• Record Label: Merge
  • Release Date: Aug 28, 2015
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. Aug 26, 2015
    100
    While there's still mystery and misdirection on his new album, Poison Season is nakedly ambitious and utterly satisfying.
  2. 100
    Poison Season is a caustic, beguiling masterpiece.
  3. 91
    His follow-up is his most adventurous collection yet. Over 13 tracks, he unspools anthemic power chords, swaggering horns, and gimlet-eyed tales of his journeys around the world.
  4. Aug 28, 2015
    91
    Poison Season is the sound of an artist in complete control of the strange chaos around him.
  5. 90
    Whether Poison Season is approached as an exhibition of those many individual pieces, or as an ensemble affair weaved subconsciously together, that conflicted point of view leads the listener to treat the whole LP as an exploration.
  6. Aug 28, 2015
    90
    There’s enough allure in Poison Season’s oddities to make it highly listenable.
  7. Aug 27, 2015
    90
    Nearly 20 years on, Destroyer is still as surprising and inspired as ever.
  8. Aug 26, 2015
    90
    Collaboration clearly suits Destroyer well: after ten albums in close to two decades, the band still sound as vital and inventive as ever, and they're operating at the top of their game on Poison Season.
  9. Sep 9, 2015
    80
    Poison Season is a luxurious creation, dappled in sunlight, and summoning all the redemptive power of pop.
  10. Aug 31, 2015
    80
    It’s the kind of album you can listen to many times without wearing it out, without even getting much of a grip on why you like it.
  11. Aug 31, 2015
    80
    Poison Season is nothing if not willing to shrug off a few of Destroyer’s newest fans if that means staying true to what the band has done so well for the better part of two decades. More so than on Kaputt, all of the classic Destroyer motifs are on full display.
  12. Aug 28, 2015
    80
    It’s novelistic. It’s smart. Of course it is, it’s a Destroyer album.
  13. Q Magazine
    Aug 25, 2015
    80
    Poison Season sounds like a restless musical intellect stretching out with new confidence. [Oct 2015, p.106]
  14. Aug 25, 2015
    80
    Poison Season is another excellent Destroyer album, packed with songs that are graceful, beautiful and, yes, hummable.
  15. Aug 24, 2015
    80
    One of the best albums from a restless artist who understands the ridiculousness of being a Restless Artist, but trusts that a consistent voice will make sense of his cross-genre meanderings.
  16. Aug 24, 2015
    80
    It’s a surprise to see him employ such an economy of language, but Bejar can still command your attention with his sharp, romantic one-liners. He’s setting the scene by making a visceral impression with characters that feel alive, engulfed in their indecisiveness, driven with a theatrical imagination that’s as restless as it’s ever been.
  17. Aug 24, 2015
    80
    What makes Poison Season a great album, though, is that it doesn't completely wallow in Bejar's newfound smoking-jacket-and-fine-brandy sophistication—as opposed to the tattered-plaid-shirt-and-fifth-of-Jack wildness of early Destroyer. Rather, refined balladry like "Solace's Bride" coexists comfortably next to upbeat, funky songs like "Midnight Meet the Rain," which sounds like the badass theme song for an '80s cop show.
  18. Aug 17, 2015
    80
    On his 11th album, that gloss is pared down, revealing just how well-crafted and intricate Bejar’s songs have become.
  19. Bejar’s dismantled the old Destroyer sound, but he’s built something wonderfully disorientating in its stead.
  20. Mojo
    Aug 6, 2015
    80
    There's nothing bland about this fervid, ideasy album. [Sep 2015, p.90]
  21. Uncut
    Aug 6, 2015
    80
    This Zen archer lets fly with his second straight bulls-eye. [Sep 2015, p.79]
  22. Sep 3, 2015
    76
    On Poison Season, you can occasionally detect the dismaying sound of indie rock's greatest intellect second-guessing itself.
  23. Aug 24, 2015
    75
    Poison Season is beautiful, haunting, thrilling, but inherently challenging, as Bejar challenges himself and his listeners equally.
  24. Aug 28, 2015
    70
    Bejar stacks rainy-New York sax magic, sad-astronaut strings and hippie jazzbo grooving to make songs that are as wryly hilarious as they are weirdly affecting.
  25. Aug 27, 2015
    70
    It's easy listening, while thankfully having nothing whatsoever to do with the much-maligned genre of the same name--and the sort of fascinatingly layered album that appears demanding and austere from the outset but is in fact home to a set of beautifully realised songs.
  26. Aug 6, 2015
    65
    It's not bad, and it certainly has its moments. But on the heels of Kaputt, it can be a frustrating, uneven listen. [Aug-Sep 2015, p.61]

Awards & Rankings

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 67 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 67
  2. Negative: 5 out of 67
  1. Sep 1, 2015
    9
    A fantastically well-crafted album, every song on Poison Season reveals close attention to detail. The instrumentation on many of the tracksA fantastically well-crafted album, every song on Poison Season reveals close attention to detail. The instrumentation on many of the tracks is complex, layered, and captivating. Best of all, Poison Season blends elements from recent releases with older releases synthesizing them into something new, unexpected, and interesting.

    Without a doubt, one of the best albums of this year.
    Full Review »
  2. Aug 28, 2015
    9
    This is a grand album. One of Destroyer's best. And that's saying something given this band's output over the past decade plus. It's rich,This is a grand album. One of Destroyer's best. And that's saying something given this band's output over the past decade plus. It's rich, musically lush and lyrically dynamic. And the strings... Lordy, the strings. There aren't many making music like this, and it's thrilling to hear Bejar and company hit the mark once again. Outstanding album, and one of my favorites of 2015 thus far. Full Review »
  3. Sep 29, 2015
    8
    Destroyer remains wonderfully consistent with his discography. He never fails to impress, and Poison Season, the first of his records sinceDestroyer remains wonderfully consistent with his discography. He never fails to impress, and Poison Season, the first of his records since 2011's fantastic Kaputt, is no different. On Poison Season Dan Bejar adopts a melodic, breezy 70's pop/rock aesthetic that works brilliantly with his style of lyrics and vocals. Added to the mix are some finely produced string arrangements that take the place of the synthesizers from Kaputt. Each track is very enjoyable, but where the album falters slightly for me is in the wholistic presentation of Poison Season as an album. For rarely changing the instrumental lineup or dynamic intensity, it is a bit long. However, this criticism does not stop this album from being great. 2015 has a been a great year for baroque pop. Full Review »