Exclaim's Scores
- Music
For 4,825 reviews, this publication has graded:
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58% higher than the average critic
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4% same as the average critic
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38% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.1 points higher than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 75
Highest review score: | The Enduring Spirit | |
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Lowest review score: | California Son |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 4,085 out of 4825
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Mixed: 713 out of 4825
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Negative: 27 out of 4825
4825
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
In its enhanced and alternate history, complete with more stunning liners by Mehr, this Let it Bleed edition tells the tale as beautifully, clearly, and boldly as fans of the Replacements could ever hope for.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 29, 2023
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While not as immediate as its predecessor, Void solidifies KEN Mode as one of Canada's most important heavy acts, a band that doesn't just rely on brute force to affect its audience.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 28, 2023
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Artistic, intelligent (but not overly intellectualized), and executed with a skill and care many of us can only hope to comprehend, The Enduring Spirit is this year's best metal album, and one of the best albums of 2023, period, full stop.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 28, 2023
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falling or flying may fall a bit short of the expectations set by her debut, but it does fly in the face of what you'd expect of someone on their second outing as a solo artist. It's a solid effort despite some missteps — among the clutter is some of the best material of Smith's young career.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 28, 2023
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Sit Down for Dinner proves the band is as compelling as ever, circling in and out of each other's vocals and rhythms with ease.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 27, 2023
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It's always amazing how the two rappers behind Armand Hammer can complement each other so seamlessly while also seeming to tread on two separate planes of existence — We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is alive with this unique balancing act.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 27, 2023
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As a group that have faced their growing pains together, Slow Pulp strike the perfect balance between soft, thoughtful and loud on Yard. Tangled up in nervousness about being either too selfish or too self-pitying, the band finds a way to wring out the drab fabric of discomfort until a bit of beauty trickles out.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 27, 2023
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Albums like Feel, Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion are typically considered Animal Collective's best works, yet they all lack the sustained presence of Isn't It Now? Lord only knows if it's the impact of Elevado or simply 20-odd years of musical chemistry coalescing into something new, but however it happened, Animal Collective found the now sound.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 26, 2023
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They haven't lost the heart of their sound, only shown it in a new light. If last year's Cruel Country was a nod to their country roots, then Cousin is a departure from those origins in favour of new sonic shores.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 26, 2023
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There's a pastoral feel to the album — the band recorded it all in an epic ten day session at a studio in the Welsh countryside, and you can hear that region's influence in everything here. It sounds wide open and unencumbered, full but never cluttered or dense.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 21, 2023
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The music — a mix of digital sound with electric and acoustic guitars and live (or at least live sounding) drums — complements their newfound humanist approach to songwriting. 2022's Glitch Princess shattered pop music into a million little pieces. Here Ćmiel has glued things back together, but the cracks are still visible in the way they pair genre tropes.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 21, 2023
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- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 21, 2023
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It's at the intersection of curiosity and vulnerability where she concocts her best work. Gentle Confrontation learns and preserves artifacts of the mind, appreciating special moments that many leave lost in time.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 20, 2023
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No Joy sounds far more artful and ambitious than anyone would have expected from this band a few years ago.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 18, 2023
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If all of the National's albums were placed in a Venn diagram, Laugh Track would sit at the direct centre — neither expanding the sound à la the sweeping expanse of 2019's I Am Easy to Find, nor fully retreating to the straight-up indie rock of 2007's The Boxer. Crucially, it re-establishes them as a group of long-time collaborators in line with one another, none of them standing out from the others.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 18, 2023
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- Posted Sep 14, 2023
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End constitutes a worthy addition to Explosions in the Sky's discography, even if it doesn't really open a new chapter for them.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 14, 2023
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The record can be as self-lacerating as any of Mitski's past works — the skin-tingling bar room swing of "I Don't Like My Mind," with its frenetic binging and sorry purging, is an early gut punch — but it holds a steady, wisened resolve at its core, an acceptance of solitude and ache that sets it apart from the rest of her catalogue.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 11, 2023
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Mid Air champions feeling and shared connection. You'll remember it for a long while.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 6, 2023
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Though not without its standout moments, Rabbit Rabbit can sometimes feel a bit too stuck in its comfort zone to convert new listeners. Having said that, the band's snarling, no-nonsense demeanour — not to mention Dupuis being unafraid to tackle heavy topics like childhood trauma and violence — often makes up for the relative lack of sonic diversity.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 5, 2023
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HELLMODE more than likely delivers. The album is quintessential Rosenstock. Honestly though, so was No Dream, so was Post-, so was Worry, and so was We Cool? He's apparently incapable of making a bad record — even your least favourite Rosenstock album is, at the very least, good.- Exclaim
- Posted Sep 1, 2023
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The Window finds Ratboys deservedly taking a confident step into a space they carved out for themselves.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 25, 2023
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While the album doesn't have the same immediate impact as ULTRAPOP (everything they release henceforth will inevitably be compared to that titanic slab of a record), Perfect Saviours will undoubtedly cement the Armed as one of the best, most exciting rock/punk/hardcore/experimental/whatever-you-want-to-call-them bands making music today.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 24, 2023
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Meek even ventures off-planet for the crunchy electric guitar freakout "Undae Dunes," a tale of youthful love interrupted by a UFO abduction. That kind of psychedelic twist is what gives Haunted Mountain, and much of Meek's discography, the fuel to rocket past so many nostalgia-minded country bandwagoners.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 23, 2023
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This record is both a rocket and a time machine, fusing influences so thoroughly that the sum of their parts are barely discernible, and offering both comfort in the familiar and an escape from our current time it hurtles you into orbit.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 18, 2023
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A decade after "Take Me to Church," Unreal Unearth's muscular production and defined vision proves Hozier's maturity as an artist, complete with his usual employment of religious imagery. He doesn't shy away from the darkest parts of the human condition, but he isn't afraid of having a little existential fun either.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 17, 2023
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With Struggler, he's proven that he's a singular talent, overcoming the sophomore slump and putting the world on notice by taking everything that made Smiling with No Teeth so special and digging deeper, building a world that's uniquely his own.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 17, 2023
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Age has only made the Hives sound tighter, giving them time to master an electrifying energy that few others harness.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 10, 2023
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Like any secret, it is sometimes sharp and poignant, sometimes mundane. And yet, in its best moments, it becomes a secret worth hearing.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 9, 2023
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A lot of Aphex EPs are marred by fairly forgettable tracks (who's blasting "Nannou" in 2023?), but this latest one is solid tungsten all the way through.- Exclaim
- Posted Aug 2, 2023
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