25 September 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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Album number six from the New Jersey indie punk trio produced by Mat Bayles (Minus The Bear, Cursive, Mastodon)
7.2
Screaming Females have evolved by delving even deeper into their influences, resulting in an album that, surprisingly enough, would fit the description of refined Read Review
Screaming Females have not only cleared hurdles; now they're scaling mountains Read Review
The abrasion and urgency of their sound remains, but magnified, as they explore new territory Read Review
When it comes to unabashed stoner rock thrills played at amphetamine pace, Screaming Females are miles ahead of the pack Read Review
Could be the album that finally brings these hardworking punkers to a wider audience after nearly a decade of existence, and it would be well deserved Read Review
A decade and six records in, Screaming Females are just getting started Read Review
Rose Mountain’s 10 songs owe much more to the gritty stoner riffage of early Black Sabbath than anything else Read Review
Easy enough to stomach and still rocks pretty hard Read Review
An album that threatens Sleater-Kinney's claim to 2015's indie-punk throne Read Review
It's hard to fault them for going clean, but it's easy to miss the happy accidents they stumbled upon when they weren't so worried about keeping within the lines Read Review
The band's straightforward punk leanings give way to more angular, spacious, softer songwriting - and some welcome metal nods in the title track - partway through the 10-track album Read Review
As always, frontwoman Marissa Paternoster's winding guitar solos and dogged vibrato vocals steal the show Read Review
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Screaming Females: Rose Mountain
Blondshell Violins
This is an artist widening her frame without losing her bite. It’s confident, a little wistful, and often loud in all the right places Northern Transmissions
On her third album, Sabrina Teitelbaum fights to strike a balance between savage beauty and jagged home truths NME
Everything great about Blondshell is present on ‘Violins’, but it feels sharper, more adventurous and more assured then ever before Clash
LA alt-rock singer Blondshell trades plain-speaking lyricism for something more abstract, while Irish rock band Gurriers cut through the noise with their ambitious second album The Independent
While trying to find and assert herself, the song has her imagining walking down the aisle to Beethoven's Für Elise, even though no one, including her, would pick it as a wedding song All Music
An often-delicate inward vision that pairs frustration with beauty DIY
It's in her ability to take the everyday experience and turn it into an epic noise that Violins finds its sweet spot The Line Of Best Fit
It would be unfair to call Violins Blondshell’s finest work to date, given the strength of her previous albums. What’s clear, though, is that it’s every bit as good as what came before Under The Radar
Protomartyr Hotel Usona
The album is more eerie in tone than its predecessors, like a distant alarm sounding, trying to amplify the sounds we cannot hear Northern Transmissions
It’s a bleak listen, sure, but Protomartyr haven’t ever been the comforting types. In fact, they’ve chosen the perfect time to double down on their righteous anger and despair, and if everything were to come to a catastrophic end right now, you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for it Far Out
For newcomers, it's a perfectly moody entry point. Hotel Usona is the sound of a band settling into their own skin, creating a space that's uniquely theirs and generously sharing the key Exclaim
From singer Joe Casey’s handmade album artwork to drummer Alex Leonard’s impish, kinetic inversions of classic post-punk rhythm, the Detroit band crafts an austere, unflinching record as bleak as it is cathartic Paste Magazine
This is not a hotel you'd want to stay at any time soon, but it's a remarkable record to spend time with. Print edition only Uncut
Under dim hotel lights, Casey’s lyricism appears foreboding and alien in a way it never has before The Line Of Best Fit
Ezra Collective Here Because of Hope
Arguably the biggest jazz band in the country return with an album that shows off both their exuberant and more reflective sides musicOMH
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