25 March 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
Fourth studio album from the English hard rock quartet produced by their guitarist Dan Hawkins
5.6
The sound of a band unencumbered; it's an album that was probably as much fun to make as it is a joy to listen to Read Review
There are reasons to cheer aside from survival - cultish single "Open Fire," "Mighty Wings" and the Rush-like title track. Print edition only
The music industry is lacking an abundance of epic bands – The Darkness’s glorious return could be the answer Read Review
This is the sound of a band fired-up and focused, and the result is a Darkness album to be proud of Read Review
Last of Our Kind is nothing groundbreaking, but it shakes the Earth with pumping fervor; it’s not a mindfuck, it’s a facemelt Read Review
For suckers of old-school guitar riffs and songs about the Viking invasion of East Anglia, there's much to enjoy. Print edition only
Darkness have stockpiled all the best riffs- again. Print edition only
Last of Our Kind does not exactly show a “musical evolution” for The Darkness Read Review
This is their darkest record yet, but it's saved from drudgery by a heavier sound delivered with furious energy Read Review
There's a theme, but it's loose and undeveloped Read Review
It sounds like The Darkness are having fun again, even if their posey cock-rock sounds more than a little stale Read Review
Justin Hawkins’ falsetto delivers every time, but it’s hard not to think a bit more focus might have worked more effectively Read Review
Ironically, trying to sound less like a parody has, if anything, made the band even more cartoonish Read Review
Fifteen years into their career, there seems to have been a conscious removal of tongue from cheek Read Review
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The Darkness: Last Of Our Kind
Ladytron Paradises
Ladytron have produced an album that, from its inception, sought to invoke the same spirit that the band had 25 years ago Far Out
Gorillaz The Mountain
The strongest case in years that Gorillaz can still make records that matter as records Dork
Kim Gordon Play Me
'Play me' doesn’t try to comfort. It tries to provoke, energise and outlast the scroll Dork
The Orielles Only You Left
These songs come from months of demo-hoarding and forensic listening, the band archiving every practice-room spark before lovingly picking through the results Dork
James Blake Trying Times
Blake sounds energised by the room he has carved out for himself Dork
Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
This isn’t an album built like a straight line from hook to hook. It moves in waves, often favouring texture and atmosphere over immediate release Dork
Underscores U
It’s technical excellence as a musical product cannot be overstated. For a pop album to be this busy yet possess a pocket as deep and rich as underscores displays here is simply amazing Sputnik Music (staff)
Indie rock icon Kim Gordon acerbically wrestles with the state of the world over hip-hop and industrial beats on Play Me PopMatters
The former electro-pop enfant terrible swings big on her latest album, compressing all her split personalities and eclectic tastes into a high-gloss, high-stakes gamble to remake pop on her own terms Pitchfork
On U, she finds a clearly-defined, rounded-out identity in her music for the first time, and she delivers the most immediate and the most robust work of her career The Line Of Best Fit
Performing, writing and producing everything herself, April Grey pares back her hyperpop electronics for an LP in thrall to 90s pop-R&B, with songs that big stars would die for The Guardian
April Harper Grey’s latest hits all the beats of a classic pop record — a choreo-primed single, a power ballad, a post-breakup closure anthem — without overstaying its welcome Paste Magazine
A tour-de-force of production chops that cements April Harper Grey as a key auteur in the future of the genre NME
Alexis Taylor Paris In The Spring
Paris in the Spring is a gem of a record which, while never over-reaching its ambition, sparkles with electronic ingenuity as it takes in all seasons of human experience Spectrum Culture
It's a beautiful collection of genre-hopping songs. Print edition only Uncut
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