13 September 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.
Browse specific styles
12th release from the electro-pop veterans
6.5
Depeche Mode's electro arrangements, every sound altered and treated to create a unique sonic palette, shows up the imaginative constraints of most guitar-based rock. Read Review
It’s just a damn fine record, possessed of the kind of unshowy high quality the Basildon band have seemingly actively opposed in the past. Read Review
A record that is far better than a band’s 12th studio album has any right to be. Read Review
You could roll your eyes and complain that these guys are still pimping teen angst in middle age, but really it sounds more like it’s matured into the longest-running mid-life crisis ever. Read Review
Anyone looking for the bangers of yore will be disappointed, but the suggestion that Depeche Mode have lost it is merely a blasphemous rumour. Read Review
They don’t always get the balance right between new and old, but this suggests an exciting old age. Read Review
The days of earth-quaking, Zeitgeist-shifting Depeche Mode awesomeness may likely be behind them, but that doesn't make Sounds of the Universe any less worthy of the band's legacy. Read Review
Comes on a bit softer, with less industrial guitar clang and more of chief songwriter Martin Gore's dreamy atmospherics Read Review
Less industrial guitar clang and more of chief songwriter Martin Gore's dreamy atmospherics. Read Review
True to the band's advancing years, however, there's a bit too much padding in the middle of the album. Read Review
While there's nothing new, they're still an unstoppable force of nature. Read Review
Sounds like a time machine back to the Eighties. Read Review
A compromise between Depeche Mode's anthem-wielding, arena-filling guise and a desire to make more contemplative, esoteric electronica. Read Review
Depeche Mode: Sounds Of The Universe
Parcels Loved
While not for cynics, LOVED is a late-summer delight that comes at audiences with open arms. Comfortable dancing shoes recommended for listening All Music
Parcels have built something contagious here, with a joy that leaves you feeling that little bit lighter when you’re done with it Dork
Loved is a departure for Parcels but one that is constantly invigorating, the group are clearly incredibly relaxed and that is reflected in the calming, and highly enjoyable soundscape they have created on this record The Line Of Best Fit
The star of this entire record is without question the harmonies. They are razor sharp, technically astounding and forever charming, leaving you wanting more of them at the close of every song Far Out
Maruja Pain To Power
They really have taken a complicated moment and made it into a fantastic piece of music Far Out
Incredible lead single Look Down On Us is just one of three tunes here that capture Maruja’s free-flowing approach by stretching out to the 10-minute mark Kerrang!
The Manchester jazz-punks let loose on their savage debut album through cathartic outpourings of fury, despair and love NME
The thrill of this band is the extremes. From moshpits one minute and silence the next, they are in command with their music, unifying the crowd God Is In The TV
This band and this record want you to punch a hole in the wall, ask if you're willing to step through it – and then beckon others to do the same The Line Of Best Fit
Maruja emerge from the studio with raucous rap-rock and meandering jam music in tow, resulting in an album full of the same songs several times over. By the end, listeners may feel they have deja vu. Fans may feel they have dementia The Quietus
Rage-infused music of dissolution Clash
Jade That's Showbiz Baby!
Debut solo album by Little Mix singer is packed with incident and a multitude of musical styles musicOMH
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Gush
Whether she’s creating music for the dance floor or the yoga studio, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith continues to blend disparate styles into her unique sonic melting pot PopMatters
Baxter Dury Allbarone
Arguably the rawest and truest manifestation of Baxter Dury yet The Quietus
There are some moments that some won’t be as much a fan of and there’s some unexpected breakout moments – but that’s the nature of art, and after all; that’s showbiz, baby The Line Of Best Fit
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
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange