The genre-enigma that is KiLLJoy started when guitarist Kilian Naofs and drummer Joachim Poitevin first met while studying music in Bordeaux, France. The pair relocated to Brussels, Belgium to start a new project that would break boundaries. Defined by its duality—of the beauty clashing with brutality and structure clashing with chaos—the group create a unique blend of screamo, metal, electro, and psychedelia. Having recently signed to Mottow Soundz, they’re ready to unleash their signature sound on the world with their debut album Dream and Violence.
Today, the band are debuting the single “Poker with God” off the upcoming album. With its intricate drumbeats, fiery guitars, and serious vocal intensity, “Poker with God” alternates between restraint and all-out fury, providing an electrifying emotional journey through one epic track.
“‘Poker with God’ talks about mental illness,” the band explain about the track. “We sometimes feel we’re being controlled by something within, a presence going back and forth between two parallel realities, letting us think it’s gone because you tend to move forward but it comes back with no warning. This song lies to picture the toughness of uncertainties from an uncomfortable situation. It can be as destructive as it takes place in our minds. In the end, we cannot be the strongest person so it’s okay to lose control, it’s okay that people can’t bear it. We’re all human after all.
“‘Poker with God’ is the game we play with the sickened version of ourselves,” they continue. “The constant struggle is represented by an individual seeing a distorted version of himself in the mirror. He’s puzzled; he tries to make sense out of the surreal situation but the feeling of judgment, the dark memories resurfacing, the pain and the nostalgia are flooding and yet he lets these feelings embrace him, slowly taking him back to his ‘darkest place.’ The song is about accepting situations we cannot overcome, forces that are stronger than ourselves, like “playing poker with God and all we have is an ace,” sometimes choosing to fold is choosing to accept not to be the strongest one who holds control.”
Check out the track below.
Dream and Violence is out Friday from Mottow Soundz. Follow KiLLJoy on Facebook and Instagram for future updates.
Photo Credit: Olivia Droeshaut & Yves Dethier
