The UK based band Joykill Collective releases their latest single “Battle Cry” August 21st. Their sound is a bit hard and rustic, with a hint of thrash and punk – mostly it’s a subgroup of pop. It reminds me of the music played at the Warcon festival. I conjecture it would resonate well with the teenage and young adult demographic.

There are components of their new single I love. It’s energetic, youthful, angsty, and loud. It feels like it’s trying to say something with a strong message (though I don’t know what). And they were certainly effective at creating a song that sounds like a battle cry.

However, there are also elements I don’t connect to. It may be an artistic choice but the voice is very hard to hear at times underneath the instrumentation. It’s as if the vocals are battling the music and harmony.  This perchance is for effect. Though in the end, I found it frustrating not being able to decipher their message lyrically. Furthermore, I cannot tell if it’s the vocals or the melody but every time I hear the chorus and the bridge I lose interest.

On a scale of 1 – 5.  I give the single 2.5 points.  It needed a little more attention and care.  Before releasing it they should have better mixed the levels and mastered the song.  At the very least, the listener should be able to hear the lyrics clearly .

You can watch their latest video for the single here.

What I can speak to is the incredible photos and artwork attached to Joykill.  It reminds me of Nirvana. Their images are really fantastic.  They’re an indie band artistically showing a piece of themselves through pictures.  You can see images and stay up to date on their Facebook and Twitter pages.   Also, here’s a link to their videos.