How to Ruin Everything was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. AllMusic reviewer MacKenzie Wilson wrote that the album "emerges as Face to Face's strongest material to date." He noted that the band avoided "current punk-pop sounds for a gnarling rock growl." Chart Attack writer Keith Carman found the album to be a return-to-form, full of "an impressive set of songs that blend pop melodies with a Rocket from the Crypt flare for arranging and songwriting and Straight Faced aggression". Christopher Ward of CMJ New Music Report also acknowledged the album's return-to-form status. adding that it "delivers what all punk fans have been yearning for: the good old-fashioned punk rock." Ox-Fanzine Joachim Hiller wrote that the band "have remained consistent", with the album's 15 songs "just run through and down and in and are a lot of fun." In a retrospective review, Sputnikmusic emeritus 204409 called the album "a perfect swan song for a band that stayed pretty uniformly great through all the crests and troughs of their career." He added that while it wasn't the band's best album, it acted as "more than satisfying end to a great career." Punknews.org staff member Scott Heisel viewed the album as "nothing more than boring, boring SoCal punk. [...] I'm baffled on how people could be inspired by music this mediocre." Track listing All music by Face to Face, all lyrics by Trever Keith. "Bill of Goods" – 2:46 "The Take-Away" – 2:47 "14 Hours" – 2:20 "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" – 3:06 "The New Way" – 3:35 "The World in Front of You" – 2:44 "Why Would I Lie?" – 2:46 "Unconditional" – 3:13 "Shoot the Moon" – 3:20 "Graded on a Curve" – 3:43 "Fight or Flight" – 3:06 "Waiting to Be Saved" – 3:18 "Double Standard" – 2:42 "The Compromise" – 3:31 "How to Ruin Everything" – 3:04 Personnel Credits adapted from liner notes. Face to Face Trever Keith – vocals, guitar Scott Shiflett – bass, background vocals Pete Parada – drums Production and design Trever Keith – producer Scott Shiflett – producer Chad Blinman – producer, mixing, recording Chris Gresham – assistant engineer Ramon Breton – mastering Kalynn Campbell – art direction, illustration Joby J. Ford – photography Charts References 2002 albums Face to Face (punk band) albums Vagrant Records albums