With their self-titled 2007 debut, French production duo Justice – Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay – established themselves as promising Daft Punk successors. Combining arena-sized drum tracks with squealing guitars and a thundering dancefloor pulse, they delivered gargantuan melodic hooks with gut-thumping force. Yet subsequent releases have struggled to elicit the same sense of vitality. Audio, Video, Disco, from 2011, veered into the complicated world of prog, while 2016’s Woman attempted a disco-pop crossover; neither was fully convincing. On their latest album, Justice attempt a return to their club-oriented roots.
Across 13 tracks, the pair find their strengths in the heavier end of the musical spectrum. Generator shudders through raw synths and techno kick-drums, providing an apt soundtrack for a postapocalyptic dancefloor, while the tonal switches on Incognito are delightfully unpredictable, shifting from disco bass to cavernous melody. On softer moments, though, they’re on less steady ground. One Night/All Night drowns out guest vocalist Kevin Parker’s falsetto with a plodding backing, while Saturnine grates in its interplay of chopped guitar lines and high-pitch vocals. Justice are still capable of raw-edged excitement, but on Hyperdrama they find themselves too polished and bright.