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 Danish singer-songwriter's third album sees her break away from the piano and move towards a variety of new keyboard-based instruments
7.5
Her most ambitious work to date, both conceptually and instrumentally Read Review
Dares us to explore what being a glass citizen does to us emotionally and creatively, whilst also offering us a means of escape through songs where there are spaces for our subjectivity to disappear, at least for a while Read Review
The singer songwriter has clearly challenged her musical background and the result is a quite extraordinary and enchanting composition Read Review
Agnes Obel’s third album finds her a long way away from the sweet Tori Amos-style pop that adorned her first album Read Review
Hauntingly contemplative and sticks with you like an unbidden mantra Read Review
An opaque and quietly intense missive. Print edition only
A thing of quiet wonder. Print edition only
There isn't a single moment on the quietly stunning Citizen of Glass that doesn't feel authentic Read Review
This is a haunting listen and one that will provide suitable company as the long winter nights start to draw in Read Review
The downside to her whispery and quiet textures is that they must be heard in the right context because as the album wears on they tend to fade into the background and feel soporific. Yet when focused on with special attention and intellectual appreciation they can be mesmerising Read Review
Maintaining her distinctive elegant mood, Obel’s music here is more concrete than in her previous works, making an album that’s both a compelling and charming listen Read Review
New instrumental timbres lend fresh flavour to the songs Read Review
Calm minimalism, chiming instruments and pure singing give other tracks a twinkling sheen, a little too glassy and smooth to really grip but enticing enough Read Review
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Agnes Obel: Citizen of Glass
U2 Carnaval de Luz
On their first album of new songs in nearly a decade, even earnest Bono-isms carry weight amid music that is impassioned and rejuvenated The Guardian
Letting loose and finding renewed purpose, U2 have delivered one of their most fun and engaging albums with Carnaval De Luz, a celebratory injection of positive vibes to both the world and this band All Music
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
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