I joined Paste in 2023 and, in my tenure as editor, this year’s AOTY list is my favorite by far. The publication has been doling out these rankings since 2002, affixing an “Album of the Year” ribbon ...

The 1980s might be the easiest decade to caricature. But the best ’80s albums prove that the decade wasn't just about big hair, big shoulder pads, and even bigger mobile phones—and that the era's ...

Stopgap cash grab by the record company or the result of artist indulgence that can't be contained within the usual confines of a single LP? The double album has been both throughout its long and ...

Turnstile are coming back with their first album since 2021’s Glow On. The new album, Never Enough, is out on June 6 via Roadrunner. Leading the full-length is the title song, which arrives with a ...

Two decades after digital downloading was supposed to disintegrate the full-length LP, musicians seem as eager to collect and to sprawl — and sometimes to tighten up — as they’ve ever been. Here are ...

Streaming has mutated the album as a format over the past decade, lengthening tracklists, shifting where likely hits get placed, and chipping away at song runtimes. But this year, artists seemed less ...

Charli XCX, Mk.gee and MJ Lenderman top our pop music critics’ lists this year. By Jon Pareles Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz Jon Pareles The agendas for 21st-century musicians keep getting more ...

In the early days of vinyl records, album covers were nothing more than a safety feature, blank paper jackets meant to protect the fragile content inside. That is, until, designer Alex Steinweiss at ...

Without question, Metallica are the most formidable, popularized and influential band in the heavy metal genre. No other band in heavy music wields the same number of masterfully crafted albums or the ...

The album is the best invention of the past century, hands down — but the music isn’t the whole story. The album cover has been a cultural obsession as long as albums have. Ever since 12-inch vinyl ...

We’re halfway through 2024 and just posted a list of our 40 favorite albums of 2024 so far, which includes multiple genres of music, including metal. For even more metal, we’ve now put together a list ...

I might be old-fashioned, but I like listening to albums. Spotify seems to always be fighting me on this. I like experiencing a collection of songs all at once, played in the order chosen by the ...