13 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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Ninth studio album from the reformed Yorkshire alt.rock band featuring original members Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy
6.2
Absurd, brilliant and stupidly good fun. Print edition only
This is the true spirit walking. Print edition only
Choice of Weapon is the Cult's finest moment in 23 years; it's the true swaggering heir to the period that birthed Electric and Sonic Temple Read Review
The Cult continue to thrive by sticking to their basic muse, and they are showing pretty much no signs of rust Read Review
While the pomp and sense of urgency may be gone from the band's '90s heyday, this is a solid effort and a worthy choice for rock fans who want something loud to drive fast to Read Review
Déjà vu riffs and Ian Astbury’s hard-rock shaman voodoo are still great, but the weapon tends to misfire Read Review
Musically, it largely follows on from Sonic Temple. The songs are kitted out in leather trousers and cowboy boots, yet somehow echo the spirit of The Doors without being po-faced Read Review
Strikes a requisite note of defiance. Print edition only
Without any standout songs to propel it, Choice Of Weapon may be a return to style, but it’s not a return to form Read Review
What is missing, and what has been missing since Electric, is the groove to match the swagger Read Review
Ultimately The Cult have delivered an album of simplistic background rock, with a few redeeming moments Read Review
Fails to wash away the sense of redundancy that has hung around for too long now Read Review
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The Cult: Choice of Weapon
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