This is what the surviving members of Joy Division did next after Ian Curtis' death, taking their sound in a more electronic direction and prefiguring the sounds of house, taking synth-pop elements in a darker direction.
Most tracks, it’s true sound a little bit like their famous tracks True Faith or Blue Monday are trying to get out (they’re not on this album), often driven by a great Peter Hook bass-line. Sunrise, for example, which also has Bernard Sumner’s guitar sounding like the aggressive jangle of The Cult while the vocals (Sumner again?) is more like Robert Smith of The Cure; the combined effect is to make something very deeply goth and wonderful.
Elegia is a moody instrumental piece that brings to mind the part of Tubular Bells used for the Exorcist, but with much more body to it – no surprise that it was used in Stranger Things, albeit not as forthrightly as they did with Kate Bush. It was written partly as a tribute to Ian Curtis, whose spirit hovers over this album. Sub-Culture is the most dance of all the tracks, despite Face Up having a faster synth beat behind it. It’s got that addictive repetitive beat that would make it a good candidate for rave music.
Also of note is that the cover adapted to the physicality of CDs rather than vinyl, with individual band photos that could be slotted into the front of the CD case to customise the cover. This, I think, is the first example on this least of the physical production geared towards the nature of CDs, rather than simply squeezing a vinyl cover into a CD box.
Personally, I prefer New Order to Joy Division. The addition of Gillian Gilbert on keyboards turning them into something that evidently shares the same musical DNA of their predecessor, but different enough that they’re not simply trying to replace Curtis.
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