21 August 2025
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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Debut album from the Kent punk duo with Laurie Vincent on guitar and Issac Holman on drums
6.6
It exposes a deep dissatisfaction with modern society, but delivers it in a way that is both playfully cheeky and darkly menacing Read Review
The roar of a generation that knows that no-one is coming to save them Read Review
This is a stonking listen Read Review
Singing drummer Isaac Holman and guitarist Laurie Vincent are so larger-than-life they’re practically cartoon characters Read Review
Slaves are angry at the world, but they have a wry smile at it too. Print edition only
Punk duo offer mesmerising vocal interplay on clattering debut Read Review
Their debut just about lives up to the hype Read Review
This is music without airs or graces, just a good old fashioned reliance on chunky riffs and propulsive drumming Read Review
Anyone looking for punk rock that wears ‘70s influences on its sleeve could do a hell of a lot worse than Slaves Read Review
A solid debut and one most likely coming to a festival stage near you this summer. Buckle up and be satisfied Read Review
Punk energy and scabrous humour win out. Print edition only
The real charm of this record comes in its additional moments of character Read Review
From snot-nosed Sex Pistols-style punk to raw, blustery Black Keys blues, there’s little originality here – but there’s undeniable chemistry Read Review
It’s not so much that Slaves don’t capture the excitement of their live show on record, more that their live show isn’t designed for transfer to a major label album Read Review
This is an album that flatters to deceive Read Review
Peel back the façade, and you’ll find two white dudes parroting phrases and stealing time-tested tricks to sustain the rebel mirage, to cover for the fact that they have no clue what they’re even talking about Read Review
Slaves’ borrowing of punk tropes and real problems to peddle this slickly produced hatefully-contrived gunk is despicable Read Review
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Slaves: Are You Satisfied?
Conan Gray Wishbone
It’s exceptionally sharp emotional writing, making ‘Wishbone’ some of his most affecting work yet Dork
His not-quite-angst meets its musical equivalent in its not-quite-alternative sound DIY
The singer’s new album Wishbone mixes slow intimate moments with hit-worthy pop-rock cuts Rolling Stone
‘Wishbone’ stands as a confident pop statement, pairing Gray’s impressive vocal prowess with sleek, polished production. In a female-dominated landscape, and during a noticeable drought of male pop stars, Conan Gray’s return is a genuine breath of fresh air Clash
Wishbone is a complete arc, capturing both the elated, tidal-wave euphoria of falling in love and the bittersweet comedown off that wave. And it's not just the feelings of love, but the tastes, the smells, and the thrilling sweaty intimacy of being close to another person in every sense that Gray embodies All Music
Dijon Baby
The Baltimore singer-songwriter and producer returns from hiatus in some style with an album captures the chaos and beauty of newfound fatherhood NME
Refusing to surrender the emotional core of his songwriting against the dazzling array of studio fireworks, this is Dijon at his strongest – an artist stretching his discipline into evocative new shapes Clash
The Los Angeles singer’s second album is a spectacular new vision of soul, pop, and R&B. His surrealist, collagist approach to songwriting stretches the bounds of sound and feeling Pitchfork
The singer-producer’s second album isn’t a breakthrough or a comeback, but meteoric proof that his debut was star-making and his sound will command the genre’s next destiny without leaving any of its ancestry behind Paste Magazine
Dijon’s best material used to feel like it could fall apart at the seams, delicately constructed with the loving touch of a careful auteur – now, it sounds like ancestries of R&B and pop being shot through the stratosphere Northern Transmissions
With a willingness to push boundaries and lean into the unconventional with his sonics, without ever compromising on the always-stunning nature of his songwriting, ‘Baby’ is hypnotically brilliant Dork
Alison Goldfrapp Flux
The album may not offer the radical reinventions of Goldfrapp's duo work, but it doesn't need to - Alison Goldfrapp pioneered these sounds, and on Flux, she's still doing them with effortless elegance All Music
Marissa Nadler New Radiations
Sonic and atmospheric retreads aside, Nadler has conjured an impressive 10th LP effort that whisks away the listener to a plane far removed from the choking contemporary, a place both trepidatious and eerily comforting Far Out
Cass McCombs Interior Live Oak
The Bay Area-born troubadour’s 11th album treats memory as malleable, letting roots and self entwine in wry, unpredictable ways Paste Magazine
As a statement of McCombs' range and artistic prowess, it’s an impressive collection. As a singular listening experience, it tends to be a bit much Spectrum Culture
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
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange