Slant Magazine's Scores

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For 3,119 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: 1,689 out of 3119
  2. Mixed: 1,319 out of 3119
  3. Negative: 111 out of 3119
3119 music reviews
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    • 82 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fearless (Taylor's Version)
    While Swift did an admirable job of re-recording Fearless, tweaking the production in subtle ways that give the album a slightly different texture (note how much more prominently the banjo figures in the mix of “Love Story”), the songs themselves are largely unchanged. ... The album’s bonus tracks—all written during the original Fearless sessions—don’t move the needle much in terms of the project’s overall quality. They all showcase Swift’s preternatural gifts for song structure and melody, but again, the lyrics are a mixed bag
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Songs Of Mass Destruction
    Mass Destruction is Lennox's first album largely recorded in the U.S. (Los Angeles and Miami, as opposed to just London), giving the songs a slightly less chilly quality and a bigger, more expansive sound, but it's still a disappointment in the same way the Eurythmics' rock-leaning "Be Yourself Tonight" likely was to fans of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and "Touch."
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Moonshine in the Trunk
    Moonshine in the Trunk is a mostly upbeat, feel-good summertime album that largely minimizes Paisley's tendency toward hokey power balladry and whatever the hell "Accidental Racist" is.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Unexpected
    Unexpected is a fairly decent album and by far the least pretentious, unashamedly pop record to be made by a DC member so far.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Future's Void
    What's most disappointing of all about The Future's Void is that, for all its heady ideas and pretty moments, in almost all ways it's a regression from Anderson's earlier work, a mishmash of half-completed thoughts that fails to ever fully connect.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Disconnect from Desire
    It's not that the band sounds exactly like Stereolab, or like anyone else, but listening to Disconnect from Desire feels like shuffling through a '90s alt-rock playlist.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Spirit
    Though the 21-year-old's faithful, capable rendition of 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' proves that the timelessness of the song should remain unquestioned, the album's adult-skewed material sounds even more jarring next to two fresh new tracks, the bouncy and youthful 'Forgive Me' and urban club jam 'Misses Glass,' added for American consumption.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fossils
    The polished sound, when combined with O'Donovan's occasionally wispy vocals and recessed guitar, fails to propel the album. It lacks both weight and momentum, or at least enough mood to set Fossils apart.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ciara
    As a collection of potential singles from an artist who should have more #1's, it's a modest, calculated effort.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Brave And The Bold
    The more adventurous picks on The Brave And The Bold sink more often than they soar.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Jordin Sparks
    Jordin Sparks is one of the strongest Idol debuts yet.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ypres
    If the album means more in that context than it does outside it, the same could be said of the geographical significance of the historical tragedy it's memorializing.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Crime Pays
    This material is so intermittently successful because the rapper is as much of a clown as he is an MC, a duality which assures that his albums will always be tinged with the bittersweet fruits of this twisted sensibility.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Eternal
    Married since 1984, the couple has reached a level of easy rapport that makes their collaborations feel warmly alive. Hopefully the band's sound won't continue to settle into the same kind of comfortable informality.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Young & Old
    The problem is, even at their best, Tennis's music seems inconsequential and frankly, neutered.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Soul Sessions, Vol. 2
    Stone's strict adherence to formula plays against her here, as Vol. 2 feels overly familiar.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The River In Reverse
    The River In Reverse is a dark, passionate work that channels its rage toward redemptive joy.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Closure/Continuation
    Its weaker moments suggest a group that’s struggling to find something new to say, both thematically and musically. But when the band stretches out and explores their full dynamic range, capturing the dystopian overtones wafting through Wilson’s lyrics, they’re still capable of reaching cathartic heights.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
    Perhaps executed a tad more carefully than it was conceived, Ray Guns is ultimately a flawed gem.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Woke Myself Up
    Doiron's sometimes off-kilter vocal arrangements are a perfect match for her lyrics.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Fishing for Fishies
    Certainly, the shift from the humanity and warmth of blues-rock to the synthetic robotics of electronic music is intentional, but the album ends too abruptly for one to clearly discern the full extent of its significance.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Love?
    The real problem, then, is that Love? isn't the all-out dance album it could-and should-have been.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Someday World
    Someday World never devolves into Tin Machine-style disaster, but it rarely manages to realize its collaborative potential either.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Head Carrier
    When not vainly trying to live up to their legacy and instead embracing middle-age, the Pixies end up doing a much better job of not tainting said legacy. Head Carrier's best moments are straightforward, midtempo, guitar-based alt-rock.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Get Lonely
    Get Lonely is the product of a tunesmith on autopilot.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Young Heart
    While Birdy meets the warmth of the album’s production with vocal skill and sensitivity, the overall effect is a very beautiful album littered with clichés that muddle its emotional impact. Still, there are seeds of great ideas here.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    God's Favorite Customer
    The singer-songwriter is more sympathetic when tackling his struggles with mental health. Indeed, God's Favorite Customer hits its stride with its most emotionally naked pair of songs.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Adventures In The Underground Journey To The Stars
    Adventures is a bright, beautifully wrapped package filled with nothing but styrofoam packing peanuts.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2
    Ultimately, 2 of 2 doesn't so much eclipse its predecessor as it settles into the format more believably.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Music From Another Dimension!
    The album's eight winning cuts would be more than enough for a really good hard-rock disc. Instead we get an album that pays for each of its gems with a nugget of fool's gold.
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