Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Whatever Joy may make you stand out from the crowd, that is the solution to the dramas inflicted upon you, it is the act of resistance in which others will do their damnedest to beat out of you, they will always be there in their multitude of numbers, persuading, finger wagging, delightfully suggesting that the problems you are fighting are worthless, not real, the creatures are just figments of your over active anger.
They have it all wrong, the battle is real, the fury is bubbling under the surface and Joy is all we have, joy in which to knock sense into those who cannot see the harm created by issues that have knocked us as a nation, as a community, the tension in the streets and in the alleyways, it is the Joy of finding Idles that think the same way as you, that are happy to shoulder the gun and stand side by side with your own viewpoint and get ready to take aim.
The mistake that some people insist upon grabbing hold of as if it some peculiar truth worth holding up as praise, a gilded Trojan horse that refuses to jump fences, is that they cannot see the pain caused, they refuse to believe that toxic masculinity exists, that nationalism is not pride of your country, it is a dangerous breeding ground which leads to dictatorships; it is a mistake that Idles is willing to tackle head on and with aggressive stance of right and wrong in their mind, bring forth Joy to all willing to see another argument unfold.
In the best forms of Punk and rebellion, Idles have struck it rich in the pursuit of Joy As An Act Of Resistance, an album of exuberance, of hard hitting emotions, reactionary and forceful, a Bristol punch which is shrouded in light and elation, and one that takes their debut album of Brutalism out for a walk in the park and comes back with two dogs to bark, to growl at the sound and sniff the air of lack of common sense and passive fragility.
In tracks such as Never Fight A Man With A Perm, I’m Scum, June, Samaritans, Gram Rock and Television, Idles outdo themselves, Punk in all its glory is the clear winner, an attitude of thrilling beat resides over each track, and the realisation that the safety net has been removed, a clear and vindictive proof of anger fulfilled; beauty in all its visceral form cannot be diminished when played with ruthless Joy.
Ian D. Hall