Hot Press' Scores

  • Music
For 497 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 54% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 44% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 67
Highest review score: 100 The Archives Vol. 1 1963-1972
Lowest review score: 10 Uncle Dysfunktional
Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 24 out of 497
497 music reviews
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    To paraphrase Jarvis, you’ve got to wonder what exactly Hard-Fi are going to do for an encore--cos this is hardcore.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Trees Outside The Academy is a masterclass of prog drugginess, brimming with sweet melodies and lullaby choruses.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Go on, drink whiskey from the bottle, see if I care. But when you’re done, don’t jump around like gracelessly ageing Bratz dolls playing late-era Kiss and think you’re a blistering she-Crue.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    In truth, Into The Wild doesn’t sound like a first solo album. It radiates a confidence and maturity that Pearl Jam have lacked on their recent albums.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Re-hashing a similar formula throughout 12 tracks makes for sour and rarely enjoyable listening.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Shooting people, no-strings-attached sex and being a millionaire has never sounded so boring.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    West crosses genres with wilful and speedy abandon, taking the listener on an epic quest where the journey is just as enjoyable and unpredictable as the destination.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Maybe I've become too familiar with what they’re trying to achieve--but right now there’s nothing here to make me instantly love this record.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Bluefinger is probably the sprightliest solo collection of songs Frank Black has recorded to date.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Chao is at best when merging his Latin/salsa influences with squealing, screeching garage-rock.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Too cool for school? Maybe. But if Liars aren’t anybody’s idea of easy listening, by gum, they’re never dull, and for that, we salute them.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    They’re a zesty bunch are Architecture In Helsinki, and never more so than on Places Like This.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kala is an intoxicating junk-culture travelogue, a genre-humping mash-up of Bollywood rumbles, shrieking guitars and machine-gun rhymes.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ahead of their Electric Picnic date, the LA rockers ditch their mainstream sheen on their fourth album.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Kweli's collaborative work has set the bar so high that his solo efforts routinely fail to meet these exalted expectations.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Melody takes precedence on Roots And Echoes, and this makes it stronger and tighter than The Coral’s previous releases.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    What the world needs now is love, sweet love. Instead we get a new Korn album. Oh well.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Bat For Lashes' debut, Fur And Gold, is an album that delivers the listener from any form of humdrum existence into a deeper realm of dream and dementia.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    If there’s a central problem with War Stories, it’s that at times it strays too close to rock orthodoxy and loses the offbeat stylistic flourishes that made Unkle such an exciting proposition to begin with.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Underclass Hero is a perfectly workable North American punk rock album. It’s got melodic suss and a snotty attitude to its credit, but not much else.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The first new material from New York’s finest avant garde trio since last year’s superb Show Your Bones album, Is Is isn’t a new album, unfortunately.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    In places <i>An End Has a Start</i> is bleakly compelling; nevertheless, great swathes of the record strain towards a pasty arena-rock future.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The best you can offer is that it’s not a disaster – now do you want to tell Billy or should I?
    • 70 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Probably a track or two short of being a stone-cold classic, Our Love To Admire nonetheless makes for hugely rewarding listening.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Anyone hoping for another "Don’t Dream It’s Over" is going to find Time On Earth a disappointment.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A sparkling return to form for a band regarded by many as the great lost hope of the early ‘90s.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Jason Isbell, formerly of the Drive By Truckers, releases a solid, sad, gritty new album as a solo artist.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It will probably go down as their 'sell-out' record, in that it's their first for a major label.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    It would appear that working-class Coventry trio The Enemy are now officially the next big thing.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Velvet Revolver are a formidable collection of important figures from 80’s and 90’s hard rock, and this strong mixture of personalities lends their music a certain charisma, even when it isn’t particularly accomplished.