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...

100

Delusions of Adequacy

With their trademark of talented musicianship, beautiful story-telling and unique brand of rock and roll, Drive-By Truckers are unmatched in every sense of the word. This is a remarkable album and one that is downright near perfect.

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100

The Onion (A.V. Club)

As a collection of songs, Brighter Than Creation's Dark ranks among Drive-By Truckers' best, even though there are a couple of skippable tracks.

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100

Uncut

This is a stunning album, bristling with astute and funny words, glorious tunes and delivered in performances all the more impressive for sounding so utterly effortless. [Mar 2008, p.80]

100

MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)

OK, 19 songs, gotta be filler here somewhere, and there is, only it isn't melodic -- with all music credited to the band, Shonna Tucker's muzzier lyrics and Mike Cooley's more elusive ones sound as well-turned as those of Patterson Hood, who's never written better.

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Lost At Sea

Brighter Than Creation's Dark is a tour de force that easily earns its praise and rings out as classically as any classic rock album.

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All Music Guide

Less than three weeks into 2008 it's hard not to escape the feeling that with this disc we may already have the best album of the year.

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Los Angeles Times

The result is a sprawling, 75-minute immersion in the dynamic between Patterson Hood's Neil Young/Tom Petty-influenced folk and rock and Steve Cooley's mix of Rolling Stones, stone country and Band-flavored folk-rock.

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Entertainment Weekly

Southern-rock riffs still anchor the tunes, but Brighter also throbs with pedal steel and creamy keys played by veteran R&B session guuy Spooner Oldham. [25 Jan 2008, p.68]

Pitchfork

What at first blush might sound like unhealthy entrenchment turns out to be a brilliant study in duality, as Cooley and Hood--seemingly in conversation with one another--weigh the respective pulls of decadence and dependability.

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NOW Magazine

Mike Cooley steps up with some much-needed light contrast to Patterson Hood’s darker lyrical impulses, which are well represented here, sometimes with touching poignancy and others with blunt force trauma.

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Billboard

Brighter Than Creation's Dark is one of the meanest, leanest 19-track albums you'll ever spin.

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Rolling Stone

You could argue that the Truckers should have revved up this Skynyrd side more often. But instead they let the songwriting speak for itself, and it sings loud and clear.

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The New York Times

This is a typically crowded Drive-By Truckers album; it doesn’t need all 19 songs. But the overload is part of the point.

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Boston Globe

It is vintage Truckers for the stories it tells: portrayals, in the first person or the third, of lives far too achingly real and imprinted by such forces as crystal meth, the manufacturing recession, and the Iraq war to warrant the distancing moniker Gothic.

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Hartford Courant

If Isbell’s departure was the cloud, Brighter Than Creation's Dark is the silver lining.

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Paste Magazine

Brighter Than Creation’s Dark belongs to Mike Cooley, who contributes seven of his best, most rousing songs about hard-luck characters—the kind you know and probably avoid--proving the Truckers are at their best singing about people at their worst.

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No Ripcord

Even if this type of thing isn’t your bag, it’s really pretty irresistible and is worth a shot.

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Magnet

That they've played themselves out of a tight corner is an impressive feat in and of itself. [Winter 2008, p.99]

Mojo

The Truckers have always been a direct band but this time there's a kind of foreplay, where each song gives the other time and consideration. [Mar 2008, p.100]

cokemachineglow

Excessive length aside, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark constitutes a solid rebound from the overly scattered A Blessing and a Curse.

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Austin Chronicle

At 19 songs and more than 75 minutes, Brighter Than Creation's Dark just barely slouches to excess, mainly because it finds the Athens, Ga., quartet at its most tuneful.

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Slant Magazine

As is, it's a sporadically brilliant effort by an exceptional band whose reach still sometimes exceeds their grasp.

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Under The Radar

While the album may not add up to a cohesive sum like "Decoration Day" or especially "Southern Rovk Opera," with 19 songs on Brighter Than Creation's Dark, the band put a lot on the table. [Winter 2008, p.81]

Blender

Though less dynamic, the weary mid-tempo arrangements embody the album’s crushing hopelessness, tempered only by John Neff’s elegant pedal steel.

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Village Voice

The best song on the Drive-By Truckers' new 19-track monolith, Brighter Than Creation's Dark, will remind you why you like them; the album's worst song, which is in fact the worst song they've ever done by a substantial margin, will teach you to love them again.

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Prefix Magazine

John Neff’s expert, dreamy pedal steel and Shonna Tucker’s soothing, pitch-perfect harmony -- somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Neko Case--make Brighter another solid entry in the band's catalog.

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Hot Press

Sprawling America travelogue stays strictly old school.

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Q Magazine

The tragedy, once again, is that nothing here approaches greatness. [Mar 2008, p.103]

The Guardian

It's impeccably well done: riffs and basslines lock together as tightly as a highway-bound engine, but, like an American vehicle, the problem is excess.

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Spin

[Patterson Hood] cedes too much of the spotlight to competent but less distinctive mates Mike Cooley and Shonna Tucker. [Feb 2008, p.92]

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PopMatters

Despite such strong material, it’s a shame it has to be bogged down by a good six or seven tracks of filler.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ratty P. gave it a7:
Better than many band's best by a country mile, but we're talking DBT standards here. I have to say, I really miss Jason.

Mike zD. gave it a10:
Maybe the best record they have done, and so far better than anything else this year.

Scott H. gave it a4:
It's whiney, twangy, predictable, pretty annoying.

Hexum S gave it a10:
I had never heard of this band before. I just downloaded some random high scoring album from MetaCritic because I was bored. I dislike about 95% of albums that get critical acclaim here, but let me tell you this is definitely one of the 5% that I absolutly love. This is my best MetaCritic find since The Shins - Chutes too Narrow. Try this one out!

Sean P. gave it a10:
At first listen, it sounded like a very good alt-country album. But then, I found myself going back to it over and over again. By now, I've heard it more than any other album in the last few weeks. It has grown on me considerably. Now it's one of the best alt-country albums I've ever heard. The staying power is incredible. It's all I've been listening to lately.

J D gave it a9:
"Two Daughters And A Wife" is the ONLY diamond in this rough. i gave this a 9 ONLY because of this song. It went directly into my "EPIC" playlist. Pretty boring and unremarkable otherwise.

Daniel C. gave it a10:
This is among DBT's best recordings. It may be lengthy, but that's my only complaint. I love this record.

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Brighter Than Creation's Dark

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