The Joy Thieves have come a long way since their ‘This Will Kill That’ debut waaay back in the pre-pandemic times. These troubled times make for troubled art, and the band's first full length offering, ‘American Parasite’, finds the band in violent, acerbic form.
Departing from their standard modus operandi of having a different vocalist front every track; this time around The Joy Thieves are fronted by the mighty Chris Connelly (Ministry, Murder Inc., FiniTribe, The Damage Manual, RevCo) on every track. The songs are also harder, faster and angrier than before, with Connelly describing the album as; "...Everything I wished I could have done with Ministry... It's like being hosed down with lava..."
The Joy Thieves have always enjoyed an ever-changing lineup, and this time is no exception. New to the party this time around are drummer Paul Ferguson (Killing Joke, Warrior Soul), guitarist Chris Haskett (The Rollins Band, David Bowie, Iggy Pop), guitarist John Haggerty (Naked Raygun, Pegboy), drummer Joe Haggerty (The Effigies, Pegboy), songwriter Scott-David Allen (The Burying Kind, A Covenant of Thorns), and Grant Sutton (Jumpsuit, Monster Trux, The Party Downers).
In addition to ReGen magazine naming 'American Parasite' the best album of 2021, it also found a place on many "Best of 2021" lists, including Sounds & Shadows, Brutal Resonance, XS Rock, Cave Dweller Music, Subculture Shock and Darkest Before Dawn.
“Lyrically, I would say this album contains many of the strongest songs yet, running the gamut from a fuck-you to America to an anti-war anthem, to general rage against the way things are. They’re pure poetry yet they’re also memorable…and therefore perfect to spraypaint on the sides of buildings or tattoo on the inside of your lip, perhaps. To sum up, I don’t know if they give out punk points anymore, but this album certainly earns our favorite Thieves a lifetime amount, and asserts with certainty that punk’s not dead.” - Adrian Halo
“American Parasite is nothing short of a masterpiece. Not since Rage Against The Machine debuted, have I heard a band that dedicated to their music and message to represent their art to illuminate social issues. It doesn’t get better than this! This should be on every critic’s best albums of 2021 list.” - Bobby Caughron
— XS Rock
“Though the band has released three EPs and a single thus far, most of them teetered on the edge of industrial rock with a slight punk-edge. However, with their debut album they went straight to their punk roots and have released perhaps one of the greatest punk rock albums of all time. This type of punk rock movement leads me back to my childhood when the world was blissful and all was at peace. "American Parasite" is here to stay and slay all aspects of modern punk music.” - Steven Gullotta
“...this is a slam-dunk, fast and furious ride, baby. This lot are far from American Idiots and the title track rocks and steamrollers over us like a wrecking machine, full of groove and vocal acidity. There’s a strong hint of punk about the album and the immediacy of the songs will not only make you want to come back for more but have plenty of hooks about them to make things really compulsive.” - Pete Woods
“Think Dead Kennedys meets the Damned only with more aggression and you won't be far wrong. However, don't think The Joy Thieves are punk revivalists as this could not be further from the truth. With this album they redefine the genre bringing it up to date whilst keeping the pureness and power of the original punk movement.” - Fonz Tramontano
“On the whole this is hands down my favourite punk album of 2021. I haven't heard anything that sounds like this in a very long time and to some extent it has rekindled my love of punk music. For a while now I've just been finding a lot of modern punk somewhat boring and heartless. It almost felt as if a lot of these modern bands discovered Pennywise and said, "yeah this is what we're going to do, " but not The Joy Thieves. They've brought back the angst and the heart of earlier punk music and injected it right into the heart of a fading scene.” - James Sweetlove
“...an album of no filler and all killer new material with every track seemingly intricately and meticulously dissected to give your earholes the very best listening experience.” - Jesse
