Strength Through Joy
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Mekhanizm | Date: Tu, 21.10.2014, 22:51 | Post # 1 |
Marshall
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User #1 Male Saint Petersburg Reg. 14.12.2013 23:54
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Country of origin: | Australia | | Location: | Adelaide | Status: | Closed 1996 | Formed in: | 1991 | Style: | Neofolk, Experimental, Ambient | Last label: | Twilight Command (1996) | Official site: | | Discogs page: | | LastFM popularity: | | Members: Richard Leviathan (Richard Jason Levy) - Strength Through Joy, Foresta Di Ferro, Kapo!, Ostara Timothy Jenn - Ostara, Strength Through Joy
Strength Through Joy was founded in Adelaide, Australia in 1991 by bassist Timothy Jenn and vocalist Richard Leviathan. Although Jenn had his roots in the gothic musical milieu of Ireland and Leviathan was a bullet-belt wearing black metal fan, the two men seemed to have a lot in common and soon struck up a friendship. Although Leviathan himself had no prior musical experience before meeting Jenn, he wrote some great lyrics and had a distinctive if not good singing voice. After cutting a short demo of dark folk material, the boys in the band wrote to Death in June leader Douglas Pearce to ask his permission to send a demo to him. Pearce responded affirmatively and then pointed out that he actually lived only a little more than 10 kilometers down the road from them.
Upon their meeting, Pearce agreed to produce Strength Through Joy’s first album as he found himself genuinely impressed with the band’s “originality.” I’m not sure if that was originality he was hearing or if was hearing what Death In June had sounded like ten years earlier; even Leviathan admits “his (Pearce’s) influence on the…style of music is obvious.”* Either way, in 1994, Strength Through Joy released a single on vinyl called Dark Rose that featured three songs. Of note is the opener A Grave For Burning Wings on which Douglas Pearce actually sings and plays acoustic guitar, the style of the song presaging Death In June’s 1996 album Rose Clouds Of Holocaust. Later that same year, Pearce produced Strength Through Joy’s true first full-length album, the Force Of Truth And Lies (the title having been taken from a passage in Plato’s famous dialoge the Apology of Socrates). With this album, Jenn and Leviathan develop an identity independent of Pearce while simultaneously not straying too far from the formula for apocalyptic folk music he almost single-handedly developed in the 1980s. As is always the case in this genre, the main basis of melody is the acoustic guitar, but Strength Through Joy for the most part eschewed other traditional neofolk instruments such as violins in favor of an increased role for the keyboard. With somewhat distant production and Leviathan’s almost metallic voice, the Force Of Truth And Lies has a truly cold, mechanical feel to it. As I once wrote elsewhere, this album is what Kraftwerk would sound like if Rolf und Florian ever picked up guitars.
In 1995, Pearce again produced a Strength Through Joy album, this one being a two-CD set called Salute To Light. Although many people seem to regard this as the superior Strength Through Joy album (there are, after all, only two) I find it really rather uninvigorating compared to its predecessor. On Salute To Light, the band fully dives into the conventions of the genre and almost every song seems unnatural in some way; like each melody was derived because scientific testing has proven that this chord ought to come after that one. While the debut album was, shall we say, gracious in paying respect to its influences, Salute To Light rather seems to want to become the band’s influences. In keeping in this vein, Strength Through Joy and Death In June sat down together in 1996 in the studio to collaborate on the KAPO album. The band is officially billed as “Death In June Presents” rather than some other combination of both, but I think it suits it well considering this is more or less a Douglas Pearce album. In the same year, Timothy Jenn moved to Germany and Leviathan moved to England. Surprisingly, the band did not break up: rather it became inactive in 1997 and then changed names to Ostara which continues to this day. wiki
Dark Rose (7", TP, W/Lbl) / (CD, EP) / (7") Twilight Command Nero IV 1994
The Force Of Truth And Lies (CD, Album) Twilight Command NERO VI 1995 The Force Of Truth And Lies (CD, Album, RE) Twilight Command NERO VI Unknown
Salute To Light (2xCD, Album) Twilight Command NERO XICD 1996
Death In June / Kapo! / Strength Through Joy / Scorpion Wind / Boyd Rice - Plauen 1997 (2xCDr, Unofficial, Ltd, Num) Valkrie 2003 - V1 2003
Tracks appear in compilations
tr. Master And Slave Various - Dark Eyed And Starry They Were (2xCD, Comp) Heartland Records HL 02/2 1995 tr. Ways To Strength And Beauty Various - Riefenstahl VAWS 1996 tr. Dominions Behind The Sun Various - The Pact: Flying In The Face... Asafoetida 1996 tr. Ways To Strength And Beauty Various - Terra Serpentes (2xCD, Comp) World Serpent WSDCD 016 1996 tr. Ways To Strength And Beauty Various - Thank You (CD, Unofficial, Comp) CorZar Records CorZar 020 CD 2004 tr. The Call Of Amergin Various - Gothic Love Ballads (2xCD, Comp, Unofficial) Legal Records ITL 060608s, ITL 060609s Unknown
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Mekhanizm | Date: Su, 26.10.2014, 01:30 | Post # 2 |
Marshall
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User #1 Male Saint Petersburg Reg. 14.12.2013 23:54
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Strength Through Joy – Dark Rose (1994)
Label: Twilight Command – NERO IV Format: CD, EP Country: UK Released: 1994 Genre: Electronic, Rock Style: Neofolk
Tracklist
1 A Grave For Burning Wings - Guitar, E-Bow, Vocals – Douglas Pearce 4:04 2 Rosin Dubh (Flute Mix) - Flute – Kyra Smith 5:42 3 Apotheosis - Flute – Kyra Smith; Percussion – Douglas Pearce 5:48
Companies etc Recorded At – Big Sound Studios
Credits Engineer, Mixed By – Dave Lokan Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Timothy Jenn Producer – Douglas Pearce Vocals, Keyboards, Percussion – Richard Leviathan
Notes Recorded July-August 1994 at Big Sound Studios, Adelaide.
Discogs
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Mekhanizm | Date: Su, 26.10.2014, 01:35 | Post # 3 |
Marshall
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User #1 Male Saint Petersburg Reg. 14.12.2013 23:54
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Strength Through Joy – The Force Of Truth And Lies (1995)
Label: Twilight Command – NERO VI Format: CD, Album Country: UK Released: 1995 Genre: Electronic, Rock Style: Experimental, Neofolk
Tracklist
1 The Force Of Truth And Lies 5:40 2 Master And Slave 5:00 3 Rosin Dubh 5:53 4 The Blond Beast 2:34 5 The Bridge 5:04 6 Absolute Power 3:45 7 The Force Of Truth And Lies (Instrumental) 5:33 8 A Grave For Burning Wings 4:03 9 Life's Absurdity 4:19
Companies etc Distributed By – World Serpent
Credits Engineer, Mixed By – Dave Lokan Flute – Kyra Smith Producer – Douglas Pearce
Discogs
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Mekhanizm | Date: Su, 26.10.2014, 01:40 | Post # 4 |
Marshall
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User #1 Male Saint Petersburg Reg. 14.12.2013 23:54
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Strength Through Joy – Salute To Light (1996)
Label: Twilight Command – NERO XICD Format: 2 × CD, Album Country: UK Released: 1996 Genre: Electronic Style: Neofolk, Experimental, Ambient
Tracklist
1-1 Salute To Light 0:47 1-2 A Cold November Crime 7:14 1-3 Do We Need History? 4:49 1-4 Garden Of Blood 4:22 1-5 The Frozen March Of Victory 7:07 1-6 The Song Of Amergin - Featuring [Effects] – Dave Lokan 6:09 1-7 End Of Youth - Vocals [Prologue] – Jane Angel 5:34 1-8 Do We Need History? (Reprisal) 5:03
2-1 Garden Of Predation 3:48 2-2 The Northern March Of Victory 6:59 2-3 Youth's Destiny - Vocals [Prologue] – Jane Angel 4:32 2-4 A Cold November Hunt 6:54 2-5 The Call Of Amergin - Featuring [Effects] – Dave Lokan 5:21 2-6 The Rise And Fall Of History 4:50 2-7 Sun Worship 0:48
Companies etc Recorded At – Big Sound Studios Distributed By – World Serpent
Credits Cello – Zoe Barry (tracks: 1-2, 1-3, 1-6, 1-8, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6) Effects, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer, Vocals – Timothy Jenn Effects, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer, Vocals – Richard Leviathan Engineer, Mixed By – Dave Lokan Producer – Douglas Pearce Violin – Loretta Meagher (tracks: 1-2, 1-3, 1-6, 1-8, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6)
Notes It comes in a standard double slim jewel case housed in a cardboard slipcase. Recorded in June, July and September 1995 at Big Sound Studios, Adelaide, Australia.
Discogs
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NSGM | Date: Su, 24.02.2019, 15:26 | Post # 5 |
Civil
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User #5805 Male Dresden Germany Reg. 24.02.2019 15:22
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| Searching long for this, Danke!
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Paddy | Date: Sa, 29.02.2020, 19:16 | Post # 6 |
Sergeant
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User #5105 Male New York Reg. 27.10.2018 00:03
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| The Force Of Truth And Lies:
My personal ALAC CD rip
slsk: denethorgul
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