Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	86/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Blabbermouth.net	9.5/10
Consequence of Sound	B
Exclaim!	9/10
Loudwire
Pitchfork Media	8.0/10
Popmatters	9/10
Slant Magazine

Book Burner is the fifth studio album by American grindcore band Pig Destroyer. It was released on October 22, 2012, through Relapse Records. The deluxe edition includes a short story by J.R. Hayes entitled "The Atheist" and an EP of hardcore punk covers. Vocalist J.R. Hayes stated that the band's only goal for Book Burner was "fast/brutal" and expressed happiness over the abundance of songs on the album with shorter lengths. Guitarist Scott Hull also affirmed that the band's goal was "shorter grind" on Book Burner in contrast with the preceding full-length album, Phantom Limb.

There was a five-year gap between Book Burner and its predecessor, Phantom Limb. Guitarist Scott Hull explained that "there was a lot of adversity that we had to go through to get this record done", which explained the delay: "A lot of changing, of breaking down and rebuilding the equipment and the places that we used and the people we worked with, the approach that we follow to come up with the material. Just getting the goddamn CD done was a whole ordeal."

During this time, drummer Brian Harvey was replaced by Adam Jarvis. Vocalist J.R. Hayes remarked that the band's relationship with Harvey had "run its course" such that he "wasn't prepared to continue with the status quo". Hull described Harvey as "checking out mentally" and "cancelling a lot of practices and not showing up and not really practicing on his own", which led to the band determining near the end of 2010 that "it wasn't going to work out...That's when some blowout happened and he was left to go on his own path".

Hayes noted that the span of time between albums was due to the band being in "upheaval...There was a time when I wasn't sure if the band would go on or not. It took us a while to put ourselves back together." Hull attributed the band's back-to-basics approach to the addition of Jarvis: "Getting a new drummer...inspired us to go back to a shorter, faster and louder demo that we prided ourselves in early on." Prior to Jarvis joining the band, Pig Destroyer had rehearsed with Dave Witte several times before an injury and touring commitments with Municipal Waste led him to step aside.

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Wikipedia