Audio, Video, Disco - Justice

In a move that is sure to alienate some fans, Justice have taken a step in a new and unexpected direction with their highly anticipated sophomore album Audio, Video, Disco. Replacing Justice’s signature hard-hitting, in-your-face electro anthems such as Waters of Nazareth and Stress (and even the more light hearted tracks such as D.A.N.C.E. and Dvno) is an album heavily influenced by their love of classic rock. Whereas their debut album ✝ was made for tearing apart dance floors, Audio, Video, Disco was designed for tearing down entire stadiums in a way that classic bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen did back in their prime. In a genre where almost everything is done on computer Justice have managed to make this album sound very human, finding the perfect mix between classic rock sounds and modern day electronic composition and vice versa. The word ‘epic’ is commonly used nowadays in every day language (last night was epic!) though listening to this album as loud as possible definitely brings that particular word to mind in the way it was originally intended. Opening track Horsepower, New Lands and Ohio (which features the voice of Vincent Vendetta of Midnight Juggernauts) are among some of the delightfully nostalgic, air-guitar inducing tracks found on this album. You can almost feel the electrifying guitar riffs in Canon reaching across thousands of people in packed out arenas (sidenote: the inevitable mashup of both albums for their upcoming live shows is going to be craaazy). The Justice boys Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge have been known to say that they don’t try to stay relevant by following today’s latest trends. Rather, they only listen to - and find inspiration in - music they truly love, and it definitely shows in their latest album. Those of you that have been waiting five years to hear ✝ “part 2” may be a bit disappointed. However come into Audio, Video, Disco with a clean slate and you will be pleasantly surprised. ★★★★

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Footnote: To further fuel the comparisons between Justice and fellow French musicians Daft Punk, both duos released their second albums five years after their first (Daft Punk’s Homework, 1997 and Discovery, 2001 to Justice’s ✝, 2001 and Audio, Video, Disco, 2011). Both second albums were also very different in musical stylings (Daft Punk turned pop, Justice to rock) from their respective first albums. Neat!