Slant Magazine's Scores

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For 3,119 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 35% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 62% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 7.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 65
Highest review score: 100 Who Kill
Lowest review score: 0 Fireflies
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,689 out of 3119
  2. Mixed: 1,319 out of 3119
  3. Negative: 111 out of 3119
3119 music reviews
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    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Brandy Clark
    Brandy Clark mostly pulls back on the spirited provocativeness of Clark’s earlier work, with lyrics about loss accented by a musical motif of heartfelt strings, but its standout tracks deploy the traditional themes and sounds of country in inventive ways.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Animals
    Rather than cutting and pasting samples and calling it a day, he skillfully weaves them together with improvisational live instrumentation. With Animals, analog and electronic, and past and present, are placed in an engaging dialogue.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Gag Order
    Despite some slipshod sequencing and periodic bouts of pretension, the album manages to articulate a working thesis for Kesha’s artistry that exists independently from the apparatus of purely commercial exhibitionism.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Legacy, Vol. 2
    Boo turns footwork’s roots—hip-hop, house, IDM, and drum ‘n’ bass—and spins them into something that sounds like a totally new language.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    The Album
    While the album’s sheer eclecticism is admirable in theory, each foray stops short of reaching its full potential, leaving listeners stranded in a musical no man’s land of half-baked ideas and missed opportunities.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    - (Subtract)
    No matter how much aesthetic cosplay Sheeran is willing to engage in, though, he’s still pumping out the same cheese-filled anthems that have plagued his previous albums.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Love Invention
    Lyrically, Goldfrapp occasionally leans too far into pop simplicity. ... Later in the album, though, when Goldfrapp gets more experimental—or at least dispenses with conventional pop structures—things begin to feel more immersive.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Chicago Sessions
    Even if it isn’t necessarily a pivotal effort, [The Chicago Sessions] is marked by an endearing lack of affectation that only one of the greatest country songwriters can achieve.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Jackman
    For the most part, Harlow operates in two contradictory modes: pedaling universal surface-level platitudes about relatable matters such as “the grind” or going for easy humble brags about receiving Sunday Service FaceTime calls from Justin Bieber.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Blómi
    Relative to the musician’s entire body of work, the album’s unflagging optimism and embrace of new age ambience are joyously therapeutic.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    That! Feels Good!
    What’s Your Pleasure? boasts a more sophisticated, diverse palette—including Italo, house, and funk—but its follow-up’s fluffier philosophy reflects Ware’s obvious elation at finally being able to bring her music to life in a club setting.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    First Two Pages of Frankenstein
    Occasionally, such stylings verge on the generically anthemic on First Two Pages of Frankenstein. ... The songs here are otherwise richly stacked with detail and sonic shadings.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    All of This Will End
    The album’s greatest asset is its immediacy, with its best songs seemingly allowing De Souza to get things off of her chest after years of holding it all in. It’s a shame, then, that All of This Will End often also indulges indie-twee clichés.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dreamer
    Although Iqbal demonstrates a profound understanding of genre and influences, Dreamer occasionally only dabbles in these styles rather than fully immerses itself in them. ... Nevertheless, Iqbal’s prowess as a singer and songwriter shines through with richness and depth.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    72 Seasons
    While the grooves are solid, there are few truly memorable riffs or solos to speak of on 72 Seasons. Even when the band does manage to recall the trappings of their early days, as on the thrillingly breakneck “Lux Æterna” or the Iron Maiden-style “Room of Mirrors,” the arrangements generally lack the intricacy and dynamics of their classic albums. ... This is more than made up for, though, by James Hetfield’s vocal performances.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fuse
    Even when Fuse is firing on all cylinders, it feels risk-averse, leaving one longing for an album that mines its gloomy outlook and ambiance for greater impact. As far as proverbial “comebacks” go, though, an exercise in pared-down style, where the music is a little darker, slower, and a bit more mature than what’s come before, is far from the end of the world.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    ...So Unknown
    Most of Jesus Piece’s experimental tendencies are confined to intros and outros on …So Unknown. The album feels more defined by genre than the band’s past work. But there’s no denying that the anger running through it is contagious, and creates a stark contrast to the majority of recent pop-rock, which carries a mood of depressed resignation.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Multitudes
    The album eschews the extroversion of the singer’s best work, like her 2007 breakthrough, The Reminder, and ultimately struggles to fully elucidate her multifaceted talents.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sremm 4 Life
    Perhaps the album could have felt a tad more engaging if it attempted to do a little more both sonically and lyrically, but Slim and Swae, as well as longtime producer Mike-Will-Made-It, know exactly what they excel at and they do an excellent job at doing just that.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    No Highs
    The album serves as a continued refinement of the talents that he displayed on 2006’s immense Harmony in Ultraviolet and 2016’s confrontational Love Streams, even if it’s ultimately not as consistent. Its atmosphere is so suffocating that “Anxiety” may accurately sum up most listeners’ emotional states after listening to the album in full—and considering No Highs’s ambitions, that’s perhaps the highest possible praise one could bestow upon it.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    1982
    Compared to some of their iconic contemporaries, A Certain Ratio never quite got their due, but the niche they’ve settled into in recent years serves their legacy well.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Rat Saw God
    All of the wobbling between tempos and styles might sound haphazard, but it’s executed with precision. And Hartzman’s snatches of Americana imagery—rain-rotted houses, parking lots, “piss-colored bright yellow Fanta”—ultimately cohere into an evocative portrait of the fringes of American life.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With a Hammer
    But for each jagged, dissonant song that Yaeji hurls into the mix, there’s a smoother, more melodic counterpart, showcasing the artist’s intuitive sense of balance. The album’s more straightforward tracks, like “For Granted” and “Done (Let’s Get It),” serve as a testament to Yaeji’s ability to craft infectious hooks without sacrificing her distinctive experimental edge.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Stereo Mind Game
    Even as the album’s lyrics shift focus to the normalcy of life after loss, the production remains varied. “Future Lover” is swathed in distorted electric guitars, while “Isolation” embodies its title by stripping back the album’s emergent indietronica style in favor of a lone acoustic guitar. These shifts, however subtle, keep Stereo Mind Game from stagnating.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Price of Progress
    The Price of Progress proves that they haven’t forgotten what made them great.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    the record
    Throughout The Record, Bridgers, Dacus, and Baker frequently return to the idea of an elusive search for identity. But they don’t seem to have found clarification just yet, failing to land on a collective identity or collaborative creative method that complements their myriad talents.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Continue as a Guest
    At the stage in their career when most bands are content to just repeat themselves, the unfamiliar palette of Continue As a Guest is a revelation, and certainly doesn’t preclude the other members of the New Pornographers from making their presence felt. Most notably, Zach Djanikian contributes tenor and alto sax on several tracks, expanding the album’s timbre in new and unexpected directions.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.
    Ocean Blvd traffics in some nimble, effervescent melodies, a few memorable vocal passages, and the occasional tuneful duet (Father John Misty proves to be an exceptional bedfellow on “Let the Light In”). But the album feels more like a placeholder in Del Rey’s discography than a truly audacious chapter in the singer’s blossoming late-period reawakening.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Good Luck
    Good Luck fits roughly into similar experiments by Backxwash or JPEGMAFIA, but it’s even harder to pin down to a single genre. It’s an album that testifies to the liberating potential of making a racket.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    10,000 Gecs
    While the twosome’s rambunctious revelry may appear wholly flippant upon first listen, their music, and 10,000 gecs as a whole, is far more sophisticated than it seems.
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