The A.V. Club's Scores

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For 4,544 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 64% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 The Life Of Pablo
Lowest review score: 0 Graffiti
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,663 out of 4544
  2. Mixed: 771 out of 4544
  3. Negative: 110 out of 4544
4544 music reviews
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    • 88 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Remedy
    The duo's self-proclaimed "remedy" is nowhere near as revolutionary as the hype would insinuate, but it does offer its distinct pleasures
    • 86 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
    As monumental as Dead Cities sounds in parts, its uniformity proves oppressively stirring after just a few tracks.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Skinty Fia
    More than anything, however, Skinty Fia’s plodding progression and miserabilist overtones come across like cut-rate versions of Bauhaus’ chilly gothic vibes and the aforementioned Joy Division’s claustrophobic dirge, only without the benefit of the latter group’s inimitable basslines.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    The Harrow and the Harvest
    Relaxed and steady-a little too much.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You
    An album of songs that seem to be about love and loss but never quite connect emotionally, almost as though Case is so wrapped up in seeming ladylike that she never really remembers to let go.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Come to Where I'm From
    Arthur's shortcomings as a lyricist make his emotional palette seem as limited as his sonic palette is varied and, however layered the production, his songwriting nearly always follows suit.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Doris
    It often feels less like a finished work than a sketchbook, a jumble of beats and raps (about half of them from guests) with little in the way of hooks, choruses, or general songcraft to tie them together.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Adore Life
    It’s a shame that so much of the Savages album feels like a songwriting rut, because the record’s lone moment of transcendence, “Adore,” also stamps out a repeating coda at its end.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Leave It All Behind
    Nicolay has never been afraid to go soft and smooth, but his production on Leave It sometimes borders on easy listening.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Hot Thoughts
    Spoon is a master of hooky songwriting, but Hot Thoughts seems so bent on undermining it that the band undersells itself. Maybe Hot Thoughts is an apt title after all--it’s got great ideas, but the execution is lacking.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Asleep In The Back
    Establishing a languorous mood right away, the album is all meandering, low-key moods and textures, with precious few focused songs on which to hang them.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Hiss Spun
    Hiss Spun is a full-on sludge-metal extravaganza, never content to go slow and heavy when it could be going slower and heavier. The bombast is overwhelming, and while there’s an admirable zeal to her drive for making almost every second as intense as possible, it begins to get numbing.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Chemtrails Over the Country Club
    “Tulsa Jesus Freak” is arguably closest to the Lana Del Rey longtime fans know and love, and it’s no surprise that it was written in 2019, around the time NFR! came out. “Yosemite” is another highlight, a stunning number with Del Rey’s vocals at their best. But most songs on Chemtrails don’t stand out. They blend together in their delicateness.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Scissor Sisters
    Scattershot.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Crack-Up
    The band has always prided itself on ornateness, and in that sense, Crack-Up is its richest release to date. But more often than not, all that fussiness robs it of any impact.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    All Is Dream
    Mercury Rev's ongoing foray into a strange sort of beauty overload remains a noble endeavor, but it inspires more admiration than emotional attachment.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Kill For Love
    The ambience is fine enough, but it's probably worth just waiting for the movie.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    After the Party
    While The Menzingers’ best work has always been about grappling with personality flaws in the interest of becoming a better person, After The Party only offers surface-level reflections, to the detriment of the band itself.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Le Noise
    The man responsible for enduring political anthems like "Ohio" and "Rockin' In The Free World" gets a pass for similarly mawkish songs like "Love And War" and "Angry World" that don't go any deeper than their titles. But Le Noise doesn't deserve the same concession.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The "W"
    Although roughly half as long as Wu-Tang Forever, The W is every bit as erratic and overreaching. If Forever was a great single album hidden in a messy two-disc set, The W feels like a good six-song EP nestled inside an uneven album that seems to take its cues from the half-assed weirdness of ODB's N**** Please.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Tell Me How You Really Feel
    Tell Me How You Really Feel is a disappointing and muted record that never quite lives up to its potential.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Sound of Water
    Saint Etienne has made an egregiously Cardigans-esque wrong turn, abandoning impeccable craft and Motown melodies for the breezy if aimless experimentation of its wildly uneven EPs.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    American III: Solitary Man
    Like Neil Young's Silver And Gold, it feels like a thematically empty, knockabout place-holder. American Recordings, one of Cash's towering classics, was all devotion and doubt, a brilliant, raw-boned meditation on redemption and death. A loose, flat set of odds and ends, Solitary Man is merely a minor but endearing record from a man who seems to know he's given more than enough.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Pawn Shoppe Heart
    Occasionally catchy and exciting. [17 Mar 2004]
    • The A.V. Club
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    A Black Mile to the Surface
    There’s some beautiful songwriting here, but it’s buried beneath the smudges of its producers.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    All That You Can't Leave Behind
    Ten albums into its career, U2's emphasis on its basics--chiming guitars, a war-themed lament here and there, the enormous choruses of songs like "Beautiful Day"--is a refreshing reminder of the group's core virtues. But in terms of execution, it splits about 50-50 between soaring hits and dispiriting misses.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Band of Brothers
    Unfortunately for Nelson, Band Of Brothers isn’t the country legend’s best album of all time. It’s pretty good at best, a must only for reasonably hardcore Nelson fans.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Biophilia
    As minimally executed as it is maximally conceived, Biophilia doesn't sculpt emptiness; it swims in it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Year Of The Gentleman
    With his latest, Ne-Yo's winning groove devolves into a rut, and his quiet storm gets awfully sleepy
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Cripple Crow
    Flags in equally fruitful and frustrating ways.
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