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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Brighter Than Creation's Dark
EMAILPRINTby Drive-By Truckers

Universal acclaim
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 38 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: New West
Release Date: 22 January 2008
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Indie
Summary
This is the first album since Jason Isbell left the band to pursue a solo career.
Also By This Artist: A Blessing And A Curse Decoration Day The Dirty South
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
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...
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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]
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Billboard
Brighter Than Creation's Dark is one of the meanest, leanest 19-track albums you'll ever spin.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Hartford Courant
If Isbell’s departure was the cloud, Brighter Than Creation's Dark is the silver lining.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
Even if this type of thing isn’t your bag, it’s really pretty irresistible and is worth a shot.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
As is, it's a sporadically brilliant effort by an exceptional band whose reach still sometimes exceeds their grasp.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Spin
[Patterson Hood] cedes too much of the spotlight to competent but less distinctive mates Mike Cooley and Shonna Tucker. [Feb 2008, p.92]
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Despite such strong material, it’s a shame it has to be bogged down by a good six or seven tracks of filler.
Read Full Review >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.
