29 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.
Browse specific styles
Third album from the Dundee indie rock quartet
5.4
Where The View’s ambition gels seamlessly with their ability and strengths, and magic results Read Review
The emphasis here is on gargantuan choruses. Print edition only
The View have restored much of their early promise as an excellent rock band – but it may be too little, too late Read Review
Cathartic and lovely, Bread And Circuses is pure self-indulgent fun Read Review
There's too much on here ... which sees the band sound as edgy as - gulp - McFly Read Review
There are moments when they descend into pub-rock territory – on Grace and Beautiful, in particular – but overall it's solid, well-written and anthemic Read Review
They show applaudable ability to strike a balance between radio-friendliness and ingenuity Read Review
[They still come] across as essentially the same gang of mates who get wasted, have their feelings trampled by girls, heal over a bonding bevvy with their mates, then wake up with a hangover and begin the whole cycle again Read Review
A fairly generic sounding list of songs that could have been written by anyone who knows how to strum a guitar Read Review
It seems they’re stuck in a musical no man’s land, with this record neither progressing them further nor leading them off in any new thrilling direction Read Review
The overall effect is like being trapped in a lift with McFly on a sugar-rush. Print edition only
The View's handicap is the sheer lumpen ordinariness of their songwriting. Print edition only
It’s largely an inability to shake off the annoying nuances of their past records that let this LP down Read Review
Come the looming revolution, everyone responsible for this fetid excretion will get their time against the wall Read Review
The View: Bread And Circuses
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