a step towards his future, it falls in between its own ambition and true excellence.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ticket to Fame
    In their pursuit of experimentation, Decisive Pink have accomplished a great deal with this expansive body of work.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Chance of Rain
    Chance Of Rain sinks its hooks in deeper.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    HNDRXX
    It's the slickest, spaciest project he's released since Honest (which was always underrated), and sits far left of the trap rigor mortis of the self-titled record.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dissent
    They leave a lot of room for the listener to complete the work. A choose your own adventure where we stay safely this side of the page, sipping our coffee. ... Your mileage may vary but for me the second half of the album contains the better music.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Pt. 1
    What’s heartening about the first part of Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost is that this formula has not become tired. Rather, the band are adding to it incrementally and progressing into ever more interesting territory.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Dark Sky Island
    It does feel like Enya's strongest effort in years, and that is not at the expense of previous records. Dark Sky Island is Enya operating at her most maximal and self-aware.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Venus in Leo
    They are now making music that, thanks to its lack of grandiosity and ornateness, has a seeming air of distance. It could almost pass through you unnoticed. But they leave traces in your brain that linger and slowly burn inside of you, long after you’ve stopped listening.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Burnt Offering
    The Budos Band are the real deal, and Burnt Offering is quite a ride. For connoisseurs of heavy sounds, I can't recommend this highly enough.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A Different Ship
    A Different Ship is another exciting chapter in the story of a band who continue to improve with every release.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Third Mouth
    Alexander Tucker may not make folk music, but he can weave a magic spell.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fanfare
    It is that expanded awareness of what is possible within his derivative style that makes Fanfare a fascinating album, and a significant step forward.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Honeymoon
    Del Rey plays a winning strike with Honeymoon's four opening songs: powerful ballads, lain on ethereal and soft arrangements made of smooth strings and jazzy winds.... If 'High By The Beach' still can sustain its four-minutes length, the same unfortunately cannot be said for the most of the following songs.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Bloom
    Bloom is in part brilliant but maddeningly safe and, ultimately, is a decidedly unsatisfying listen.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The House That Jack Built
    Lyrically The House That Jack Built is a masterpiece.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    a little death
    A Little Death showcases Rousay’s ability to convey complex feelings of nostalgia, bringing to mind the themes of films such as Aftersun or Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind in their wistful approach to the portrayal of memories.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    II
    II tweaks the Metz formula just enough to stand as an improvement over the band's excellent 2012 self-titled debut.
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