Sputnikmusic's Scores

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For 2,396 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 53% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 The Seer
Lowest review score: 10 The Path of Totality
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,774 out of 2396
  2. Mixed: 543 out of 2396
  3. Negative: 79 out of 2396
2396 music reviews
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    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    It's Blitz
    It's Blitz will probably date badly and, despite clearly being better than "Fever To Tell," it probably won't be remembered by as many people, or as fondly by those people. Regardless, it IS a great album, and one that's come completely out of leftfield as far as its style and its depth goes.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    Blank Project
    The album captures the artist in scintillating form with its potent mesh-up of gutsy inventiveness and great maturity.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    I Walked with You a Ways
    The real highlight, though, is the title track’s sentimental musing on a lost lover or friend or relative, simple but gorgeous and drenched in honeyed harmonies. It’s the best thing here by a substantial margin. ... I Walked With You A Ways is undoubtedly a solid album, and you could do much worse if looking for a straightforward and accessible record in the country/Americana sphere.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Asymmetry
    Some of it wants to carry on the torch of its predecessor, other parts of it want to redefine Karnivool, and other parts don’t even seem to have any discernible purpose, like those god-awful interludes.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Sit Down for Dinner
    I doubt anyone will be in a hurry to file this as either the weakest or the strongest Blonde Redhead record, but it might just be the most traditionally pleasant experience they've put their name to.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Birth of Violence
    This is, arguably, the most consistent sounding album she has ever produced, and although it may not appeal to every one of her fans, it’ll certainly have old fans relishing in the brooding spiritual journey it provides.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Brothers
    Brothers marks for perhaps the first time in their career that the Black Keys may have opened the door on a new chapter, one that revolves more around the band’s refined songwriting, monster hooks, and growing grab bag of influences than on any one classic sound.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    The Dream Is Over
    The Dream Is Over is one of the most unapologetically over-the-top punk albums in recent memory, and fitting proof that Babcock’s vocals are still fully functional.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Post-Nothing
    Japandroids' (or JPNDRDS) first full length--Post-Nothing--is the perfect embodiment of the post-teen angst, excitement, anxiety and fuck-it artlessness of finally packing your bags and moving on, wherever the destination as long as it’s at least a million miles away from home.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Pain Is Beauty
    While it's possible Pain Is Beauty would have benefited from some more time spent songwriting and fleshing out the overall direction of the album's sound, there's still more than enough impressive songs to make this a worthy addition to the Chelsea Wolfe catalog.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Saturation III
    While they may be overzealous and inconsistent and pandering, there’s a certain gratitude reserved for the fact that these people, these dynamics, this electricity, all ended up in the same place at the same time: a trashed and cluttered share-house in California.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Cry Cry Cry
    In short, it’s a Wolf Parade album. Much like last year’s EP4, the aperitif the band dropped prior to a reunion tour, however, it sometimes leans too far on the formulaic side of things to leave a real lasting impact.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    The Long Road North
    The Long Road North is a more sophisticated record than A Dawn to Fear, and Cult of Luna’s reputation for steely competence is quite at home in its various details and refinements. It’s less contingent on the intensity of individual moments, benefitting more from a pervasive atmosphere of the risky-wilderness-journey variety.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    The Million Masks of God
    Here, the sequencing is more dynamic and the lyrical settings are as intimate as they've ever been. ... Their body of work speaks for itself at this point: Manchester Orchestra is one of the greatest bands alive right now, and The Million Masks of God is yet another feather in their cap.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 74 Critic Score
    Help Us Stranger
    The negative bits that afflict the songwriters individually--clunky lyrics, a tendency to trend towards clutter, influences taking up whole damn sleeves--certainly remain here, but somehow, together, the couple’s issues never overwhelm, never distract from the Raconteurs’ thesis statement of just making great, concise rock songs.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Honor Found In Decay
    While lacking the immediate and defining qualities of their previous releases, the album still manages to outclass its peers in almost every regard.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beware of the Dogs
    Her delicate fingerpicking and shimmering vibrato carried her across state lines, oceans, into record deals and mixing rooms. The juxtaposition is apt: Beware of the Dogs is Stella adjusting the scales, shifting seamlessly between intimate and all-encompassing.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fading Frontier
    Fading Frontier’s signature is focus though, and it’s evident in the concise and tightly controlled songwriting.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Turn Up That Dial
    In all, Turn Up That Dial treads familiar ground, but their heart-on-sleeve message of empathy and admiration for friends, family, and the gift of music is a welcome addition to their discography.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Bad Dream Jaguar
    It’s a bunch of sad songs which make you feel good to be alive. Can’t go wrong with that.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Love Remains
    There's no pandering to authenticity here, no appeal to the emotion: Love Remains doesn't drag you into its world with any sort of force whatsoever so much as it places square within it, naked and indifferent.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tramp
    As a whole, Sharon Van Etten really hits the nail on the head with her third try.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Speak Now (Taylor's Version)
    It may not contain anything that the casual Swift listener or average radio-goer will be breaking down doors to hear, but with Speak Now (Taylor's Version), she delivers an admirable and very intimate effort that will be extremely rewarding to her most devoted fans.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Heavy Pendulum
    It's an album that shows a band comfortable and willing to begin moving on, 70 minutes of something new enough that you can see a pretty bright future for the band that seemed impossible to many just three years ago.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    R.I.P.
    What does set this apart from Actress' earlier pieces is the incredibly organic feel that this album seems to thrive on.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Shape & Destroy
    Musical transcendence is a rare thing, but you can literally feel the weights being lifted on this album. It’s all so lush, airy, and pristine; a soundtrack for second chances.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Tears Of The Valedictorian
    Tears of the Valedictorian is easily one of the best records of the year.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Color Spectrum
    One of 2011's premier releases in alternative rock.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me
    Where its cool and dynamic at first, by the time the albums over you get the sense that there was too much, too quickly, and something was certainly lost. While it may break away from the hardcore realm, giving these songs more room to grow and expand would have greatly increased the replayability of Parting the Sea beyond the first listen or two.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Straight Songs of Sorrow
    Trimming would have helped, still, a portion of his fan base might have asked for this full retreat into darkness for quite a number of years now. It’s ironic how Lanegan’s most tumultuous experience came wrapped in one of the most toned down collections of songs so far. Also, the difficulties of relating to these stories refrain the LP from becoming one of the strongest in the catalog.
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