Delusions of Adequacy's Scores

  • Music
For 1,396 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 68% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 29% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.7 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 77
Highest review score: 100 The Stand Ins
Lowest review score: 10 The Raven
Score distribution:
1396 music reviews
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    These initial songs are noteworthy by any measure; the remainder of the album, then, is a bit of a let-down, especially on first listen.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Too much of the edge is gone, too much emphasis is placed on guitar solos, and the guitars sound, at times, rather flat and listless.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    It's this robust fervor and subject matter that fire up and lift up many of the songs on Ceremonials, but the constant exhortation comes at a price. Listener fatigue sets in as the relentless, up-tempo pace and sharply exclamatory vocal tone overwhelms over the course of the album.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Daedelus is a master at what he does, and what he does is different than virtually everything else around him, but he’s playing a little too close to the vest here, trading much of his style for a little more beat.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Packing both studio polish and meandering melodies makes for a largely safe yet inconvenient marriage.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    This isn’t a horrible album by any means, but it also isn’t very good. Sitek has done an astounding job of creating misty atmospheres and it’s these small touches that aid the album in becoming an interesting listen.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    If Edan can sort out the dismayingly schizophrenic nature of Beauty and the Beat, he could harness his immense potential as both a rapper and lyricist and create something pretty cool, especially if he gets guest-MCs who perform as well as Insight, Percee P, and Mr. Lif do on this album.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    On the whole, Grey Oceans seems to be the same old thing. I wouldn't recommend this to a first time listener of the band.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    There are few efforts as noble as Fink’s attempt to express the realities of human suffering. It’s unfortunate that Invisible Ones can’t consistently relate these messages musically.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    It’s not quite the doom-laden disaster that provisional plays suggest but neither is it an easy-to-recommend addition to the Low catalogue.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Nocturama isn't the weakest album in Nick Cave's canon, but it's far from being a particularly good one either.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Codename: Rondo showcases a softer sounding group and it's one that sounds neither confident, nor too amusing.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dumb Luck has [its] share of intriguing moments, on a few shining tracks.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The guitars and drums machines and electronic selections are a bit unlistenable. There are some redeeming qualities, however, with a solid groove-ridden guitar fashion show with "I'll Sue You" and an eccentric but extremely tasteful European guitar ballad in "Lisbon".
    • 67 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The way that Howling Bells constructed Radio Wars relies on strong melodies, hooks, songs, songs that aren’t really there, ideas not quite developed.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Temper, an album that stays the course in terms of facade but for the most part lacks the great songwriting that elevated "Précis" above other singer-songwriters.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Ultimately, it’s the combination of thwarted ambition and lack of proper recognition, which is apparent, that prevents Beware from ever fully taking flight as a listening experience.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    At each fork in the road, instead of going one way or another, Lerner takes the fork.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The album would be yet another trademark Strokes outing if not for its glaring inconsistency in the later tracks.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    So if you can make it to track six - the lush “Only Love Can Set You Free” - Love Songs For Patriots becomes far more palatable from then on in.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    This synth pop rhythm and blues album is nothing out of the ordinary. I do believe, however, that there are some clever twists throughout the album but unfortunately it all becomes a bit repetitive both musically and lyrically.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Eternal Turn of the Wheel just seems to pack too much of an antiquated, overused style into it without any new innovation and I just can't get behind this album.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Sure, sometimes, House makes for an enjoyable listen--but when those little electronic beats come in, and when autotuned vocals slip into the picture, it becomes increasingly more apparent that Le Concorde--or at least House--isn't special, but it sure thinks it is.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Overall then, Whatever, My Love is a mixed affair. Die-hard lovers of Become What You Are will have few real complaints but might perhaps overdose a touch on déjà vu. For the less pre-devoted, a cherry-picked yet economically-unviable EP selection from the album might have served this reunion better artistically.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Hippies is hardly song focused, the record's 16 tracks tend to mesh together into a blurry, tape-fueled haze--there aren't any obvious highlights here.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Adamson is certainly adept at replicating the sights and sounds of the Bond and Blaxploitation films that inspired him in his youth. But is he celebrating his passion or merely mocking it in a hamfisted fashion? Sadly if feels like too much of the latter, even if it is by accident.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Incumbent crescendos and contemplative guitar interludes notwithstanding, Mono has chosen to cloak itself in the inescapable fog of its forefathers and influences rather than transcend the sum of its parts.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Year of the Black Rainbow is not a bad album. It has its moments, but it is a far, far cry from the greatness Coheed & Cambria possessed on all four previous albums, especially the masterpiece of melody, dynamics, musicianship and continuity that was "Good Apollo I."
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Surprisingly enough, it lacks a strong sense of focus (something the creative basking of Sea Lion honed in on) and for all of its elements of sweeping grandiosity, they never seem to have much of a purpose.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    A staggeringly uneven salad of powerpop alt-country and even R&B that succeeds as often as it fails.