15 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
Experimental rock collaboration between American avant-garde sludge specialists and Norwegian progressive black metal band, recorded in one evening and worked on for four years
7.4
Those Sunn O))) long-hairs are finally following their bliss out the other side of the abyss they entered via that gaping tunnel on Monoliths & Dimensions' cover, and the able hands and sly smiles of Ulver, Rygg and O'Sullivan greet them with signature erudite adaptability across Terrestrials' note-perfect 35-minute brevity Read Review
Hypnotically cinematic. Print edition only
Extremity for extremity's sake is conspicuous by its absence Read Review
Terrestrials sounds surprisingly cohesive considering the project’s improvised roots and slow development Read Review
Perfectly reflects both Sunn 0)))'s impenetrably emotional dark heart and Ulver's expertly crafted senses of drama and dynamic Read Review
It is a magnificent noise that dares you to turn your stereo up to eleven, turn out all the lights and see if your sanity is still intact at the end Read Review
It's long, languorous and wonderful in its invention, with Ulver lending emotional heft to Sunn O)))'s wall of tone Read Review
Avant-metal titans join forces to terraform a whole new planet of sound. Print edition only
Infinite loops and surging crescendos constitute a psychedelic session more about melancholic beauty than foreboding. Print edition only
This might be the closest you can get to ‘new age’ while remaining a heavily-tattooed riff-worshipper Read Review
Terrestrials bolsters both bands' oeuvres Read Review
What Terrestrials does reveal about Sunn O))) is their amiability, their unique potential to bring the concept of Sunn O))), if not its distinct sound, to an album that really isn’t quite their own Read Review
Altogether different from normality, and further down the path towards minimalist orchestral experimentation than expected Read Review
Ultimately, Terrestrials works as a likable listen, a liminal play concerning the push and pull between dusk and dawn Read Review
A welcome merger between two insuppressable forces Read Review
A trio of absorbing driftworks Read Review
Roll over video for more options
Sunn O))) & Ulver: Terrestrials
The Beths Straight Line Was A Lie
They’ve made their most mature, most incisive album yet. Not reinvention. Continuance. The long way round, mapped with clarity Dork
Baxter Dury Allbarone
Allbarone is the next destination for Dury as an experimental artist; he’s successfully been able to capture something new with his twist on hyperpop. The result is an intriguing effort that catapults him into the future realms of pop Beats Per Minute
Allbarone is Baxter Dury’s most hypnotic and groovy record yet, fusing his sardonic wit with club-ready beats. Distinct, contemporary, and utterly Dury, the artist’s ninth album proves he’s far from running out of ideas Northern Transmissions
Jade That's Showbiz Baby!
Clearly learning from her time in a supergroup, JADE’s debut — her first exercising of creative control — is as clear-headed and funny as you’d expect from a veteran Northern Transmissions
The chameleonic former Little Mix member, ever-captivating as she shapeshifts through park ’n bark ballads and synthy, up-tempo dance music, goes big on her solo debut Paste Magazine
Maruja Pain To Power
The Manchester quartet’s long-awaited debut album is a feral and loving atmosphere calling attention to world crises. The songs are overwhelming but never threadbare, packed with colossal brass, elastic diatribes, and tourniquet rhythms Paste Magazine
Big Thief Double Infinity
A kaleidoscopic view on 60s-inspired psychedelic, rock/country-tinged folk music Sputnik Music (staff)
Saint Etienne International
Though hardly a crippling disappointment, Saint Etienne’s reported final album is a far-cry from their superior earlier work Spectrum Culture
Ed Sheeran Play
Sheeran’s career opened the door to a deluge of cack The Arts Desk
Shame Cutthroat
The rawness of the album, which compliments their live sound exponentially, comes from the throw away lyricism and the manner of Steen’s animated vocal delivery Clash
Gruff Rhys Dim Probs
Dim Probs engages with deeply rooted truths. Print edition only Record Collector
What may be lost slightly in translation is mitigated by the musicality of the vocal tones, with Cate Le Bon and H Hawkline H adding a plaintive backing chorus on "Pan Ddaw'r Haul I Fore". Print edition only Uncut
Even with zero knowledge of what is going on lyrically, these songs are often beautifully evocative. Print edition only Mojo
While ‘Dim Probs’, on initial listens, may not appear the most substantial addition to Rhys’ work, it is nevertheless a relaxed (and relaxing) thing of warm humanity and beauty that, in the long run, may be more durable than much of his more lavish and accessible outputs Clash
Former Super Furry Animals man celebrates the Welsh language while taking in rich influences and instrumentation from countries far and wide 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
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