The Joy Formidable: The Big Roar

The Joy Formidable
The Big Roar
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Welsh trio The Joy Formidable, led by Ritzy Bryan, are not afraid to think big. Taking cues from bands like Lush and Belly, and amping it up with a phalanx of guitars straight from Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, the band is already staking their claim to be the next arena-friendly band. The Big Roar is the follow up to their short album A Balloon Called Moaning, which takes three previous tracks and revisits them in slightly altered form, with the addition of 8 new tracks, beefing up their sound with more guitars and heavier drum sound.

Most of the songs on The Big Roar follow a similar format: the verses tightly coiled and propulsive, erupting into a maelstrom of layered guitars at the choruses. When it works perfectly, the tracks are phenomenal. On lead track "The Everlasting Spectrum Of A Lie," the song moves effortlessly through peaks and valleys, working well with texture and mood:



"Austere" follows it's minimal and driving rhythm section into a chorus of screaming guitars and etheral synths:



"Whirring" which is re-tooled from its original version, becomes more fleshed out and insistent:



But too often, The Big Roar relies too much on amping up the volume and putting too many layers of guitars into the mix. By the end of the record, you almost feel beaten into submission, and the songs begin to blur together. "Chapter 2" is all bluster and no texture:



"Cradle," becomes one note and a bit screechy:



I wanted to hear more variety in their song structures so that the songs would stand out from one another better. Just as I was losing hope on the record, things got brighter with "Llaw = Wall," which starts out beatless and ambient, with surprising good vocals by Rhydian Dafydd, and builds into an atmospheric, powerful chorus. More songs with this type of interesting signature would have gone a long way in breaking up the slight monotony of the record:



Not to say that the record is bad. Each of the songs taken alone are really good, it is just when you listen to them in the context of the album, it can sound a little too similar towards the end. The Joy Formidable has an aggressive and bold sound, and have the chops to really put out some great music. Just a little subtlety and variety is in order to make their sound more distinctive.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top albums of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.