Joyless
Without Support
Rating
Style: Gothic Metal
Release date: 11 March, 2011
Playing time: 44:59
 

As soon as “Without Support” starts rolling, I’m already gritting my teeth at the awful production. Second track ‘Puberty and Dreams’ and things get from bad to worse. The album seems to have been recorded live where each band member was on a solitary plane of existence…..at least that’s the impression I got.

Joyless have a very raw sound (with vaguely Gothic leanings) and that’s not necessarily a problem…if the ‘rawness’ is used tactfully. I’m even appreciative of extreme Doom, with which genre the music in question shares some traits. This album, however, just sounds unintentionally chaotic – one gets the impression the band doesn’t have a clue what they’re trying to do. My humble advice is to get someone to listen to their songs with a ruthlessly critical ear before the band commits anything else to CD.

Honestly, I tried very hard to find some redeeming factor here but the moniker says it all.


Tracklist

01. Have a Nice Fight
02. Puberty and Dreams
03. The Adorn Japetus
04. The Soft Addiction
05. Better
06. De Profundis Domine
07. Shadow Spree
08. Trilobite
09. Shimmer and Shine
10. Velvet Willows
11. Journey

Label: Ván Records
Promotion: SureShot Worx
Reviewed by: Chris Galea
Date: 1 April, 2011
Website: www.myspace.com/joylessmusic