12 August 2026
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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Seventh album from the London group, melding electronica, experimental jazz, dance and rock
7.1
It's the push and pull between Duncan Bellamy's mantric hang-drums and Jack Wyllie's floating sax lines that ensure these widescreen creations feel so vividly full of life. Print edition only
A precise and stylistically thought out album that feels like a controlled acceleration into better times Read Review
If Philip Glass were to allow himself the use of some studio trickery to better tug on listeners’ heart strings, the Portico Quartet would be one likely outcome Read Review
Sitting somewhere between the propulsive modern jazz of labelmates GoGo Penguin and the soaring, experimental electronica of acts like Fuck Buttons, Monument is another addition to what’s becoming one of the most quietly consistent back catalogues in UK instrumental music Read Review
A dynamic and punchy record that finds the band sounding comfortable yet unpredictable as they immerse themselves more in electronic sounds. Print edition only
Each track on the album takes on a different texture: Some highlight lush saxophone melodies and laid-back rhythms; others hang in the air with dreamy stillness. Monument sounds best in these moments of subtle variation, when it gently switches course but doesn’t lose broad-stroked tranquillity Read Review
On its second album of 2021, the London group fastidiously projects electronic music, pop, and jazz through the twin prisms of post-rock and classical minimalism Read Review
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John Carpenter Cathedral
Carpenter has always excelled at the “less is more” approach to music, but it is here in Cathedral that this discipline is used to build something claustrophobic and heavy. It’s not just music that follows the listener; it surrounds them Spill Magazine
John Carpenter’s Cathedral is fantastic listening, mixing what listeners likely love about the horror director’s scores with new sounds. When blending the soundtrack with the graphic novel, it’s a less satisfying experience, though still worth it for Carpenter fans Spectrum Culture
While an intriguing narrative idea that longtime fans will lap up, John Carpenter’s “heavy metal” exercise with his trusty son and godson band can just never shake off a tacky air that robs the album of its Gothic dread or evocative transport Far Out
The closest thing to a heavy metal album the horror master has made sports all his hallmarks – depth, gravitas, riffs that could power an substation, and a strong sense of gathering tension musicOMH
Its still one of the most exhilarating things Carpenter has released. It’s up there with ‘Halloween’, ‘They Live’ ‘Ghosts of Mars’, and ‘The Thing’. Sit down and strap in as the Master of Horror has a journey for you! Clash
If not quite vintage Carpenter, his trademarks - unsettling repeated refrains ("Redemption"), moody bass lines ("Primeval") and dramatic key changes ("Back To Ruins") - extol an unceasing gift for evoking creeping dread. Print edition only Mojo
Some of their tonal subtleties have been sacrificed in the process, but there's no denying the dramatic punch of pieces like "The Ferryman" and the semi-operatic "Elevator Two". Print edition only Uncut
"Lord Of The Underground" is Metallica-grade dirge-rock, while the rolling rhythms of "Revenge" and low-end synths of "Resolution" provide fittingly ballistic, moody climaxes to an auteur-grade album if devilish delights. Print edition only Record Collector
There are some beautiful moments with a vaguely Kusturica-esque sound, some great crunchy Motörhead-esque speed metal riffs, and pieces where you can just imagine people being chased down grungy tunnels by demonic creatures – even if you haven’t read the graphic novel The Quietus
The Durutti Column Renascent
It is yet another brilliant presentation of a master who never got the full recognition he always deserved Beats Per Minute
FLO Therapy At The Club
There are four or five songs here better than anything on their debut. There are also four or five that a firmer hand would have cut, which would have left something leaner, stranger and harder to ignore Beats Per Minute
Overmono Pure Devotion
An album of entirely “Paradise Runner” clones could have done more damage than good. Yet the sense remains that reserves exist, that these songs of Devotion are the end of the beginning Beats Per Minute
Arca XXXXX
XXXXX never feels cluttered. At 47 minutes, it fits comfortably on a single disc, while each individual element blends into the larger flow effortlessly Beats Per Minute
Phoebe Bridgers Lost Weekend
Co-produced alongside Jack Antonoff and Alex G, the singer-songwriter’s first solo album in six years details falling in love, reckoning with grief, and starting over. It’s her most daring, optimistic record yet Paste Magazine
Where Punisher felt apocalyptic with its closing suite "I Know the End" and a hearty dose of divine timing, Lost Weekend is a transmission from a hero's journey back to herself through a dystopian emotional landscape Exclaim
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past twelve years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Rosalía Lux
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Hayley Williams Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party