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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Destroyer's Rubies
Universal acclaim
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 103 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Merge
Release Date: 21 February 2006
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
Dan Bejar's seventh Destroyer record is as lyrically dense as ever, but marks a shift to a full-band, guitar-oriented sound after 2004's more eclectic 'Your Blues.'
Also By This Artist: Trouble In Dreams Your Blues
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: The New Pornographers: Electric Version The New Pornographers: Mass Romantic The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema
Also On The Web: Destroyer @ Merge
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The Onion (A.V. Club)
It's an easy Destroyer album to love, approachable as both a collection of strong rock songs and a literary exercise in just how far songs can stretch to make sense of the words within them.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
Destroyer’s Rubies evinces an awareness of a feeling that “I’ve heard something like this before, and really enjoyed it” while denying the listener enough material specifics to follow-up with “It was on this record, recorded by this band, which I listened to when I was this old.”
Read Full Review >Spin
Hooky, spare, and lush all at once. [Mar 2006, p.95]
Filter
In context, Rubies [is] just another piece of the puzzle, but it's the finest jewel yet. [#19, p.99]
Lost At Sea
Destroyer’s Rubies is every bit as marvelous as his landmark Streethawk: A Seduction.
Read Full Review >Amazon.com
In drawing on the theatrical, macro-orchestrations reminiscent of Scott Walker and expanding on the slapdash, quirky, musical humor of the Red Krayola's Mayo Thompson, this album reaches another peak for Bejar and is one of Destroyer's best works yet.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
It's tempting to spend hours excavating metaphors and translating references on a record this complex and interesting, but Destroyer's Rubies also works well as pop.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
The stupendous Destroyer's Rubies, recorded with a full, swaggering band, is maybe his best and certainly his least theoretical album.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
Those who choose to fixate on Bejar's lack of a pretty singing voice are missing the point. Much like John Darnielle, everything outside of Bejar's verse should be seen as peripheral -- a means to deliver the lyrical ends.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
The only thing about Destroyer's Rubies that might shock existing fans is that Bejar's execution, ambition and passion have been buffed to a high shine. [Apr/May 2006, p.102]
Neumu.net
This is the defining Destroyer work because of its size and scope, because of its melodicism ("Painter in Your Pocket" the hottest pop song Bejar's authored yet), because of the caliber of its musical chops, and because of the shots Bejar continues to fire.
Read Full Review >Uncut
A singular, rhapsodic triumph. [Apr 2007, p.94]
Pitchfork
Encapsulating and elevating the best of Destroyer's back catalog, Destroyer's Rubies serves as a potent reminder that the intelligence of Bejar's songs has never obfuscated their emotional weight.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
His insider snipes at indie-rock pretense show Wildean wit. [24 Feb 2006, p.64]
Stylus Magazine
Bejar is so wound up in his own idiosyncratic mythologies, so hopelessly himself that some fans have already said it sounds like a greatest hits record; appropriate that a meta-rocker’s final frontier is his own reflection in the mirror.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Bejars songs have, in the past, sometimes seemed like vehicles for his lyrics, yet with Destroyer’s Rubies he seems to have made peace with the musical element of his work as well.
Read Full Review >NOW Magazine
While the sheer density of Bejar's writing can be overwhelming, Destroyer's Rubies is, on a musical level, the most 'accessible' disc he's released in years.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
Rubies is nothing if not ambitious. [Apr 2006, p.204]
Delusions of Adequacy
Destroyer’s Rubies is one of those rare albums whose literary value is so compelling as to make any imperfections simply blend in as an essential part of the storyline.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
All self-examination aside, there's a lot of substance here. Vocally, he has rarely been more on point, and the instrumental ensemble is sound and uniquely Rubiesian.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
An amalgam of Streethawk: A Seduction's glam rock posturing, This Night's guitar-heavy psychedelia, and Your Blues' apocalyptic wordplay.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
It feels like an event: grand, sumptuous, sometimes seductive.
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
Rubies is one of the most enjoyable listens from Bejar’s solo catalog and comfortably stands with 2002’s This Night as his best effort.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
Destroyer's Rubies is an inadvertent Guide To Destroyer - every defining quirk, every 70's pop nod and ill-advised but forgivable falsetto is condensed and framed, only without becoming something fans of Bejar will have all heard before.
Read Full Review >Blender
Bejar's most accessible album yet. [Apr 2006, p.111]
Urb
Fey and whimsical, these songs are challenges that reward. [Apr 2006, p.96]
Austin Chronicle
Anyone on the fence after 2004's Your Blues need only hear Bejar bark, "I tried to enjoy myself at the society ball" on the luxurious "A Dangerous Woman up to a Point" to see his strength as a songwriter.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
One of [Bejar's] most accomplished (and self-studied) albums, but it’s also one of his least vital.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
Adventuruous fare, somewhat mellower than previous efforts, but equally sporadic and striking. [#12, p.90]
Billboard
Overall, listeners will struggle to classify "Rubies," as much for Bejar's blurring of bluesy folk, pop and lo-fi indie rock as his unconventional delivery.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 103 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Wes M. gave it a10:
(I forget whether or not I already rated this) Anyway, it takes a few listens, but every track - with expected variance, and if you can handle the pretentiousness - is really good indie rock!
Andy G gave it a9:
Incredible music, and lyrics that you can tune out for a bit, then tune in again and become engaged immediately.
r t gave it a6:
Despite strong musicality, this is generally a below average effort. Almost every song features the same wordless vocal interlude of 'ya la la la la la.' Another stylistic bit to be featured over and over (and over and over) is his tendency to deliver long, unrhymed lines, until finally speed-reading a paragraph over instruments swelling to a fever pitch in the background. Usually this is immediately followed by one of the 'ya da la la' sequences. Both these techniques are effective when used occasionally. Unfortunately, they both occur way too often to be anything other than embarrassing.
Terry B gave it a10:
Dan Bejar's monumental ambition to bring a high-minded sensibility to rock in a new and deeply profound way has finally come to fruition; previous albums were very, very good but "Destroyer's Rubies" makes them look like practice sessions.
e j gave it a9:
This Is a beautiful record, and my advice to jared and brian is to stop listening to their own assholes and start listening to real music. thank you
ray ray gave it a10:
People who dont get it shouldnt hate. They should just ignore and go critic something else. This is a brillant record by a brillant artist. No one ever said he sings like Elvis. People said the same on Dylan and Dylan remains Dylan.
dave g gave it a9:
it took me a very long time to get past the voice, i'm not going to lie. but this is amazing-- it's all just so catchy and solid. people need to stop being so closed-minded.
