Closer

Idk man. I should like these guys more than I do. All my favorite bands site them as influences. Hell one of my favorite bands growing up was Interpol whose singer took Curtis’ whole style. But it does nothing for me. I missed the window in my youth to find a way in and the few songs I do like were all from Unknown Pleasures. I think this means more to people who know Ian’s story and where he was at this point in his life with this record and were invested enough to figure out what he’s saying through the awful mix. To me it’s just incredibly repetitive and Ian sings like he’s sedated. The only songs that stood out were

Is Joy Division a good band outside of Love Will Tear Us Apart? I don’t think so. I’ll take early New Order instead.

I never paid that much attention to Joy Division, but I didn't need to either. It's just an ok album

4/10 I really didnt enjoy this album very much. Lacking in both variety and vocal enjoyment Favourite Song=Decades Least Favourite Song=Atrocity Exhibition

It was good Music not just something for me - i found it kind of blant

I'll never understand the appear of some of these British singers. It's such an unnerving way to sing. There's some catchy elements to this album but will always be marred by the vocals. 4.5/10 (2.25/5)

What song was I suppose to enjoy here?

I just love the instrumentals and the feel of the bum, but the monotone goth vocals just take so much away from it as a whole. 2.5/5

A band I want to love but just don’t really enjoy

Very Dark…and not very musical. This might be art but it doesn’t feel like music. It takes all kinds. this one is just not for me.

I try to find one song per album that I’d listen to again, couldn’t find one from this album. Ian Curtis might be tone deaf. Mixing wasn’t very good either, could barely hear the lyrics.

Nope. 2

Generic, repetative and monotone. First wave goth stuff is also very hit or miss with me. This is very much a miss. But, as a crtical listener I understand the ground this band broke and the influence of this album had.

Two of these dorks met at a Sex Pistols concert and one of them thought the Sex Pistols "destroyed the myth of being a pop star, of a musician being some kind of god that you had to worship" and borrowed £35 from his mother to buy a bass guitar the next day. That is exactly the type of origin story I would expect for this droning, tuneless, boring, sad teenage dracula music. Going to see a fake manufactured sham of an alt boy band and thinking they were changing music forever and borrowing money from your mom to copy them. It couldn’t have been that hard, the Sex Pistols couldn’t play their instruments either, because manufactured boy bands never can. Also, I've got a question for this Ian Curtis fellow: https://youtu.be/v9wKiA4sigc?si=jqH-U83I8NOb_7MQ&t=33

Decent. Never heard it before. Certainly no unknown pleasures.

More like Misery Multiplication

Not a post punk fan

Not as good as their first album, just doesn't hit in the same way.

Want to like it, but fave of my shitty ex

I like new order, but joy division not so much. I think they had the hype because of the unfortunate passing of Ian Curtis. This album had moments but that's it.

Possibly as low as you can get on the scale of 'party banger' music. And maybe too dark for its own good

I've tried, lord knows I've tried to appreciate Joy Division. I want to like Joy Division, but at my core, I just don't. This album solidified that notion.

I like to think of myself as a Joy Division fan (of their first album), but come on, you can't expect your fans to genuinely love this. Half of these tracks sound very amateurish, both in composition and in instrumental skill. Atrocity Exhibition, Passover, Heart and Soul, and Decades are all blurry and forgettable tracks that are the very definition of filler. The remaining five tracks are stronger, though they teeter towards the same flaws. Paying attention to the drumming, which is prominent in the mix, I noticed that there was pretty much only one fill used dozens of times – and once I noticed this, it was difficult to ignore. The singing is also more distractingly bad than on Unknown Pleasures. It wasn't entirely bad, though. The atmosphere created in The Eternal is great – slow and impending-doom-esque. Isolation is a solid pop track that's reminiscent of their previous album. The lyrics are good, roughly akin to the Smiths' lyrics, and the themes of depression, loneliness, and mortality hit pretty darn hard considering the events surrounding this album's release. 2/5 Key tracks: Isolation, A Means to an End, The Eternal

Never heard of them. Pre-Rap? Talking to music is NOT singing. Drums okay but other "noise" sounds like electrical interference. Abrasive.

Slow and messy. Does not speak to me

I know being stripped bare is the Joy Division aesthetic ... but I'm not sure I like it. It's just all very serious. I can picture a hall full of very serious men, very intently getting lost in the intensity. I would not be there.

Bit dull

Didn't tbink much of it at all

Nope…. …yeah, nope. I mean I can say a little more but my opinion is kinda summed up there. This sucked. Obtuse for the sake of it. The singer sounded like he was across the room and if that’s an artistic choice, I mean ok fine, but it makes for a poor listening experience. He also sounded like a Muppet at times. This just was a lot I didn’t like about British 80’s rock. Sad, dreary, sounding like everybody wanted to die, echoey, songs that overstayed their welcome, and trying a little too hard to be interesting. And boring. I’ve long heard about Joy Division. But I’d never heard them. What little hype there was wasn’t met here. They only have two studio albums. Please don’t let the other one be on this list. Please. Two stars. Standout Tracks: Heart and Soul, Twenty Four Hours

Not for me

There’s only so much off-key monotonous Ian Curtis I can take.

What?

Some good drum/guitar sections but weird echoing in the lyrics sung didn't really fit well, unlike Creedence Clearwater Revival, for instance.

Meh

Interesting background music, consistent vibe, but not to my taste. The vocalist really detracts from the music instead of adding to it

Hm. Ich weiß nicht. Die Synthesizer sind nervig. Mag ich nicht.

Good beat, unmotivated vocals. The last song "Decades" is better because the vocals are less prominent.

I'm not feeling it. Simple music is fine, but the bored, monotonous singing doesn't add to it at all.

“Twenty four hours” was very good but otherwise eh

Boring

Most of these songs blended together for me. Don’t necessarily understand the hipster love this group has

Mopey, boring, post-punk / gothic rock is not my genre, but I am grateful to this 1001 albums project for making me actually listen to this "less mainstream, but still culturally referenced" musical lineage. Rather than just zoning out, I got some insights about what the fans are hearing by CTRL+F 'ing the song name and reading through those excerpts from the reviews for each particular song

slower and much more moody than I expected

Ian Curtis has a distinctive voice, almost Jim Morrison-like. It's not easily digestible for everyone, though. Now I haven't heard any of Joy Division's previous albums (only the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart"), so I can't speak on how this stacks with their other work. In a vacuum, this is an uncomfortable listen. Having read into Curtis' struggles in his short life, that discomfort makes more sense. Don't know what else to say really. It's a pretty dark and gloomy album made even more depressing given the close proximity of time between Ian Curtis's death and the release of this album. The backing instruments are odd-sounding and haunting too. Combine that with the monotone vocals of Curtis, and you've got a very weird trip that I'm not sure I enjoyed.

Well, I've battled through this a few times before. I want to like it because of what it represents, yet still I find it nigh unlistenable.

Yeah, this is tough. The drums are the same, the band is just noise, and the lyrics are just Blegh. I can see how this spawned a lot of inspiration in grunge and rock, but this is just not fun.

Eeh good background music I guess, I kinda got into the melodic vibe of the guitar towards the end but other than that kind of whiny tbh

I'm adding this to my list of "album I would probably love on a ~fifth re-listen." On a first, though, no single song grabbed me, and it felt a bit like a slog. I feel like there's an alternate version of me that's a big Joy Division head.

Rock gótico leeeeento. Tostonazo. Un 2.

What you'd expect from joy division, not more and a bit less.

Quite boring with a weird mix

Pretty disappointing

One of those bands that is often recommend to me, but I just can't seem to vibe with. I hear their influence on artists that I like, such as Viagra Boys and LCD Sound system, but this just isn't for me right now.

The first song is a really tough start to the album. At least lube me up before exposing me to 6 minutes of unpleasant grinding/mechanic/whatever the fuck those are sounds. It doesn't get much better from there. All of my knowledge about Joy Division comes from the song "Lets Dance to Joy Division" by The Wombats. This is not making me want to dance at all... This actually made me go listen to that song again and I actually think that's the point? Is that song making fun of Joy Division? Either way, this album didn't do it for me.

This is my first time listening to Joy Division. It's surprising it took me so long because people love to bring them up in certain music circles. This was a tougher listen for me. The stripped down (?) punky sound doesn't do it for me. The songs don't have a lot to offer my palate. The vocals are off-putting and hard for me to look past. I did like some of the musical elements. There were a lot more synths than I was expecting. I enjoyed Isolation and Twenty-Four Hours the most. 4/10

I don’t know why there’s so much 80s sounding music on here instead of good modern stuff

Joy division only had 2 albums? TIL. After that one album cover went everywhere, I thought they had more. This is angry ranting over some ok-ish background music. Felt like the same song throughout.

Kind of mumbly and electronic. Not my thing.

Just okay

a bit monotone. good beats but not my favorite from Joy Division's vocals. Too muted / distant sounding.

It was ok, not a big fan

Not a punk fan generally, but this album moves away from the the screaming, whining "rage against society" typical punk. As such, while still not my genre, Joy Division showed musical talent and I found this to be a reasonably enjoyable listen. 3/5

Never was a big fan, the follow up band after the lead singers suicide I liked better, OEM. I guess they were one of the first post-punk, New Wave bands. I think the National do depression better, but that's 40 years later. The more I listen to some of these albums the more I question the value of rock and roll. It may be Sturgeon's Law, '90 % of anything is really bad.' Oh yeah, Joy Division was the Nazi sector devoted to using concentration camp victims as prostitutes.

Joy Division has a huge cult following but I will not be one of them. I can’t help thinking this sounds like a Dracula Rock Opera (cue Jason Segel from the movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”). So slow and boring, this album brought me no Joy, only Division.

I didn't really like it. Did not feel like it had any memorable moments.

That's not my taste in musik. Boring.

Halfway through the album I suddenly realized how much Therapy? has been influenced by this band, that I had to turn it off, listen to some Therapy? to get more insight and then start over with new and fresh ears. Unfortunately, it didn’t help much. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t get much enjoyment out of the album. Although it’s probably wanted, the repetitiveness of the songs became tiring, and even if I could get some hints of cool riffs from time to time, appreciating the cold bass tone, there is nothing here that sticks with me after listening. I’d much rather listen to Therapy? (who in fact cover Isolation on their excellent album Troublegum, which I can’t fathom isn’t on here) every day of the week. Twenty Four Hours and The Eternal raise the quality a little against the end, but not enough to som me over.

I like the weird and experimental nature of the instrumentals. The vocals are not great and they sound a bit disconnected from the music. It makes sense if the band lost their lead singer. Someone else in the band had to step in which would be difficult. Supposedly this is one of the first bands in the post-punk movement. I can definitely hear it a little but it sounds like a lot of other 80s new age music. I guess this was released in 1980 so maybe all the 80s new age bands drew inspiration from this? Biggest complaint is that the album is lacking solid melodies which make it feel like it's dragging on a little. I enjoy experimental sounds and I'm okay with some repetition but there needs to be more melodies to help drive the song forward without feeling like it's droning.

Never previously could get into Joy Division and still can't. The music is fine enough but the vocals aren't interesting.

Two stars instead of one purely out of respect for having the talent to maintain such consistently bad intonation for effect. But there is a reason why 3D movies are never more than gimmicks.

When the album started off, I had favorable expectations. As it progressed, I realized it was fairly simplistic. Interesting soundscapes but hampered by boring melodies sung by someone who never quite learned to tune up the pitches. The vocals got pretty monotonous, sounding almost like they were being made up as the recording was happening; only a few pitches being used and melodic phrases repeated too much to numbing effect. Lyrics were interesting, but they needed a vocalist. Sounded to me like a band that was trying hard but just simply lacked creative talent.

I just don't really get Joy Division. I get that it's atmospheric and the gloominess is the point, but I found this not enjoyable to listen to

Not my kind o music.

Un po’ una palla

Didn’t enjoy this as much as I was hoping.

Meh? This isn't offensive, but it isn't anything I wanted to listen to. Maybe it was great for the time... DNF.

Can hear the influences, but don’t enjoy the album, nothing that would stick with me.

Not a big JD fan.

I could never really get into Joy Division. They are classic Premo, but seem to take the moodiness as the point rather than whatever caused the moodiness. Emo for the sake of emo. Still there are a couple of really good tracks like Dead Souls. I can see why NIN covered it for The Crow.

Endless, nameless…if artists die young, their arts gets more important than it maybe should be.

Not my Kind of style

Didn't really appeal to me too much.

Not my thing. Lots of competing sounds that I didn’t jive with.

Was not a fan of the vocals pretty much being in the background. Not sure if that was on the original or just a part of the remastered that I listen to

Different, but a bit monotone for me.

Fucking Nora. What a monday morning pick me up. Once again struggling to see the appeal, this lot make me sound cheerful and I can't stand the drums. Obviously not worthless but heavy going for me.

I can hear the influence that this album has had over the years, but overall I didn't enjoy it very much. I found it quite boring in truth.

I have only really ever heard Love Will Tear Us Apart, and have only dabbled into this era of post punk brit rock a couple of times. I was excited to finally dig into the band that is so highly respected as a predecesser of The Cure and The Smiths, two bands I love, and was saddened to learn about why they only had one album. This album had a certain undeniable haunting vibe, but I just couldn't get as into it as I thought I would. No disrespect to their singer, whos story is tragic, but I think it was the vocals that made it sort of droll or inaccessible to me. Surprised I didn't love it considering who they've been associated with when people tell me they're fans.

Never made an attempt to listen to Joy Division, and have only ever listened to Love Will Tear Us Apart. Very interesting and experimental sounding album. To me, however, all the songs sound like the same experiment. The voice kind of wears on my, and everything has the same processing throughout the whole album, getting somewhat tiresome as well. Did not make it through the whole thing, but I do know that this group has influenced a lot of other great groups. Definitely not danceable, The Wombats.

A bit too gloomy for my taste

Just not my cup o tea.

Lidt for alternativt til min smag. Et enkelt eller 2 af numrene midt i albummet var ok, men resten var jeg ikke vild med.

This album really spoke to me. It told me to never listen to it again.

As with Unknown Pleasures, whatever charms Joy Division have for some, are lacking for me. I need something a bit more uplifting and memorable than this collection of downbeat, naval gazing dirges

i’m looking forward to this because i like three off of here already apparently, so this should be good and i like not division, i just never ventured into them like i should have sadly. ok, so controversial opinion, but i don’t care for this album, and i don’t know why i have songs saved, other than maybe because they’re good for the mood it feels like, grey and rainy and some of the songs just matched the atmosphere. but that’s what i wanted!! some of atmosphere, that song is amazing and this was just….. i’m now listening to other music to cleanse my ear lol. which is crazy cause i love his voice. and the weird music, but i just didn’t care for this unfortunately.

2/5 not quite of my tasting

Kannski ef ég væri svaka þunglyndur inn í herbergi...

A couple good ones on here. A couple weird ones. Not sure I fully get the post punk thing yet.

Echt kut herrie man 3/10

Some interesting things going on lyrically, and sonically as well (for better or for worse), but I was definitely not a fan of the vocal performance(s)

Just didn’t grab me

80’er indierock, lidt mørkt, lyder dom om han har poppet en god pille

This album is quite depressing and dark and uncomfortable. It doesn't help that it was released shortly after the lead singer's death.

Really really liked a lot of things about this album but I find Curtis' voice so unpleasant that it kind of ruined everything else :(

Important? Yes. But I never really got Joy division. Whinging poms. Much preferred new order. But a highly influential band. The moaning gets to me. And the clever clever but not really lyrics - like an earnest 11 year old discovering he is a poet and no one understands. Without the wit of the smiths. It was tragic what happened to Ian Curtis. And his fans grieve deeply as they should. But a young death doesn’t make your poetry good, any more than indifference to the work makes ihis suicide any less tragic. In all a boring self indulgent work which somehow managed to attract the love and admiration of millions.

For my 30th birthday, in 1980, a mate gave me a copy of Unknown Pleasures. I really didn’t like it. By the end of that year I was besotted with the single Love Will Tear Us Apart. I’d picked it up in a bargain bin in Liverpool (Aust.)somewhere. I’d never really listened to this album, though. Or if I did, the sombre feeling of it would not have been to my liking. And it’s still not.

huh, the critics sure raved about this album 40 years ago but try as i might, i just cannot get into it, even after multiple listens. it sounds like the worst and most uncanny parts of early depeche mode and the residents combined, with a sad man half-singing, half-rambling over the top. i wanted to like this and it's just not doing it for me, but i can respect what it means to the people who really enjoy it. favorites: twenty four hours

Oh nooooo I didn't enjoy this album, I did not. I understand it's a very seminal album for post-punk as a genre, but I don't really generally enjoy post-punk that much and so it makes sense that I don't enjoy this if this is the epitome of post-punk... Even if it's not I just found it so droney at best and chaotic at worst... Not for me!

I can't help but just find Joy Division a bit boring. I try, I do.

Felt nothing

weird, not for me at all

Meh

Like them better as New Order

Pas maivais mais pas grand chose a dire la dessus 2.75

A boring, more gothic version of The Doors.

This was... not very good. Woof.

There's moments of good stuff, but this mostly drab and boring.

2 stars for it's legacy, but impossible to listen

Started really badly, then got a bit better, but still not a lot to like here.

The vocals are very “go on girl, give us nothing”.

I just don't like the repetitive electronic sounds....

J’aime po

2.5

I listened to this album while cooking dinner, and I could not tell you when one song ended and another one began, save for perhaps one song. I can appreciate the album and its brooding aesthetic but it was not made for me. 2/5.

Did not like the vocals at all

This album is depressing as hell, I just can’t get into this.

Kinda cool, but its just cock and ball torture. Not for me

Meh.

- not into it

What a painful listen right out the gate. Horrendous "singing", dark all around, and droning on and on. Not to mention boring ass instrumentals... next. 3/10.

The rhythm and guitar parts are not bad. It’s the vocals that ruin it for me. The singer just sounds so tone deaf and uses the same tone in every song. Hearing he died shortly after this album from suicide is depressing. Learning where the name of this band comes from was just as depressing. Not a fan.

Beginning to think that when a genre starts with "post-", you can mentally substitute that with "a worse version of " The instrumentals provide some interesting beats but they don't really go anywhere and the vocals/lyrics are very one-note throughout the album.

Not my cup of tea

The music was fine but the “singer” ruined it for me. Would not listen again.

I’ve never really been able to like this group

Don't like Joy Division...at all

I don't understand this, in terms of the vocal quality.

This rating is not exactly reflective of my enjoyment of this album. I didn't dislike it, exactly, but try as I might, I couldn't get to 3-stars. I suppose this music occupies territory I don't understand. I bet there are dozens — hundreds — of bands who sound very much like this that no one pays any attention to. They exist on the cutting floor of music history. I couldn't figure out what it is that makes this special, important, interesting, likable. I didn't find the lyrics particularly insightful or profound, the music was OK, but the vocal melodies — as such — were also not particularly inventive. So yeah. I miss the point of this band.

A little Joy Division goes a long way. I enjoy their first album. This one feels like a bunch of unfinished demos or something. The first song is killer, though. After listening to this, I popped on PiL's Second Edition and enjoyed that way more.

To me, this album is definitely worse than their first album. Unknown Pleasures was groundbreaking and paved the way for the goth 80s sound, but this seems to just rely on some of the tropes of that album and ends up sounding like a bunch of b-sides from Unknown Pleasures. Highlight: 2, and 9.

This just rolled right off me. Forgot I had it playing in the background. And I love Unknown Pleasures

Kinda blows

Meh, not remarkable

Eh... Nothing impressive for me. Maybe not my type.

Man, this was a struggle to get through. What a dark, bleak record. I know the circumstances surrounding the release of the record are terrible, with the lead singer committing suicide a few months before its release, but man was that a mournful album. Everything from the unenthusiastic, moaning lyric delivery, to the dark and somber themes. The album cover is even dark, showing a tomb. JOY Division is a poor name for a band this bleak. The instrument playing was simplistic and boring. At one point, during the song The Eternal, they decided a helicopter blade/static whirring was a musical instrument. Atrocity Exhibition contains not much musical stylings unless you are in to guitar screeches and scratches. The singer was hard to hear by times because it sounded like he was standing 20ft from the microphone. Needless to say this WAS NOT my favourite record. The first half of the album was much better than the second. They say that Joy Division can be traced to the beginnings of goth, and I can see that. Favourite song: I had to really search for one, but I think it will have to be Isolation (an injection of energy into an otherwise glum record) Least favourite songs: The Eternal, Decades, Atrocity Exhibition, A Means to an End, Heart and Soul 2/5

Kind of like goth Devo.

So the Joy part is ironic, eh?

Prima melodie, maar erg zeikerig

I’ve never really got into Joy Division. From the problematic name to the aesthetic. Just not my jam. Would rather listen to The Cure.

2* outdated stuff.

This monotone singing style that was big in the 80's is just NOT my cup of tea.

Het album begint met een leuk drum-riedeltje dat me aan het lokale Gilde doet denken. Als de zang er daarna bij komt, verlies ik een beetje interesse. Het is niet de beste zang die ik ooit gehoord heb. Vooral daarom een lagere score. De muziek is verder wel om aan te horen. **

I get the appeal and like the playing, but the 80s disjointed singing ruined it for me. 2/5

nope

4th August 2022 Listened throughout the day while doing bits. Went to the pub with Johnny in the evening. Bit bleak for me Joy Division. Like the cure without the occasional bit of joy…

Best Song: Atrocity Exhibition. I like the bouncing drums, and that's about it. Worst Song: Isolation. The man is just talking over stock standard 80s sounding beats. Overall: This man cannot sing. Sometimes that's okay, and the song feels like an odd arthouse take on what is music, but mostly it just feels like someone snatched the microphone at the company Christmas party and is subjecting everyone to their talent.

Unknown Pleasures was unique and strange enough to be great, but a year later they released Closer and its safe to say that they fell off a cliff with this one. I'm assuming Ian's declining state had a huge effect on the album and his suicide during its release probably contributed to the way this was received. Aside from Twenty Four Hours, it's hard for me to see the magic here.

When I think of Joy Division, the lyric and music that pop into my head is "Let's Dance to Joy Division," by the Wombats, not by Joy Division. That's because before today, I couldn't name a Joy Division song. I had a vague idea of what I thought they sounded like, but that's about it. So I entered into "Closer" hoping to dance to Joy Division. But alas, I don't know how one dances to Joy Division. It's harsh and sharp and dark and... not what I want to dance to. Any moment where I started to get into it (the intro to "Twenty Four Hours" is rad), I get taken right back out by Ian Curtis' vocals. Joy Division was apparently very influential, and I can hear in their music how they impacted not just the 80s, but also 21st century post-punk. But I can't dance to Joy Division, and in fact just want to turn it off when Curtis starts singing (though I empathize with his tragic story).

The voice ruins this for me.

Ian Curtis can’t sing very well. His voice isn’t terrible, but when he’s isolated on sustained notes it’s obvious and uncomfortable. He’s more suited to talking his lyrics melodically. The problem is that he tries to sing. He should have just stuck to what suits him best. From Wikipedia: According to Colin Larkin, Closer has since been "deservedly regarded by many critics as the most brilliant rock album of the 80s" Pump the brakes, Colin. I recognize that the bass guitar and drum parts are high quality, but let’s slow down please. I wrote that before hearing the last three tracks for which the music is outstanding. And every one of them would be better as an instrumental piece.

En tykänny, en sitten yhtään. Helvetin tylsä ja mitäänsanomaton setti ja varmaan tasan toiminut saariapinoiden keskuudessa...

Apaattinen, en saanu yhtään albumista kiinni, ei jatkoon

Am I the only person on earth that really can't stand Joy Division?

Not great

nothing special

Heart and soul é interessante. The Eternal tbm.

Background music 2.5

I. Just. Don't. Care. I've tried. It doesn't work. New Order is better.

See previous review. I'm not sure one of their albums was worthy of the list. Two is definitely pushing it.

i very much disliked the majority of this album. there was some alright parts but i’m very unsatisfied with the entirety of the album.

Hmm. Both Joy Division albums within 8 days here. I suspect my feeling on this album is roughly similar to the first - it's something that I very much disliked or just wasn't ready for. Ian Curtis' voice yeah yeah it's tough to listen to and I don't know if it was that I just heard the debut album or it really is more grating on this one but I'm steering towards the latter. When I focus on the dark/sparse mood of the music which again - there's a bit of sloppy and repetitive playing here - it's that *mood* that's the selling point. I'm never going to listen to this in the same vein as I'll listen to a Beatles or Van Halen album :D However, this one didn't hit me the same way as the first one; it might need/have needed more time to sink in but this one sounded more like a demo than the first and although at times I liked the effect it just didn't connect much at all. 4/10 2 stars.

Nunca he sentido mucha afinidad por Joy Division, aunque sí me gustan varios grupos que se han inspiado fuertemente en ellos. Este disco no hizo mucho por mí.

Tried a few times with thos, determined that i liked it underneath, but no, it didnt work.

This one sounds a little edgy. Juuust a liiittle. It actually sounds like it had a lot of potential to maybe even be great with some tweaks and definitely with big changes to mixing and production. But as it is, there's too much dissonance and unpleasant noise around the edges for me to able to enjoy this album.

The first album I got on this site was the first Joy Division album and almost 150 albums later I get their other album. In the time between my opinion on the band hasn't really changed. I think they are still quite mediocre and this album was perhaps worse than the first. I can't really remember anything about it after I just finished listening to it.

Rock gótico leeeeento. Tostonazo. Un 2.

I was weirdly disappointed by this, found it very sleepy and uninteresting

Not my jam

Not for me

p462. 1980. 2 stars All sorts of echoes here - Kraftwerk, Moroder, Bowie from his Low period. Depressing lyrics, harsh on the ears, repetitive songs. Vocals sounds like Jim Morrison after a bottle of bourbon and downers. Bleak machine music for a country under the early days of Thatcherism. No wonder Ian Curtis topped himself.

This might be controversial... but I'm not a fan of Joy Division

I don't this kind of music. Sorry.

Ok

Shite

Definitely not my thing...

meh

What an atrocity of an album. Love the cover though. I honestly think most people are blinded by the story of the album. It's really not very good. 2 for the cover though, and "Twenty Four Hours" which was okay except the vocals that sound like a mix between a Peter Griffin and Hank Hill impression. "Decades" is ok too.

Uiteindelijk best vermoeiend

Nooit echt goed naar al het andere werk behalve de hitjes geluisterd, maar nu blijkt dat de plezier divisie niet overal lekker op gang komt.

Pretty dire

I get the buzz but like New Order better

I much prefer Joy Division as a singles band, this much all at once gave me no joy

Drones on.

I love their one song but it was a bit hard to listen to.

Mag die Stimme nicht, Instrumente gefallen

Boring. Male manipulator music.

Thought I’d flock to this like the US joins oil discovery, but was way too dreary for me to enjoy

Very apt title for this album. Funny too, that their name is Joy Division yet when I was listening I felt nothing but monotone mediocrity. Oh right, the album title. A man walks into a bar and asks to hear some good music. The bartender says "I just got the new Joy Division album in, want me to open her up?" he asks. The customer says, "Nah, Closer"

How many Seminal Post Punk albums can there be? God these guys are over rated, I did find the instrumentals growing on me in the second half so one star would maybe be a little harsh.

All I know of Joy Division is Love will Tear Us Apart Again from Donnie Darko and I was surprised to find that they weren't The Cure. Now, having heard an entire album of theirs, I don't get that Cure vibe, but I am still confused by them. The music feels really well produced, and the vocals sound like the singer is in another room and doesn't necessarily have any idea what the music is? Was this album an experiment where a bad took a singer's recording and played to his vocals? There's definitely a lot of mood and emotion in here. Many bands that came after followed in their footsteps, and for my money improved the genre.

Oh hey another dull monotone 80s depression band. This list of one thousand and one albums is AT LEAST 30% THIS bullshit. If you don't love this exact sound then you may as well give up now.

Hade igång som mysig bakgrundsmusik. Ingen låt jag kände igen sedan tidigare, men det distinkta soundet gör ingen besviken.

Repetitive in a bad way

Hard to appreciate. Just not my type of vibe. Melancholy 80’s synth with monotone vocals.

Interesting composition, pretty weak monotone vocals don’t hold up to the music or lyrics.

Ehhhh. Sad to say that I didn't really feel this one. I was looking forward to listening to it, since I'd heard good things about Joy Division, but I didn't really like it. Shame.

I don't get the hype for this band.

I was really surprised to hear an album with this kind of sound that was produced in 1980! Dark, haunting describe it well, but this is not why I listen to music. Overall, just not interesting to me.

Almost a 3. Maybe after another listen.

Realmente não é pra mim. Nem achando que soa um pouco como Nick Cave, eu conseguir empolgar .

It's the third time I have to endure Joy Division's drone here. On the positive side, I don't think they any had more albums

This is a bit weird. The music is too disjointed for my taste. I think I can handle one or two songs, but not for the entire album.

Grating.

WHACK

Sounds like a bad heroin album.

ok

This is the second album I've listened to by Joy Division and I just can't get into it. It's not bad per se its just so dull, I can't be the only person who thinks that..

All I can say is I made it through the whole album, and I'm not sure if my appreciation or understanding of music, life, or Interpol has changed in any way. C-

Got all the 80’s hallmarks in there. On a 40 minute album they threw a lot away on the first song. I prefer the rawness of Unknown Pleasures. Lots of repetitive baselines. The minimalism isn’t doing anything for me in this album—makes me think of Ed’s bass playing. They were trying to do something here, and I see the evolution of new wave happening, but it’s not working, seems almost amateur compared to previous album.

This is not the Joy Division of album-artwork-tshirt fame. This is a Joy Division without joy.

better than Unknown Pleasures but I really can't get over the vocals. Vaguely soporific. 2/5

Couple of good tracks but the rest were samey and not something I’d go back to **

Didn't expect to like it...

Hidastempoista musiikkia 80-luvun alusta. Tunnelmasta tuli mieleen jonkinlainen alakuloinen, hämyinen rituaali. Sinänsä kyllä jännittävän kuuloinen levy, mutta en minä tästä oikein tykännyt.

I can see why some folks like this but not for me. The "haunting" sound of the vocals were just not my cup of tea and if thats not for you neither is Joy Division.

Possibly not in the right mood for it today but it didn't grab me in anyway.

5

Really dark. Maybe once a year.

Indie, post punk. Aburrido, oscuro, sombrío.

I enjoyed the groove/power of Isolation and Means to an End, but there was just a little too much that was pretty uninteresting.

Not about it

After reading up on Ian Curtis I now understand why the album was the way it was. A complete look into his mind before committing suicide. Very depressing.

Joy Division is not for me. I like Love Will Tear Us Apart and not much more. I can't complain about the quality of music because it's rather good, but it just doesn't speak to me.

The first song was titled Atrocity. While I wouldn't go that far, I expected a lot more from this album.

Meh.

Didn't get it.

this is weirdness, i can't say i hate it but it's also too hard to say I like it. it's like if the sisters of mercy were offbeat to the point it seemed they didn't know what they were doing? it feels like something I could like if it was just a little less out there.

tipico rock tranquilo oscuro con voz no muy presente, meh, todas muy parecidas, 1/5

As someone who hasn’t listened to either band, I was totally unaware of the relation between Joy Division and New Order. Digging into this record, it feels like more of a modern art museum piece than music to “enjoy.” I’m aware of the context of what Ian Curtis was going through but I just can’t really latch onto the vocal performance, similar to with the B-52s it bumps me off focusing on the other instruments, even in a song as good as Twenty Four Hours. He kinda sounds like Will Forte singing parody songs. I fear I may just not be much of a punk person, which apparently extends to Joy Division. Curious if I’ll like their debut album more when that pops up. As it stands, if I was listening to this and a friend walked in the room I think they’d say “wtf is this.” The backing band hit the pocket on the last three songs and that was nice.

Pretty generic trash. Usually a Joy Division fan, but this just was not up to par.

I so desperately want to like Joy Division. I feel like I'd get 17 points cooler if I could get down. But alas. Fuck this music. The only positives I have to offer are: 1. These are two of the coolest album covers that probably exist 2. The lyrics are truly very, very cool Other than that, it's just such a suck fest. They find one mediocre-at-best lick and milk it dry for 5 straight minutes, paired alongside some seriously god-awful vocals. In theory, Joy Division should be so perfect and so damn cool. But I just don't think they ever pull it off. Fave tracks: - Isolation (for the ending) - Twenty Four Hours

Rock, but flat and dull.

I just don't get any joy it's sad, grating to listen to and sounds very dated in a very bad way, I think there is a reason people don't really talk about them anymore other than man they where depressing.

Day 42 — Joy Division — Closer (1980) Listened: May 13–18, 2026 Genre: Post-Punk / Dark Wave / Gothic Rock Vibe: Cold, suffocating, and relentlessly bleak — a wall of anxiety that never relents and offers no light. Highlights: ★ The Eternal Impression: Gave me anxiety every single listen. Had to pause or turn it off repeatedly. Last listen was pure endurance — going track by track just to never have to hear it again. The Eternal was the one moment of calm in an otherwise punishing experience. Not my world at all. Rating: 0.5/5 Keep songs? Yes Revisit album? Hell no

Sounds like the lead singer is one of those people that's been dragged to karaoke against their will and is going to make it everyone else's problem

Good bad

ts so buns

Eh, too noisy & atonal for me.

Depressing as shit and every song sounds the same.

Couldn't get thru a single song

Every time I hear Joy Division, I wonder if they ever considered making good music

Strange group from the 80’s. One hit wonders.

I used to love and hate them.. not sure where i land today

Ei tää kyl oikein. En jaksanu ees koko levyä kuunnella. Synat oli ihan hauskat mut laulaja oli valittu samoin perustein ku 90-luvulla futisjengin vasen pakki tai veska

Olipahan sekavaa settiä… Kannattais jätkien syödä muutakin kuin sieniä.

When I played this album, I audibly said “What the heck is this??” I just finished this album and I still don’t know what to say. It’s just a 1 for me. No other comments necessary.

The frantic drums and chunky repetitive guitar add a sense of urgency and progression. But the monotonous singing and over all eerie atmosphere made this album unlistenable. I did get through it thou!

bad

1,001 post-punk albums to hear before you die

Overall, a bad listening experience. Most of the tracks sound similar; if you skip through them, you often hear no difference. The drooling, drowning, monotonous singing makes it even worse.

Like, I’m done with this shit. Better than unknown pleasures just so pain stakingly boring

80s techno. I hated the singer. Quite boring.

Not for me.

Not my taste

Boring and depressing.

another terrible Joy Division album

made it through six tracks, then listened to tw, bone machine...

Dies of boredom

rather moody and monotonous

Nope

I didn't enjoy this. I like sad, bleak music but this was kind of on another level bc it was sad, bleak music that wasn't nice to listen to

This is exactly the 80’s synth sound that I don’t like.

Hated this. Boring, mopey, sad boy music that felt repetitive and cannot get past the vocals. Kept looking at how long I had left to listen to this and wishing it would end sooner. I don’t get the hype at all, and there was very little redeeming about this - absolutely skippable.

Not my cup of tea. Boring and droning. Makes me depressed. Is that the point?

Too much talk singing throughout.

Droning durge, vocals unappealling and boring

I didn't get past the third song. This album genuinely felt unlistenable. The vocalist cannot sing, and the other instrumentalists are not much better. Generally I try to see why others may enjoy something, but with the first track especially, this was beyond my powers of reasoning.

Mong out music. I wonder if it's a case of the emperor's new clothes going on here. People online have said it is like whiskey and the more you try it the more you realise why people like it. But I'm wondering if they have deluded themselves or not.

1,3/5

This could have been 100x better than it is. It's supposed to have this depressing, haunting, dark atmosphere to it, but the repetitiveness of the songs just makes this shit sound so goofy man. There's no variation in pace, no variation in the drumming, no variation in anything. Just the same 5 seconds on repeat in each song. I don't mind what they're trying to do with the singing. It would work if the music backing him up wasn't so shite. Take Twenty Four Hours as an example. That's an actual song. He starts singing properly, the bass lines are great, there's variation in the tempo. It's like they actually tried for that song and that song alone. If the rest of the album was like that I'd probably give it a 4 or 5. But it wasn't. Far, far from it

What a load of pretentious bullshit that was.

Better than the other joy division album I guess. The vocals are so bad. Reminds me of Jim Morrison in the worst way

Musically maybe a 2 but these might be the worst vocals ive ever heard

I can’t believe people wear their shirt all around my neighborhood. Sounds like the guy from b-52s

Terrible

1. atrocity - 1 2. izolation - 1 3. pazz - 1.5 4. colony - 1.5 5. end - 1.5 6. zoul - 1.5 7. tuuenty - 2 8. eternal - 1.5 9. decadez - 1.5

I never liked joy division because of a not-friend who was obsessed. Don’t think this album moved the dial much

I didn’t really enjoy the previous album I got as a pick on this list, and this album was WAY worse. I couldn’t even finish this one. It was downright atrocious to sit through. No thanks

I’m not a huge fan of this sound. The drums aren’t my cup of tea. It seems to teeter between a few genres I can’t put my finger on. I feel like a band like show me the body took a lot from this sound, but this album felt like a building block that could be expanded upon.

Eh. Not very good in my opinion. The instruments were boring and the singing was honestly terrible in my opinion. If I had to pick a standout it would probably be the eternals but that’s about it. 1 star

No

I do not get it. I feel like I was listening to what the color black would sound like in an album, but not in a cool way. Wish I liked it more. 1/5

This made me sad because so many of my friends love this band and I thought it sounded like a bag of cats in the rain.

If you’re listening to Joy Division, it should be any song from Unknown Pleasures. Closer is a bit dull for my taste

Awful. I will never understand how "post-punk" and "post-punk revival" are supposed to be similar, considering some of my favorite music ever is described as 00s post-punk revival and I've never heard any post-punk that I've liked. It's like this guy literally doesn't WANT to sing on key. But not in a snotty "fuck the rules" way, like punk, but rather like in a "I want to croon like Sinatra and I don't care if you like it" kind of way.

If I could give a zero I would

I think Joy Division could quite possibly be the most overrated band of all time. I don't just think they're overrated, I straight up think they suck. Save for a few good songs (none of which are on this album), they really have nothing to cling onto. I feel I can find their sound in a thousand other places, and those places all have much more to like.

The guy just cannot sing. He is monotone and sounds like he’s in a hallway. The rhythm is good but invariant. If I remove the vocals it might be a good backing track. There are a few creative moments but the whole thing is very simplistic and quite limited. They sound like a bad Talking Heads imitation. Reading the article it seems the band blamed the producer for a bad job. Sounds like he did what he could but there’s only so much lipstick you can put on a pig.

Joy Division makes music for lottery sweepstakes winners.

Too dark for me.