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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
Joy Division were at the height of their powers on Closer, equaling and arguably bettering the astonishing Unknown Pleasures, that's how accomplished the four members were. Rock, however defined, rarely seems and sounds so important, so vital, and so impossible to resist or ignore as here.
100
Closer is the album that would come to define Joy Division in all their suicidal glory. Their previous effort, Unknown Pleasures is argued to be the better album of the two Joy Division put out, but honestly who cares?
80
The music of Joy Division — an art-minded English postpunk band that initially struck reviewers as a tuneful version of PiL — sets forth an even more indelible vision of gloom. In fact, it's a vision so steeped in deathly fixations that it proved fatal.
All good things must eventually come to an end and unfortunately the end of Joy Division would come in the form of their second and final album, 'Closer' which came out in 1980. Although the Joy Division moniker would end with 'Closer' the band would live on in the form of New Order, but their vibe was far more different in contrast with the former, so I'll save it for another day and just focus on 'Closer'. Joy Division had already made themselves known and changed the history of Punk music a ... read more
After the tremendous success achieved on Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division released an even more authentic, ambitious, claustrophobic and powerful album, months after Ian Curtis´s suicide. Although it seemed impossible for a band, no matter how creative and prolific, to follow up an album like their debut with another work nearly as strong, it seems that Curtis and his peers managed to find even larger inspiration for putting out an album like Closer, that feels so much more theatrical, ... read more
One of the darkest albums of all time. Gloomy and depressive, while also beautiful and fascinating.
A masterpiece
Atrocity Exhibition - 95
Isolation - 90
Passover - 85
Colony - 90
A means to an end - 85
Heart and Soul - 90
Twenty four hours - 100
The Eternal - 95
Decades - 100
A record so far ahead of its time, yet one that couldn’t have been released at any other moment, Closer is a devastatingly powerful album that stands as Ian Curtis’s final statement and a cornerstone of 1980’s post punk.
![Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures [Collector's Edition]](https://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/200x/album/60421-unknown-pleasures.jpg)
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Track List
| 1 | Atrocity Exhibition 6:04 | 94 |
| 2 | Isolation 2:55 | 93 |
| 3 | Passover 4:45 | 91 |
| 4 | Colony 3:55 | 89 |
| 5 | A Means to an End 4:09 | 91 |
| 6 | Heart and Soul 5:53 | 92 |
| 7 | Twenty Four Hours 4:28 | 95 |
| 8 | The Eternal 6:04 | 94 |
| 9 | Decades 6:14 | 95 |
Total Length: 44 minutes
Year End Lists
| #5 | / | Paste |
| #10 | / | Rolling Stone |
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Added on: September 24, 2012