Slant Magazine's Scores

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For 3,122 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: 1,692 out of 3122
  2. Mixed: 1,319 out of 3122
  3. Negative: 111 out of 3122
3122 music reviews
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    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Public Warning
    The slick, flashy façade that renders tracks like the predictable "Love Me Or Hate Me" and the bland title cut seemingly hollow detracts from the obvious skill of the self-proclaimed "biggest midget in the game," making Public Warning less of an instant classic and more of a promise of things to come.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Drastic Fantastic
    A definite improvement on her solid debut, this is also a more polished record that should continue to build upon Tunstall's success.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Semper Femina
    The result is an album that seeks to push folk's innate naturalism into an even more progressive space, eschewing any trace of outmoded roles and stereotypes. In doing so, Semper Femina never feels strained or disingenuous, the effortless antithesis to the studied, conservative posing of so much modern folk.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Voyageur
    Voyageur makes for a captivating, thrilling descent into loneliness and misery.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Day & Age
    While Day & Age manages to patch over most of the cracks in the Killers's façade, they still aren't done growing into the World's Biggest Band.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Opposites
    Opposites is ultimately a surprisingly immediate and rewarding listen, compensating in consistency for what it lacks in depth.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sound of a Woman
    Sound of a Woman quickly reveals itself to be a crafty bait and switch. With its scratchy trip-hop beat, soulful vocals, and sparsely placed keyboards and synthesized string stabs, "Losin' My Mind" is more Blue Lines than Big Fun, while the Jessie Ware-esque electro-soul ballads "So Deep" and "Vietnam" find the singer dabbling in drum n' bass and freestyle, respectively.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Crossing
    Whether the album is supposed to be taken as a contemporary tale or something closer to a retelling of Escovedo's personal history matters because, frankly, times have changed. This is why the album's most universal songs have the most resonance.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Silver Gymnasium
    Ostensibly about a specific time and place, The Silver Gymnasium confirms Okkervil River as a band that's still too crafty to settle for anything so simple as a straightforward paean to childhood, using this boilerplate structure to examine the deeper meaning behind the natural impulse to fixate on the past.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Look Alive
    “Don’t Go” transplants a prototypical Guster melody into a synth-soaked songscape, while the title track seems expressly engineered for Spotify’s Left of Center playlist. Still, the album never feels like the work of aging musicians struggling to stay relevant; it buzzes with inventiveness, charm, and youthful dynamism.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    True Romance
    Unapologetically indulging her distinctive genre tastes, True Romance largely proves that Estelle's talents were being too encumbered by the demands of record execs and producer John Legend, delivering a fleet 45 minutes of music that sounds more true to her West London upbringing.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Common Era
    Making good on their somewhat condescending promise, Belong takes the ambient noise-rock of their October Language LP and recalibrates it for a slightly less overwhelming listen.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Paranormal
    For anyone who thinks Cooper's music has lost its edge, Paranormal is a reminder that loud, lumbering rock never goes out of style.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Guitar Slinger
    [It may not be] the most ambitious or thematically cohesive album, but Guitar Slinger makes up for its lack of focus with some truly inspired songwriting and performances.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Peace or Love
    Informed by years of experience, growth, and collaboration, Kings of Convenience extend a comforting hand through the warm calm of their music.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wu-Massacre
    It goes without saying that Wu-Massacre is reliant on the superb chemistry between Meth, Ghost, and Rae though. The beats are decent, the guest spots are passable, but it's those three names on the cover that steal the show.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Light of the Sun
    Scott has reasserted herself as a relevant voice in modern R&B, a voice imbued with the sort of sensuality and worldliness that arrives only with experience, and she proves she's just as willing to experiment as her younger competition.
    • 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.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Supernature
    Supernature picks up where its disco-pop predecessor left off, augmenting the remaining traces of Felt Mountain's ambience... with swathes of glam-rock and stabs of tinny new wave.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Fame Monster
    Fame Monster does provide some small, if fleeting, glimpses behind the pretense.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The January EP
    With The January EP, Here We Go Magic has found a way to mature their sound without abandoning its core elements.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    From King to a God
    What the rapper lacks in flow experimentation and dexterous rhyme-craft, he makes up for with his knack for sincere storytelling.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hypnotic Eye
    By the time the second half of the album rolls around, the near-constant procession of sluggish tempos and downbeat refrains begins to wear.... These missteps aren't enough to erase the positive impression of Hypnotic Eye's best moments, but they may cause you to wish that Petty would just lighten up already.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Ancient & Modern
    If Ancient & Modern can't stand up to the band's best efforts, it's more than a worthy addition to an imposing body of work.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Weight Is A Gift
    The electric guitars are grittier and the drums are more aggressive than those of many of their fellow indie-pop acts, giving Nada Surf a distinctive sound in an increasingly crowded genre and rocking hard enough that they rightfully should earn a second shot at radio.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Chaos
    By bringing at least a little bit of an edge and a more distinctive point of view to their songwriting, and by throwing themselves into their performances with real fearlessness, the Futureheads demonstrate meaningful growth here.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Super
    Super's best songs cleverly subvert the expectations set up by the joyous music.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Animals In The Dark
    His voice leads the material along, punching up the momentum of the heavier songs and providing an earthy low end for the simpler ones.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Omni
    It's syrupy, heart-on-the-sleeve stuff, so slickly produced and acutely cornball that it has no logical place on the record of any semi-obscure, self-respecting indie rock band. And yet Omni remains intriguingly smooth and flip.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    1989
    1989's standout tracks retain the narrative detail and clever metaphor-building that distinguished Swift's early country songs, even amid the diversions wrought by the aggressive studio production on display throughout.
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