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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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The Great Destroyer
by Low
The trio's seventh album (their first for Sub Pop) features production work from Dave Fridmann and an atypically energetic sound.
| LABEL: |
Sub Pop |
| RELEASE DATE: |
25 January 2005 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Indie, Rock |
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...
95
Neumu.net
They still retain a unique identity even as they plunder and explore more generic alt-rock themes, and their particular skill is in making this transformation seem logical and welcome.
91
Entertainment Weekly
Indie rock's maturing avatars of tense lethargy paint life as an epic fade. [21 Jan 2005, p.88]
91
Spin
Years of gradually opening up their minimalism have imbued Low with the wisdom to make every new layer count. [Feb 2005, p.91]
90
Drowned In Sound
Simply another shimmering LP from a truly original band.
90
Splendid
The Great Destroyer is a marvel of layered beauty -- the sort of album that makes you call in sick to work so you can spend a day with headphones clamped to your head, charting its every elegant nuance.
90
Paste Magazine
Songs like “California” and “Walk Into the Sea,” by far the sunniest, poppiest material Low has ever produced, shatter the mopey mold the band has so carefully cultivated, and to thrilling results.
90
Delusions of Adequacy
A career-defining work.
90
Dot Music
A work so consistently stirring, stately, and pop-aware it makes most recent guitar-based art-rock albums look tawdry.
90
PopMatters
What makes The Great Destroyer surprising is how seamlessly they balance all these moods and sounds. Not to mention courageously. This is an album, not a collection of Low songs.
90
No Ripcord
Stunningly good.
90
Lost At Sea
The Great Destroyer is a masterpiece of emotional tumult.
83
Stylus Magazine
Even the lesser tracks here endear themselves upon multiple listens, and the best stuff is uniquely exciting given their context of departure from a well-loved sound.
82
Filter
The true surprise, then, is not the feedback and guitar solos... it's the more pop-oriented structure and melodies. [#14, p.104]
80
Drawer B
Low sounds fearless in its experimentation. Such personal intimacy juxtaposed with extremely haughty pretension could easily turn off listeners, but it’s all woven together so well that it’s hard to dismiss even the wrong turns.
80
All Music Guide
Fridmann's detailed sound is a far cry from either Kramer or Albini's minimalist tendencies, but his work here shows that Low can sound as good in elaborate settings as they do in simple ones.
80
Village Voice
Destroyer simmers with life in all of its noisy, tuneful excess.
80
Blender
The boldest album of their career. [Mar 2005, p.141]
80
Mojo
Though not an unqualified triumph... The Great Destroyer is the latest high from a band that routinely rewards the virtue of patience. [Feb 2005, p.94]
80
The Guardian
When The Great Destroyer rocks, it rocks with passion, rigour and an unmistakable but enormously dignified rage.
80
New Musical Express
Anger has always been at the root of Low's modus operandi; the difference, ultimately, is that where once it lurked behind marble pillars, it now stomps and snorts like a pig on a griddle. [29 Jan 2005, p.59]
80
Junkmedia
The album is harsher, darker, and just plain louder than Low have ever been in their 10-year career.
80
ShakingThrough.net
Low goes overboard at points, and detrimentally so... [but] the dissonance and harmonies mostly gel.
80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
In making like a post-rock Crazy Horse, Low has found new ways to eke dynamic moments out of lingering notes.
80
Under The Radar
A gamble that paid off in spades for a band that... is still sounding fresher, tighter and more relevant with each record. [#8, p.107]
75
cokemachineglow
The thing that lifts The Great Destroyer just above an album like Trust is that it is more spirited: there’s a hint of revival here.
70
Almost Cool
With the new directions in sound, there are a couple places where the group stumbles just a bit.
70
Rolling Stone
The result is impressively visceral darkness. [10 Feb 2005, p.81]
70
Uncut
Generally, the album has a frantic, acidic, raggedly glorious feel. [Feb 2005, p.85]
70
Dusted Magazine
“Everybody’s Song” features the melodic discipline, barely contained anguish and cryptic lyrical finger-wagging that marked the last few Posies records. “Just Stand Back” (“I’m gonna turn on you so fast”) is a hateful little bon-bon that could stand tall on a Sugar record. And yet, The Great Destroyer remains too rickety and pristine to be anyone’s baby but Low’s.
70
Q Magazine
While a generic indie rock sound is flirted with, an amicable relationship deelops between that and their trademark hush. [Mar 2005, p.100]
60
Alternative Press
A whole that's less than the sum of its parts, a bittersweet pill that's best taken in small doses. [Feb 2005, p.88]
60
Playlouder
Whether this is an album that actually suits them is another matter, but it actually makes them feel entirely relevant and, for as prolific a decade-old band, that’s high praise indeed.
55
Pitchfork
If this album is indeed the beginning of a long, arduous journey of rediscovery and rebirth and other fun ponderous stuff, here's hoping the rest of the trip is more enjoyable than this initial misstep.
50
Tiny Mix Tapes
Half a good album, half disastrously wrong.
The average user rating for this album is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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