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I only own two Low lps. this one made me sit up and listen! I feel I need to start with my ratings...
Content.... 5+ stars
Sonics... 3.5 stars
Production ...2.5 stars
For me, (an end user, listener), I want to be drawn into a record. 'The Great Destroyer' does this considering the record only for it's content. Regarding it's production... that's were It falls short. with all of what's going on here, the vocals, the instruments, etc... It comes across to me, the 'end user' as a 'jumble'. By that I mean all of the Great performances By all involved are 'jumbled' into a center soundstage. this does not serve the music well, IMO.
The production, mixing engineers are what keeps this Great record from becoming exceptional.
What could Have been?....
The subject matter is compatible with the sound, most of them songs about struggling with inner demons, but even more about the determination to meet and exorcise them, whether successful or not. the lyrics are mildly oblique, often poetic, and frequently scary. in 'When I Go Deaf,' for instance, the singer is bizarre in seeing all the advantages of not being able to hear, hinting at all the fights that he and his lover will not Have to have. It is a profoundly unsettling sentiment. Likewise, in 'Monkey,' a broken or breaking relationship is acknowledged, only to Have the chorus insist that: 'Tonight You will be mine/Tonight the monkey dies.' Exactly what is meant By the monkey dying (or even precisely what the monkey is) isn't spelled out nor whether It will die a natural death or will be murdered.
I discovered this album By hearing the members of the band interviewed on 'Fresh Air with Terry Gross' on NPR a few weeks ago. I found the clips from the Great DESTROYER to be so haunting that I instantly resolved to search the album out, and scribbled the name of the album down in a notebook. I urge anyone interested in this band (and anyone who likes alternative or indie Rock should be interested in them) to Go listen to that interview By following the links o the NPR.org website First to the Fresh Air site, and then searching 'Low' on previous shows. They talk about a number of things in that interview, such as the Mormon background of Alan Sparshawk and Mimi Parker, as well as his ongoing struggle with mental illness, transfiguring It into the band's music. this is absolutely one of my favorite albums of 2005 and I fully expect that at year's end It will rank as one of the new albums I will Have listened to the most. in fact, I Have a pile of new albums that I haven't listened to yet because I can't get this one out of my CD tray. I strongly recommend this one.