12 November 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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Eleventh studio album from the New York's prog-rock quartet is the third album in the Vaxis saga
7.7
The best Coheed and Cambria album not in one decade, but two Read Review
Astonishingly, there are still two more albums in the Vaxis sub-saga. But if such tall tales remain the fuel for sounds as invigorating as these, we’ll be hanging on every word Read Review
The latest instalment in the saga of revenge and warfare is enjoyably colourful — but is it prog? Read Review
Showcases remarkable range, balancing mellow and metal. Much of the music evokes the intensity of an epic RPG boss fight – rousing, righteous stuff Read Review
It provides an imaginative escape, just like art should Read Review
Coheed and Cambria are in a contemplative mood, but that doesn’t stop them from deploying their trademark intricate guitar riffs and catchy choruses Read Review
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Twisted Teens The Holy Cross Tigers
They revamp the work of their progenitors while at the same time transcending it. Never wandering too far from the music that inspires them, Twisted Teens occupy a space that is distinctly theirs Beats Per Minute
Shygirl Swallow!
The UK electronica figurehead takes a sentimental turn on her tender but assured sophomore release Paste Magazine
U2 Carnaval de Luz
The Irish stadium legends’ latest is pedantic and ambiguous, rife with centrist pandering that ends up saying nothing at all Paste Magazine
On their sixteenth studio album, the Irish legends sound more playful than preachy for the first time in a long time NME
Ambitious but accessible, catchy but substantial, they've returned with a record that feels energized and alive, as though they have once again arrived at the start of something inventive and exciting Exclaim
Shygirl’s sophomore album is an idiosyncratic, heartfelt and interesting entry in the pop canon Spectrum Culture
As a burgeoning pop star, Shygirl is absolutely the real deal Slant Magazine
Lyrically, SWALLOW! is brutally romantic. Having turned 30 while writing the record, Shygirl revisits her past to write love songs with far more depth than her younger self could reach The Line Of Best Fit
In palpitating trip-hop and wind-tunnel big beat, the producer’s lovestruck second album seeks a softer, more romantic home on the dancefloor Pitchfork
Where her debut felt like the high, ‘SWALLOW!’ feels like the afters: the pulse hasn’t quite settled, and the feelings that were once easier to muffle are now impossible to ignore Clash
On album two, the London artist again shows she is able to combine genre-hopping experimentation with big pop songwriting NME
DIIV ZIRP!
ZIRP! is neither a radical reinvention nor a straightforward continuation, but an uneasy negotiation between the band's established identity and its desire for something new Spectrum Culture
What could have been a crash landing has instead pushed Twisted Teens to new heights Spectrum Culture
It’s not that 'Carnaval De Luz' is bad. It isn’t. It’s just humdrum The Arts Desk
PISS You Made Me / Skin on Linen
At once grueling, wounding, healing, intelligent, and poetic, you made me / skin on linen should also—it goes without saying—be played very, very fucking loudly Under The Radar
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
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways