16 January 2021
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 sources worldwide. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.
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Fourth full-length album from the Little Rock, Arkansas doom metal band prodcued by Randall Dunn
7.3
Perhaps the best doom metal album of 2020 Read Review
Forgotten Days is the album that will likely unite all Pallbearer fans. Its return-to-roots aesthetic is planted in a physical base that carries the band's dark, progressive doom into a new era Read Review
After fumbling slightly on their last record, the doom apostles recover their grave, soaring majesty on an album that find a new way forward by refining their past Read Review
Offering up the most focused, heaviest record since their debut, Pallbearer further cement themselves as one of modern doom’s luminaries Read Review
One of Pallbearer's most approachable statements to date, where they bring new life to their usual approach as they stick to their core sound Read Review
While the band is certainly not reinventing themselves, they have shown with this release that they are a force to be reckoned with in the metal scene Read Review
The album reclaims some glory towards the end with it reaching a climax at the emergence of the title track carrying on and arriving at a destination resembling the strength of Pallbearer's earlier albums on the final three tracks Read Review
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Shame Drunk Tank Pink
Shame have put together a collection of fantastically varied ragers that are bound to blow the roof off whenever we’re allowed back to live gigs The Line Of Best Fit
The London band’s second album combines themes of burnout and ennui with fast rhythms The FT
Sleaford Mods Spare Ribs
Cummings and Covid are two of the subjects touched on by the Nottingham duo as they exhibit an evolving style The FT
The Dirty Nil Fuck Art
Records like this - 35-odd minutes of fist-pumping rock songs from the very top drawer - need to be celebrated and rewarded Punk News
In spite of all that’s going on, the ground that Shame manage to cover, it all hangs together brilliantly. Drunk Tank Pink is a great album, from whatever angle you look at it musicOMH
The London post-punk band’s second album is bigger, louder, and more textured as frontman Charlie Steen anxiously details the strange gap between youth and adulthood Pitchfork
Kacy & Clayton Plastic Bouquet
For the most part, Plastic Bouquet has a much stronger country influence thanks to the involvement of Williams with tracks like ‘Old Fashioned Man’ and ‘I Wonder Why’ making you swear you heard them somewhere before, a very long time ago The Quietus
Drunk Tank Pink is an all-too-often unimaginative album from what’s still a promising group. At best, this sophomore project suggests a band pushing itself in every direction and through every crevice of the genre to see what fits them and their messaging most effectively Beats Per Minute
Viagra Boys Welfare Jazz
Behind the rough exterior is an old soul, notes of romance hiding in every grunt and wail Upset
A high-quality record with not a single mediocre song on the tracklist. Despite the intense deadlines they were under, it sounds in no way rushed, but instead, polished Upset
Yungblud Weird!
A record that knows every trick in the book Upset
The Smashing Pumpkins CYR
The band's raw ambition is back front-and-center Upset
Whether you’re aboard the train or not, Williamson and Fearn don’t seem overly bothered. You’re either with them or you’re aren’t; the wheels keep turning Evening Standard
Bristles with the pent-up aggression of men who aren’t allowed to be loud and shirtless in public any more Evening Standard
The London band went from playing a 350-show stretch to nothing at all – and while tunes and originality are lacking, their subsequent dislocation makes for some thrilling music The Guardian
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past eight years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange
Anaïs Mitchell Hadestown
Run The Jewels RTJ4