15 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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The Grammy award winning folk and blues stalwart returns with his latest collection of songs
7.4
An album of Americana for grown-ups. You don't have to be dead, or even on the slippery slope, to appreciate that it's a rather beautiful thing Read Review
An exquisitely bittersweet meander through Wainwright’s cobweb-strewn psyche liable to leave listeners laughing through tears and crying through laughter Read Review
It’s his voice that shines through most clearly on these songs. Slightly deeper and more expressive in his sixties than it was in his twenties or thirties Read Review
This could well be the most entertaining autobiography you'll listen to all year Read Review
Veteran raconteur celebrates early-late-life crisis in good company. Print edition only
It works, thanks to his bleak wit, his ability to match thoughtful lyrics against varied, mostly blues-based settings Read Review
Darkly amusing multigenerational affair ponders sex, death, taxing relationships Read Review
Tackles serious topics with empathy and laughter Read Review
Mortality weighs heavily on his mind even in the album’s lighter moments Read Review
There is no denying that Wainwright has a true gift for turning heartbreak into brilliant folk rock Read Review
It's riveting stuff; here's hoping the story doesn’t end for a long time Read Review
A fine addition to the man's legacy Read Review
Aging made engaging with help from guests. Print edition only
Despite moments of brilliance, at 15 songs long the self-obsession sometimes grates. Print edition only
A sober yet wry meditation on impending death and testy relationships with his adult children, all four of whom guest Read Review
Family has always been a significant theme in Loudon Wainwright's work, and never more so than here Read Review
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Loudon Wainwright III: Older Than My Old Man Now
U2 Carnaval de Luz
This is not a radical reinvention of Rattle And Hum-to-Achtung Baby magnitude, or even a wilful evolution akin to that from How To Dismantle An Atom Bomb to No Line On Th Horizon. The ghosts of U2's past are summoned in numbers, though they are frequently mischievously partnered to interestingly incongruous effect. Print edition only Uncut
The Irish legends' best work in 25 years homages their eras, brings Brian Eno to bear on keys and even wheels out the late Dolly Parton musicOMH
Royal Blood Dead Company
It’s a record that sounds exactly like you would hope a new Royal Blood album would sound like, it’s little wonder that they are as big as they are, a consistently fine listen God Is In The TV
Kings Of Leon O My Beloved
With Carnaval De Luz they are not reinventing themselves or trying to be the current flavour of the month. What they do with this album is revisit their older glories and create new music and sound Spill Magazine
U2 return with a defiant and celebratory record that captures them still at the height of their powers Hot Press
This is Lorelei The Singer In My Band
Nate Amos fills his latest album with other people’s stories: some linger, others get lost in the scenery Still Listening
Out for blood! Brighton bruisers Royal Blood blast back-to-basics on fifth album Kerrang!
Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher floor the accelerator and embark on another collision course of energised and uncompromising riff-rock for album number five NME
Dead Company is arguably the best album they’ve released since their debut, but doesn’t exactly come close to topping it Sputnik Music (staff)
Royal Blood's latest album is competently made and frequently enjoyable, but almost entirely foreseeable The Skinny
There are no frills on this fifth set, once again self-produced by Kerr and Thatcher; instead, it provides a brisk hard rock assault that should please the faithful and entice newcomers to dig into their back catalog All Music
Bono and co. return to full strength with a celebration of hope over despair Mojo
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
The Irish stadium legends’ latest is pedantic and ambiguous, rife with centrist pandering that ends up saying nothing at all Paste Magazine
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