Joy as an Act of Resistance is the second studio album by British rock band Idles, released on 31 August 2018 by Partisan Records. Following the success of their debut album Brutalism, the band started recording new material. Taking inspiration from the similarly titled 2008 poem by Toi Derricotte, Joy as an Act of Resistance tells stories from lead singer Joe Talbot's troubled past. Its lyrics deal with toxic masculinity, self-love, immigration, Brexit, and class. The album garnered acclaim from critics upon release. Joy as an Act of Resistance peaked at number 5 on the UK Albums Chart and spawned two official singles: "Danny Nedelko" and "Never Fight a Man with a Perm". To promote the record, the band toured across Japan, North America, and Europe. Joy as an Act of Resistance was met with widespread critical acclaim. Jordan Bassett, reviewing the album for NME, awarded the album five stars, calling it "an instant classic". Dave Simpson, for The Guardian gave it four stars, describing it as "11 songs of focused, cathartic rage, rooted in their own experiences", and calling Idles "Britain’s most necessary band". Mark Beaumont of The Independent also gave it four stars. Dom Gourlay, for Drowned in Sound, called it "one of 2018's most eagerly anticipated releases", awarding it a score of 9 out of 10, and going on to say that it is "everything anyone could have wanted or expected it to be: Idles have released the most relevant and at times gut wrenching album of the year." Classic Rock magazine gave it the same score, calling it "a heart-breaking but jubilant exploration of joy, honesty, fragility and expression as our most powerful means of human resistance".
Good, although this class of heavy, shout sung post-punk that so many bands do has grown stale on me. “Gram Rock” stood out as a great track