QR Music Review: IDLES - Joy as an act of resistance
Bristol punk powerhouse IDLES – who make Black Flag look like Fleetwood Mac – are back with Joy as an Act of Resistance., their second helping of socially conscious, chaotic aggression. The natural follow-up to 2017’s Brutalism, IDLES turn the energy up to eleven and make it clear that they’ve still got plenty more to say about the state of the modern society we live in.
IDLES are not a band to be taken lightly; stick on last year’s debut Brutalism and you’ll be knocked to your feet by one of the heaviest punk albums of recent years. The album’s driving basslines, primal drumming and squealing dissonant guitars are topped off with lyrical content exploring a variety of social issues, ranging from the unfiltered aggression of ‘Mother’ to the jocular wit of ‘Stendhal Syndrome’. Joy as an Act of Resistance. is loaded with all the charged cynicism and satirical humour of the first album, but addresses a multitude of new topics – after all, a lot has changed in the year between the two albums’ releases.
Joy’s instrumentation is raw, gritty, and powerful, exactly what we’ve come to expect from IDLES. The rhythm section serves as a hardy backbone for the entire album, with the pounding, and at times tribal drums working in perfect tandem with the relentless bass guitar to keep each track motoring on with breakneck. IDLES do not subscribe to the Electro Hippies’ punk mantra of ‘play fast or die’, and while some tracks such as ‘Never Fight a Man With a Perm’ and ‘Great’ are evidence of the band’s natural affinity to play at intense speed, songs such as ‘June’ and ‘Cry To Me’ fit into the album perfectly and serve as a reminder of just how versatile IDLES can be. One stand-out moment on the album is the breakdown on the opening track ‘Colossus’ – as the song decays until only the bass and hi-hat remain, the song suddenly comes bursting back with even more energy than before. The guitars on Joy are at times sporadic, and at other times striking, with the album’s excellent production allowing them to soar above the rest of the mix and fall back in amongst the feedback seamlessly, but at all times they are raucous and harsh, perfectly supplementing the rhythm section and Joe Talbot’s vocals.
One thing that really places IDLES a cut above their contemporaries is Joe Talbot’s vocal style, along with his lyricism. Talbot’s delivery is impassioned, disillusioned and at times even violent, his thick Bristol accent remaining prominent whether he is shouting, screaming or singing. Unlike many hardcore bands of the 1980s, Talbot is not forcing his political and social commentary down the listener’s throat, but simply expressing it with unrelenting passion. The lyrics on Joy artfully jump between the blatantly straight-faced “Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain/Pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate” (‘Danny Nedelko’) and the joyfully sarcastic “Blighty wants her blue passport/Not quite sure what the union’s for” (‘Great’). Exploring a range of social issues from immigration, toxic masculinity, beauty standards and Brexit, Talbot’s lyrical wordplay is delivered with an ingenuity and finesse that allows IDLES to stand out amongst other British punk acts such as Slaves and Gallows, and gives listeners a great insight into the band’s own political leanings.
Joy as an Act of Resistance. is the perfect successor to last year’s debut. While in no way a rehash of Brutalism, the album cements IDLES as a band out to change the face of modern British punk, drawing influences from every corner of the genre’s history, and delivering their message in the most unabashed and honest way possible. The album is evidence that IDLES still had plenty to get off their chest after their previous effort, while not making any attempt to rewrite it or capitalise off of its success. And perhaps most importantly, Joy is a fantastic indicator that there is plenty to come from a band that is still eager to have their voice heard, and make a lot of vicious, distorted noise whilst doing it.
By Luke Dodds