Bob Mould's 2014 album Beauty & Ruin is a twelve-track journey of loss, reflection, conciliation, and coming through the other side. Much of Beauty & Ruin deals with the passing of Mould's father in October 2012, Bob's struggle to come to terms with it, himself, and his own identity and legacy, and repercussions of all of the above on his ongoing relationships in the land of the living. Beauty & Ruin is a challenging work of raw beauty and may well be Bob Mould's finest work since his 1989 solo debut, Workbook.