The Guardian's Scores

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For 5,513 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 49% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 48% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 70
Highest review score: 100 Post Human: NeX Gen
Lowest review score: 10 Unpredictable
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,972 out of 5513
  2. Mixed: 2,464 out of 5513
  3. Negative: 77 out of 5513
5513 music reviews
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    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Futurology
    Futurology never feels like a pastiche, and sounds unmistakably like the Manic Street Preachers while sounding unlike any other album they've made.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    5 Seconds of Summer
    Aimed squarely at the teenage market, it's shrill exuberance and lyrical mischief all round as songs leap and sometimes creak under the weight of their double entendres.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Moral of the Elephant
    The result is brave, and anything but predictable.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Trigga
    It might all feel a little mechanical, but Trigga does hang together, and has a seductive power that (one presumes) is befitting of the man himself.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Revival
    The formula remains the same, with traditional songs reworked with rousing big-band arrangements, and from furious opener Let Her Run to the rock-influenced Greenwood Side, they sound slicker and more confident than ever.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Strange Friend
    Songs such as (Invisible) Friends veer towards the anthemic but don't quite ignite.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Reality Testing
    Tracks such as Coincidences and Begin to Begin may build into stompers, but the sound palette they are constructed with could have been chosen by Brain Eno or Aphex Twin.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mutineers
    While Mutineers doesn't totally shatter preconceptions, there's a rare comfort in hearing an artist in pursuit of joy; and unlike the throng of relatively inoffensive twentysomething singer-songwriters littering the charts, Gray's songs have a timeworn quality that's far more charismatic.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Jaded & Faded
    It's still one for punk fans only--claims for greater melody and less speed are all relative, and you certainly shouldn't approach Jaded & Faded expecting McBusted--but it's a flash of fun.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Beware the Fetish
    There are some extraordinary moments, from the unaccompanied chanting and likembe workout on Thus Spoke the Ancestors to the suitably spooky and edgy title track.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    X
    An album more obviously influenced by urban music than its predecessor, which sees Sheeran gently, but confidently, pushing at the boundaries of what he does.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Electric Brick Wall
    Not a great deal of sense is made throughout this messy record, but that is hardly the point of Herrema, still a poster girl for disorder and "rad times".
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Mexico
    GusGus, Icelandic veterans of artsy techno music, have always enjoyed provoking their audience, and when they do so here, it's exhilarating.... but sadly GusGus can't keep it up.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Why Do the Heathen Rage?
    The most radical makeovers highlight how great some of these songs are.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Familiars
    Familiars is no jazz odyssey. And despite the prevalence of mid-paced, piano-led ballads, it never enters Coldplay territory either.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Once More 'Round the Sun
    All brilliant stuff, but a bit more self-indulgence and derring-do wouldn't go amiss next time.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    What Is This Heart?
    Though his voice can sound a little insipid, songs such as A Power, Face Again and What You Wanted possess satisfying bass rumbles and earworm hooks.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Love Frequency
    Love Frequency lacks a song that really pulls you along with it into those higher planes of emotion that Klaxons obviously inhabit daily.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    48:13
    For all the air of naffness that hangs over them, they never forget that their purpose is to entertain.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tincian
    The a cappella duet between Lisa Jen and Lou Bennett is one of the highlights of this low-key but impressive set.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Last Dance
    It's just as good as Jasmine, and hopefully not a Last Dance for this partnership.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Weird Little Birthday
    Happyness switch effortlessly between fuzzy pop and downcast, desolate ballads, alternately thrilling and charming.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Liberation!
    It's a pleasing record, but much like its supposed subject matter, still a bit of a mystery.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Hunting Party
    Linkin Park certainly know their audience, and here delicately navigate the gulf between their own aspirations and a fanbase who will celebrate the band's loud return to rocking hard.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Platinum
    Platinum, her fifth solo album, finds Lambert swaggering righteously like the Partonesque country superstar she is.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Deep Fantasy
    It's the group's ability to run the punk gamut that makes Deep Fantasy their most complete album yet.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ultraviolence
    Overall, the writing feels sharper and stronger. Every chorus clicks, the melodies are uniformly beautiful, and they soar and swoop, the better to demonstrate Del Rey's increased confidence in her voice.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    House of Jacks
    More displays of his guitar skills would have been welcome, but this is an assured and entertaining set.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Whispers
    Rosenberg's strength is storytelling, and Whispers brims with striking vignettes.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Distant Satellites
    A darker and more eccentric record than its predecessors, Distant Satellites may not be the album to change all that, but it's still another masterclass in supercharged emotional songwriting and fearless sonic curiosity.
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