Slant Magazine's Scores

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For 3,121 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: 1,691 out of 3121
  2. Mixed: 1,319 out of 3121
  3. Negative: 111 out of 3121
3121 music reviews
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    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Mastermind
    Sinking into his throne while burping out a bottomless supply of coke and cash metaphors, he thumps along like a bass drum over songs that advance in lockstep; the album often feels like the hip-hop equivalent of a commemorative march for a triumphant ruler.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Big Dreams & High Hopes
    While it's easy to wish that Ingram took the concept of artistry more seriously, this album makes it clear that he's comfortable with the compromises he's made. He may be capable of more, but Hopes certainly isn't bad for what it is.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Oceania
    Oceania benefits from Corgan's new sense of freedom, resulting in the Pumpkins' best album since the gothic Adore.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Lady & Gentlemen
    A few missteps notwithstanding, though, Lady & Gentlemen continues Rimes's run of top-notch contemporary country albums.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Snowflake Midnight
    Its dependence on fussy, meticulous electronic elements tempers some of the band's drippier new-agey tendencies, which makes it easier to appreciate how often Snowflake finds Mercury Rev at their most majestic and most ambitious.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The '59 Sound
    While they might not be the most original band on the block, the Gaslight Anthem's interpretation of their influences makes for one of the more rewarding punk albums of the year.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nocturnes
    Hesketh's shrewd choice of collaborators is often squandered on rather rudimentary song structures and lyrical ideas. That doesn't make Nocturnes any less enjoyable of a dance-pop album, but it's ultimately what will keep Little Boots from becoming the next Madonna, or the next Robyn for that matter.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Court Yard Hounds
    That the songs are solidly constructed gives Court Yard Hounds ample opportunity to play around with structure and production.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Optical Delusion
    They’ve explored spacey atmospheres and grim, political content before, but Optical Delusion feels more like a document of the times than a sci-fi fantasy: a rave just before the end of the world.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Fear of the Dawn
    An entire album of similar songs might have felt like a retread. But on Fear of the Dawn, they’re rewards for experiencing something very rare: a long-established artist intent on pushing boundaries further than he ever has before.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Crack-Up
    Crack-Up takes contrasting musical ideas and textures and makes them functional, if not transcendent. Ultimately, though, the album fails to shed much light on the mind of an artist more preoccupied with shrouding his songs in crashing waves, shadow, and smoke.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Uncanney Valley
    It's an album that, smartly, neither embraces the past as empty nostalgia nor ignores the events of the past 12 years.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Attack & Release
    The bottom line is that most of the songs here do fit well within the framework of their blues-rock aesthetic, and that's what makes Attack work as a Black Keys album.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Cut Worms
    Despite music that can come off as overly precious, though, Cut Worms is a tight set of songs that display Clarke’s facility for songcraft.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sympathy for Life
    Sympathy for Life lacks the emotional vulnerability of 2016’s Human Performance and, despite some entrancing synths, the zany eclecticism of 2018’s Wide Awake! But the charm of A. Savage and Andrew Brown’s lackadaisical voices and chummy melodies haven’t lost a bit of their allure.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
    Despite tracks that feel unfinished or experiments gone awry, Big Thief’s artistic vision is more diverse and fully realized on Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You than on any of their past releases.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    TKOL RMX 1234567
    In the end, TKOL RMX 1234567 does a better job at delivering Radiohead's snowy ennui than its forebearer, suggesting that the band should have collaborated with these electronic purveryors from the get-go and skipped The King of Limbs altogether.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Sugaring Season
    The album slows to a crawl in its latter half, and that sense of lethargy ultimately detracts from the things Orton gets really right throughout.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
    We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank is a really good, if not necessarily phenomenal, rock record.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Isla
    Isla boldly showcases an unconventional combination of instruments and melodic ideas, a revolutionary musical terrain that Portico Quartet will hopefully continue to explore.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Last Year Was Complicated
    The best songs here to showcase Jonas as an artist come toward the end, when Last Year Was Complicated trends away from its production excesses.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
    In addition to being the most sonically adventurous collection of songs Gallagher has released to date, these are also his best since (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    9
    There are still enough swelling, string-laden climaxes, crisscrossing vocal lines, and cascading symphonies of voices to keep fans of O happy, but the album is significantly less unified.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Holidaydream: Sounds of the Holidays, Vol. 1
    The musical ideas on Holidaydream are notably original. They float with delicacy, leaving an impression like a snow angel-precious, a little sad, and bound to fade all too quickly.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Crimes of Passion
    While the album is the closest Crocodiles have come to achieving their own unique brand of tuneful clamor, there's still a sense that they can't quite move away from the blueprint of the new-wave artists that inspired them.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pink Tape
    There simply isn’t much in the way of staying power to the bleary “Patience” or any of the three throwaway bonus tracks beyond some absurdist lines and a few neat vocal melodies. But taken as a whole—something that’s frequently overlooked in a singles genre such as rap—this unabashedly creative album showcases its creator’s ever-developing abilities.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Yard
    Whereas the earlier album was full of light, poppy beats, there’s more nuance to be found in the saturated, driving hooks here.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    IV Play
    IV Play may not always hit that high bar, but the artist's persistence and perfectionism are clear, and the results bear as pure of a pedigree as ever.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Kamaal The Abstract
    With Kamaal, one of hip-hop's finest has once again redefined his game--and upped the ante for the whole hip-hop genre in the process.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Everything Will Be Alright in the End
    In their best work, unashamed flaws and vulnerability become a secret weapon, even when it's slathered in squealing bait for a future Guitar Hero release like it is on "Lonely Girl," which finds the band finally casting off its slacker straitjacket.
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