Marissa Nadler New Radiations
Released Aug 15, 2025 Sacred Bones Records
Consensus forming 3 professional reviews Updated Aug 27, 2026
Broadly positive consensus
Consensus is still forming across 3 professional reviews. Marissa Nadler's New Radiations reframes her gothic folk palette as a collection of short, dreamlike stories where intimacy and atmosphere carry the day.
How ChoruScore worksCritics' Top Tracks
The songs critics returned to most
Hatchet Man
2 critic mentions
“That backing muffled keyboard is exquisite. Packed with gothic Americana energy.” — Far Out Magazine
It Hits Harder
2 critic mentions
“In album opener “It Hits Harder”, she transforms the end of a relationship into a small airplane flight” — PopMatters
Smoke Screen Selene
2 critic mentions
“Smoke Screen Selene” starts long after the ending of a distant affair” — PopMatters
Full critic consensus
Marissa Nadler's New Radiations reframes her gothic folk palette as a collection of short, dreamlike stories where intimacy and atmosphere carry the day. Critics note that songs such as “Hatchet Man”, “It Hits Harder” and “Smoke Screen Selene” emerge as the record's clearest high points, their spare arrangements and Nadler's soprano rendering scenes of decay, distance and escape with chilling clarity. Across professional reviews, those tracks are repeatedly cited as the best songs on New Radiations for marrying vivid storytelling with haunting musical detail.
The critical consensus positions the album as a measured success rather than a radical reinvention, having earned a 76.67/100 consensus score across 3 professional reviews. Reviewers consistently praise the record's old-world Americana and magical realism touches, and they highlight how intimate production - guitar, subtle strings and nocturnal vocals - amplifies themes of relationship decay and detachment. At the same time, some critics raise concerns about moments of compositional uniformity and a title track that feels less adventurous, marking the collection as evocative but occasionally restrained.
Taken together, the professional reviews suggest New Radiations is worth seeking out for listeners drawn to gothic folk storytelling and poignant, atmosphere-first songwriting. For those wondering whether New Radiations is good, the consensus score and repeated praise for standout tracks like “Hatchet Man”, “It Hits Harder” and “Smoke Screen Selene” offer a clear, favorable verdict while acknowledging the album's quieter limitations.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
It Hits Harder
Bad Dreams Summertime
You Called Her Camellia
Smoke Screen Selene
New Radiations
If It's An Illusion
Hatchet Man
Light Years
Weightless Above The Water
To Be The Moon King
Sad Satellite
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 3 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Marissa Nadler loosens the grandeur and returns to intimate storytelling on New Radiations, where songs like “It Hits Harder” and “Hatchet Man” stand out as the best tracks for their vivid narratives and chilling beauty. The record reads like a short story collection rather than a diary, each vignette - from the airplane metaphors of “It Hits Harder” to the acoustic snuff film tension of “Hatchet Man” - showing why listeners ask about the best songs on New Radiations. Nadler’s soprano and spare guitar make those moments feel almost unbearably gorgeous, proving that the best tracks on New Radiations need no bells and whistles.
Key Points
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“Hatchet Man” is the standout for its chilling, almost unbearably gorgeous murder-ballad storytelling.
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The album’s core strength is intimate, narrative-driven songwriting that uses metaphor to explore departure, escape, and decaying relationships.
Themes
Fa
Critic's Take
Marissa Nadler’s New Radiations is at its most bewitching on tracks like “Smoke Screen Selene” and “Hatchet Man”, where her nocturnal vocals and deft strings conjure an old-world, gothic folk ambience. The record repeatedly traffics in evocative, spectral imagery and intimate sonic detail, which makes songs such as “Weightless Above The Water” and “It Hits Harder” feel immersive and emotionally vivid. That said, the reviewer’s tone is measured - the album can lapse into compositional uniformity, leaving some cuts, notably the title track “New Radiations”, sounding less adventurous. Overall, the best songs on New Radiations are those that marry Nadler’s eerie lyricism with bold instrumental textures, exemplified most strikingly by “Smoke Screen Selene” and “Hatchet Man”.
Key Points
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The best song, notably "Smoke Screen Selene", succeeds by combining foggy atmosphere with electrified strings and precise arrangements.
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The album’s core strengths are its intimate vocals, gothic folk atmosphere, and evocative old-world imagery, though it sometimes lapses into compositional uniformity.