The Destroyer (Part 1)
The Destroyer is the third studio album by Canadian electronic music project TR/ST, fronted by Robert Alfons. It is the first half of the two-part album with the same title. It was released on April 19, 2019, by Royal Mountain Records and his own record label Grouch. The album features contributions from Maya Postepski, his collaborator on TR/ST's debut studio album, TRST, as well as Lars Stalfors and Damian Taylor. It is his first release in which he is not credited as Trust.
The second part of the album, The Destroyer (Part 2), was released on November 1, 2019.
Background and release
After the end of the tour supporting his last album, Joyland, Alfons started to work on his third studio album. He commented that "after the first and second record and touring, I was really sort of depleted and I definitely needed to regroup." The artist described the process of creating the album as "healing myself and then experimenting with different ideas about what a song I would put out would be."In July 2017, Alfons released "Bicep", the first single promoting the album.
On February 5, 2019, Alfons announced the third studio album, alongside its title, release date, artwork and tracklist. On the same day, he released the album's second single, "Gone".
On February 21, 2019, Alfons released the third single off The Destroyer – Part 1, "Unbleached", that was premiered on The Fader, followed by the fourth single, "Grouch", released a month later.
The fifth single, "Colossal", was premiered on BrooklynVegan on April 4, 2019. It is one of the five tracks that Robert Alfons worked on with his collaborator from TR/ST's debut album, Maya Postepski. Alfons commented that the song is "such a special collab" and added that it was written "while in different parts of the world."
Composition
The Destroyer is an industrial, experimental music and cold wave album.Promotion
To promote the album, Alfons was on a tour in Europe and North America that began on April 9, 2019.| Date | City | Country | Venue |
| April 9, 2019 | London | England | The Steel Yard |
| April 11, 2019 | Barcelona | Spain | Razzmatazz |
| April 12, 2019 | Madrid | Spain | Sala Caracol |
| April 13, 2019 | Paris | France | Le Bababoum |
| April 15, 2019 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | Bitterzoet |
| April 17, 2019 | Copenhagen | Denmark | Vega |
| April 19, 2019 | Berlin | Germany | Urban Spree |
| April 20, 2019 | St. Petersburg | Russia | MOD |
| April 21, 2019 | Moscow | Russia | Pluton |
| April 26, 2019 | Toronto | Canada | Phoenix Concert Theatre |
| April 27, 2019 | Montreal | Canada | Corona Theatre |
| May 1, 2019 | Boston | United States | Brighton Music Hall |
| May 3, 2019 | Brooklyn | United States | Elsewhere |
| May 4, 2019 | Philadelphia | United States | Underground Arts |
| May 5, 2019 | Washington | United States | U Street Music Hall |
| May 9, 2019 | Detroit | United States | El Club |
| May 10, 2019 | Chicago | United States | Lincoln Hall |
| May 11, 2019 | Minneapolis | United States | Fine Line Music Cafe |
| May 14, 2019 | Portland | United States | Wonder Ballroom |
| May 15, 2019 | Seattle | United States | Neumos |
| May 17, 2019 | San Francisco | United States | Great American Music Hall |
| May 18, 2019 | Los Angeles | United States | The Fonda Theatre |
| June 7–9, 2019 | Austin | United States | Austin Terror Fest |
Critical reception
The Destroyer received positive reviews. Heather Phares of AllMusic opined that "it's Alfons' most accomplished work yet" and compared it to project's previous releases as a "more calculated work". She added that the album is "both ambitious and intimate, and the care Alfons took in making and introducing the album to the world via a slow trickle of singles also extends to its craft", while rating it 4 out of 5. Kamryn Feigel of Slug described the album as "unique twist on experimental music" and added that it's "industrial, dark and danceable, all at once."Lisa Sookraj of Exclaim! rated the album 7 out of 10 while writing in her review that The Destroyer "offers less consistently urgent, fat danceability than previous TR/ST releases, but it is equally passionate and alluring" and called it "mature." In his review for The 405, Francisco Gonçalves Silva declared that Alfons "constructed a narrative that represents him and shines a light into his perseverance and determination to accept his thoughts, come clean and now being ready for a new beginning."
Track listing
Notes signifies a co-producer. signifies an additional producer.Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Destroyer .Musicians
- Robert Alfons – vocals
- Lia Braswell – live drums
- Robert Alfons – production
- Maya Postepski – co-production
- Lars Stalfors – co-production ; additional production ; mixing
- Damian Taylor – additional production, mixing
- Joe LaPorta – mastering
- Eliot Lee Hazel – photography
- Ryan Thomas Ormsby – layout, design
- Blake Amstrong – painting