Before Love Came to Kill Us

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100[10]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Clash	8/10[12]
Exclaim!	9/10[13]
NME	[14]
The Guardian	[15]
Pitchfork	6.8/10[16]
The Telegraph	[17]
Tom Hull – on the Web	B+ ()[1]

Before Love Came to Kill Us was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on nine reviews.[10]

For AllMusic, Andy Kellman wrote that "Although it's all over the place, Before Love Came to Kill Us radiates conviction from front to back, and is without doubt a true representation of its creator."[11] Exclaim!'s Ryan B. Patrick affirms that the album "has been built to last" and is "one of the better albums in an already interesting 2020."[13] Rhian Daly of NME called it "heart-stoppingly good" and a "beautiful, heart-wrenching debut that sees its creator come good on her early promise."[14] Writing for Clash, Narzra Ahmed complimented Reyez's versatility and adjectived the album "an excellent debut".[12] Kathryn St. Asaph of Pitchfork pointed out that the album's genre range works in a "satisfying" way "not because she whizzes across multiple genres, but because of the skill she displays at each".[16] The singer's uniqueness was praised by The Guardian's Kitty Empire, who labeled the tracks as "largely excellent".[15]

The album was placed on the shortlist for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.[18]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} indicates an additional producer
• ^{^[b]} indicates a co-producer
• ^{^[c]} indicates a vocal producer
• The track's titles are stylized in all caps.

• List of 2020 albums