Tyranny (The Voidz album)

Tyranny is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Voidz (marketed as Julian Casablancas + The Voidz), recorded at Labyrinth, NYC and released on September 23, 2014 through the Cult label. The first single from the album, the 11-minute track "Human Sadness", was released on September 2, 2014. The music video for the second single "Where No Eagles Fly" was directed by guitarist Jeramy "Beardo" Gritter. On September 19, Tyranny was made available to stream on the websites of Rolling Stone and Pitchfork.

The album was placed 50th in NME's "Top 50 Albums of 2014" list.

Reception
The album received generally positive reviews, though outlets often expressed mixed opinions. Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 stars, calling it "the sound of a man shedding his skin. Not pretty, but more compelling for it." Paste gave it 6.0, while Exclaim! gave it 8 out of 10, calling it "a seriously sad album...compelling." Lucas Villa of AXS awarded four out of five stars, writing, "Casablancas continues to exercise his experimental muscle in the most raucous ways with The Voidz in tow." Benji Taylor of Clash gave the album 7/10, calling it "a weirdly wonderful mesh of awkward time signatures, unconventional song structures and, in general, unbridled madness". Pitchfork was among the most negative of the reviewers, giving the album a 4.9 and calling it unlistenable and a failure.

GQ printed in a 2014 interview with Casablancas entitled, "Julian Casablancas Is Done Trying to Save You",

The record's called Tyranny, and that's sort of what it's about, Casablancas says: rapacious oil companies and a not-so-free press and environmental depredation. Money. Health care. Nightmares. The moon. "It's not very sexy to talk about these things, especially in a place like America, where things are, like, the best. But it just feels like we’re inside that Versailles bubble, you know?"

Personnel

 * Julian Casablancas – vocals
 * Jeramy "Beardo" Gritter – guitar
 * Amir Yaghmai – guitar
 * Jacob "Jake" Bercovici – bass guitar, synthesizers
 * Alex Carapetis – drums, percussion
 * Jeff Kite – keyboards

Production and others

 * Shawn Everett – production, mixing
 * Ryan Fagman – additional engineering on "Dare I Care", "Xerox", "Nintendo Blood" and "Crunch Punch"
 * J. P. Bowersock – guru for "Crunch Punch", "Human Sadness" and "Take Me in Your Army"
 * Mike Bloom – additional guitar on "Dare I Care"
 * Brian Gardner – mastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering, LA
 * Dave Kutch – additional mastering at The Mastering Palace, NYC
 * Emily Lazar – additional mastering at The Lodge, NYC
 * Warren Fu – artwork
 * Liz Hirsch – artwork
 * Sam Adoquei – "The Visit of Govindu" artwork
 * El Teneen – "Chessboard" artwork
 * Richard Priest – management crew
 * Lysee Webb – management crew
 * Jack Rovner – management crew