"Darnielle doesn't quite have the ideal voice to inhabit the tough guys he often sings about, but he understands the grand drama and the small details of these tales well enough to make his characters seem real and multi-dimensional, and he allows the songs to sound gentle when they deal with hard lives. And the accompaniment from his bandmates Peter Hughes (bass) and Jon Wurster (drums) is superb, following the paths of Darnielle's voice, guitar, and keyboards with intuitive grace. You don't have to care about wrestling to be knocked out by Beat the Champ, but Darnielle makes it clear that these stories mean something real to him, and this is a fascinating portrait not of who wins or loses, but those who play the game".