If you read yesterday’s post, you know that I instantly fell in love with †, Justice’s 2007 debut. I couldn’t stop myself; I needed to hear more, as evidenced by today’s album. With a pre-release date stream of the duo’s newest LP making its way around the internet, I just had to check it out.
Many fans of Justice have been disappointed with this new album. Complaining about the high number of collaborations, as well as the frequent incorporation of vocals, the general hive mind seems to be that Audio, Video, Disco doesn’t hold up to its predecessor.
I see where the complaints are coming from. Something that I love about † is the low reliance on vocals—the heavy beats and crunchy instrumentation do fine all by themselves. The singing on Audio, Video, Disco is fairly annoying. All it does is cover up Justice’s still amazing heavy beats and crunchy instrumentation.
But don’t worry, there’s still plenty to like in this newest release. Justice really knows how to put together an opening track. Almost as potent as Genesis (from †), Horsepower got me really pumped up. With what sounds like an electronic organ being played underwater slowly fading into ’80s cheese ball guitar riffs, followed by everything being brought together in front of a deadly beat, this opener sets a standard that the rest of the record comes close to living up to. Highlights of this album really are most of the instrumental tracks. Canon and Brianvision once again show exactly what good dance music sounds like.
While it doesn’t quite live up to †, AVD is a solid, catchy, fun record that will indubitably be receiving a lot of play by me in the near future.
Swole Ear 
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