May 8^th, 2012 – the release date for Electronic Saviors 2: Recurrence – has finally arrived. This six disc set, released via Metropolis Records, collects exclusive tracks from 142 artists all of whom have united in the cause of curing cancer. This set, the sequel to Electronic Saviors: Industrial Music To Cure Cancer, has been shepherded into existence by Pittsburgh, PA music promoter and cancer survivor Jim Semonik.

While the six-disc edition is now widely available (though certain to go quickly regardless), those who missed out on their initial chance to grab the eight-disc Premium Edition will have one final opportunity to do so in the coming weeks. Across the nation there will be various release parties (check under “Events” on the official Electronic Saviors website or the Electronic Saviors Facebook page) for ES2 where one can not only purchase the Premium Edition along with T-shirts, posters and other goodies, but one can see some of the bands included on the compilation performing live.

On a more somber note, while Jim Semonik has been cancer free for over two years, the spectre of his ordeal to beat this disease continues to haunt him in the form of thousands of dollars in medical bills. In addition to supporting cancer research via purchasing Electronic Saviors, it is humbly requested that you make a donation to help pay down Jim Semonik’s medical bills. Any contribution would be greatly appreciated.

It has been nearly a month since online orders for the premium edition of ES2 have been closed as limited supplies went quickly. Anyone wishing to purchase it must now attend one of the many ES2 release parties which will be occurring in major cities across the United States. However, goth and industrial fans in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who missed out the first time now have a second chance in advance of an official release party to grab the ES2 premium version.

The Pittsburgh City Paper has the scoop:

Locally, one release finally seeing light of day for the first time on Saturday [April 21^st] will be the second Electronic Saviors compilation. Put together by longtime industrial-music promoter, musician and cancer survivor Jim Semonik, the comp is being released next month by Philly’s Metropolis Records. But Eide’s Entertainment (1121 Penn Ave., Strip District), where Semonik works, will offer a special edition version on Record Store Day. The premium package includes an 8-CD set, some extra swag like a wristband and sticker, and literature from Gilda’s Club and BRICKS, a Pittsburgh-based organization that helps young adults living with cancer. It’s available only on Record Store Day; Semonik will DJ an in-store set Saturday as well.

To wit, should you be in Pittsburgh on Record Store Day, get yourself to Eide’s and all this could be yours:

CrappyVD.zip

Right-click, save as…you’re able to visit a website, so we’ll assume you know the rest. This link will go dead as of midnight on February 15^th.

However, if that isn’t enough Illusion of Joy will be performing a thirty minute set at Cannon Coffee in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighbourhood on Wednesday, February 15^th, starting at 7:00PM. Open mic follows, but until then the mood is sure to be set for a post-Valentine’s letdown of bitter resentment and melancholy navel-gazing in song form courtesy of Pittsburgh’s premiere miserablist.

Directions:

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Life after having cancer can be a difficult ordeal. One is especially lucky to survive it. After enduring chemotherapy, radiation and a multitude of other therapies, there can be a lingering fear in the patient who is now a cancer survivor. Cancer returning is a nightmare come true to any patient. Scene promoter, DJ and Rein[Forced] frontman, Jim Semonik knows this only too well. Having survived stage 2B colorectal cancer in 2008, Semonik created one of the most successful compilations in any scene with the help of 83 musicians with Electronic Saviors: Industrial Music To Cure Cancer. This piece was very well received by press and critics and raised over 20K for Charity.

This time, he assembled a cast of 142 artists from all over the world to take on all forms of cancer. Semonik returns with all guns blazing on Electronic Saviors 2: Recurrence with new, rare and exclusive tracks from God Module, System Syn, Project Pitchfork, Hocico, Blutengel, The Dark Clan, Rein[Forced], 16Volt, Ayria, Left Spine Down, Panic Lift and much much more. From Covenant’s upbeat “Lightbringer Feat Necro Facility (Speedrun II Mix)” to 16Volt’s downtemo “Burn (Father Dub)” to the guitar attack Deathline International’s “Inside” to the soothing synthpop of Tenek’s “World of no Relief”, ES2 offers something for everyone. This will be a massive 6 disc boxset available physically with gorgeous artwork from Jeff Confer and Samantha Johnson. Presented in a lovely 8 panel digipak with 16 page booklet, Jim’s quest to bring this disease to an end through music has grown by leaps and bounds.

The release date for the compilation is set for Tuesday, May 8^th, 2012.

“That’s wonderful,” you may be thinking, “but what’s in it for me?”

Glad you asked; indeed there is no “Black Friday” here, nor is there a “Cyber Monday.” Also, since there is no permanent physical presence, don’t make us laugh by mentioning “Small Business Saturday.” We here at the headquarters for all things Illusion of Joy prefer to buck convention while simultaneously cashing in on it. As such, these are the December specials which are actually beginning on Thursday, December 1^st:

Download Cards

Long relegated to being an exclusive purchase available for those visiting the real merch table at a live Illusion of Joy performance, the download card for No One Expects An Inquisition will be available for purchase from the website. About the size of a credit card or store gift card, a download card is perfect as a stocking stuffer, for stuffing into a holiday card or for stuffing into any other space which one thinks needs a good stuffing.

Gift Wrap

Did you buy CDs for someone? Do you not want to wrap them yourself? We here at the headquarters for all things Illusion of Joy will do it for you – for free. Just make sure you say to do so before completing your order.

Free Shipping

Usually one has to purchase $20 of goods in order to get this perk. Throughout December, shipping charges have been lifted from everything in the Merch catalogue.

As always, everything is shipped via the United States Postal Service. If you need an item on a specific date, bear in mind that we can not make guarantees or overnight packages. Your best bet is to order early (two or more weeks in advance).

Happy celebrations for your holiday of choice.

No One Expects An Inquisition
	Triangle Impact What Might Have Been Vertical Amnestyville Retribution Resolution Lungless Two Thespians Ayn Rand Shrugged

Illusion of Joy’s fourth full-length album overall and first since The Forever Syndrome, No One Expects An Inquisition is now available everywhere today. Five years in the making, No One Expects An Inquisition proves itself to be worth the wait, maintaining the expressive soundscapes and sly, clever lyrics of it’s predecessors while pressing forward with a stark awareness of today’s societal and political climes.

No One Expects An Inquisition features ten songs which have never been available as proper studio recordings before. While half of the songs on this release have been sneaked into Illusion of Joy’s live performances over the past few years, these are the definitive versions. Of particular interest will be live favourites such as the subversively sexy “Triangle” and the grippingly paranoid “Retribution.”

Available for purchase at live performances and exclusively through illusionofjoy.net since late October, No One Expects An Inquisition is now available through numerous online vendors as well as discriminating record and music stores. If you haven’t already, today is a good day to pick up a copy.

And don’t forget that you can hear Inquisition performed live in it’s entirety at these upcoming shows:

Electronic Saviors 2: Recurrence is now in the final stages of production. The wonderful Da5id Din will start on the huge undertaking of mastering and Jeff Confer and Samantha Johnson will be starting the artwork and packaging design. It is with great joy that I wish to share the charities with you who we hope will be the beneficiaries of the sales of this wonderful body of work. We have researched many different charities with the help of some of the participating bands on this compilation. It has been decided at this time that Gilda’s Club/Cancer Support Community and The Bone Marrow Foundation is on our wish-list to send the proceeds to.

I want to thank everyone at Metropolis Records for allowing us to make this happen again. This will be a giant 6 disc box-set with 105 artists and 2 additional discs worth of digital tracks for a grand total of 141 tracks total. There will be a standard 6 CD edition, a deluxe digital edition only sold through Metropolis Records’ website as well as a premium edition which will include a physical double CD (high quality pressed cdr) of the 37 digital tracks for those that want them. The number of copies will be specified when we gauge how in demand these will be. We want this project to be a big success and everyone is working very hard to bring this to you in a way that will move every listener. All I can say is “WOW” when I listen to these tracks. We have a number of brand new tracks, new remixes and some tracks licensed from Europe that have never been on CD in the United States before.

Electronic Saviors Vol.2 Track Listing

Disc 1 Shock:

1. Tenek — A World of No Relief
2. Deathline Int’l — Inside
3. Cancerface — Tumor Curbjob
4. Panic Lift — Footsteps
5. The Gothsicles — Who Wants to Join Our Super Hero Team (Right Now, It’s Just Me & Jim)
6. Inertia — Deworld (New Day Mix)
7. Santa Hates You — Pack Your Bags Honey, We’re Going To Hell! (Road Trip Remix)
8. The Azoic — Corruption (Remix By Encoder)
9. Rein[Forced] — Burnt
10. Deathproof — Bitcrush
11. [cYbEr.dYnE] — Nova
12. Null Device — ClosingEyes
13. Sonik Foundry — Relapse
14. Left Spine Down — Stolen Car (B&E Mix)
15. Detroit Diesel — Under Fire
16. In Strict Confidence — Bitter Truth
17. Edge Of Dawn — Lucid Dreams (Standeg Remix)
18. Constance Rudert — The Harbour Song

Disc 2 Denial:

1. Wreckcreation Featuring Dan Clark Of The Dark Clan — No Regrets
2. Project Pitchfork — Lament (Electronic Saviors Remix)
3. Solitary Experiments — Immortal (Icon of coil Mix By Sebastian Komor)
4. Hypefactor — Descriptive
5. Uberbyte Featuring Jimmy Semtex of Rein[Forced] — Phantasm
6. Mindless Faith — Tragedy
7. Soil & Eclipse — The Will (Survival Mix)
8. Suicide Commando — The Perils of Indifference (Stahlnebel vs. Black Selket Remix)
9. Lowe — Mirage (Saviors Mix)
10. CYLiX — I Don’t Exist
11. I:scintilla — Swimmers Can Drown (Diabolic Art Mix)
12. Inure — This is the Life (Cryogen Second Mix)
13. TraKKtor — Hollow Spirits
14. 23RAINYDAYS — Monster (V2)
15. Accessory — Voran (Der Teufel im Spiegel Mix by Boole)
16. Twilight Laboratory — Intention
17. TERRORFAKT — Marching Into Valhalla

Disc 3 Anger:

1. System Syn — Goddamn (Imperative Reaction Remix)
2. AD INFERNA — A.I. DOMINION
3. Boole — Walpurgisnacht
4. Ego Likeness — Infidel
5. Binary Park — Worlds Collide (Saviors mix)
6. Die Sektor — The Just Will Be Silenced
7. Stiff Valentine — Suicide Execute
8. head-less — Punish Your Head (Mental Discipline Remix)
9. Ludovico Technique — This Life (Lexincrypt remix)
10. Psy’Aviah — Sweet Hard Revenge (Fallon Nieves Rendition)
11. Aesthetic Perfection — The Devil’s Is In The Details (Sthilmann Remix)
12. Terminal Choice — Fight the System (Rabia Sorda Mix)
13. Diverje — Suffer this world (Centhron Remix)
14. am.psych — My Enemy
15. The Rain Within — The Other Side
16. UCNX — The Innocent ($150 Remix by Idiot Stare)
17. Jon Zaremba — Snakes, You Get Out Of Here! This Is Not Your Room, This Is My Room. Now, You Just Get Out Of Here!

Disc 4 Bargaining:

1. The Mighty Chouffe — Always This Heart
2. Angels On Acid — Satellite
3. Terrolokaust — Thirsty (V2.0)
4. Ashbury Heights — Decent Cancer
5. God Module — The Great Commandment
6. Bella Morte — Lost
7. Encoder — Shadows
8. Alter Der Ruine — Ghosts (Swank Version)
9. Militant — Sabotage
10. Ghost & Writer — Hurricane (Splitter Mix)
11. iVardensphere — Chasing The Dragon (Lost Tribe Version)
12. Spetsnaz — Satiric Strokes
13. Decree — Come and See
14. SD6 — These Days (Single Mix)
15. Distorted Memory — Hand Of God (Iszoloscope Remix)
16. Cryogen Second — Thirty Eight (Featuring Sarah Chenoweth of Synapse)
17. Trigger10d — Puddlehopping (Alternate Mix by Todd Aeschliman)
18. Life Cried — Another Sacrifice (Rejected)

Disc 5 Depression:

1. Mesh — You’ll Never Understand (Harder)
2. The Dark Clan — Sick As Love
3. Caustic — 1984 (Was A Very Bad Year)
4. 16 Volt — Burn (Father Dub Mix)
5. Empusa Featuring Miss FD — You
6. Everything Goes Cold — King of the Impossible (Signal Drums Mix By The Dark Clan)
7. Unit:187 — Second Class Citizen (JFS Mix) by Ken “Hiwatt” Marshall)
8. Blutengel — Where Will You Be?
9. AimOniA — Surrender
10. Patricia Wake Feat Dan Clark, Lane Ellen, John Verbos, and Jolexx — Your Love, My Medicine
11. EsperMachine — Dying Life
12. boxed warning — Paralyzed For Sleep
13. Reaxion Guerrilla — Imperfexion Humana (Radio PerVersion)
14. Cesium 137 — From Within (xrayhead Mix)
15. Retrogramme — Share The Cancer
16. N.T.T — If This Body Should Fail Me
17. Necrotek — Beyond Death

Disc 6 Acceptance:

1. Covenant Feat Necro Facility — Lightbringer (Speedrun II)
2. Sensuous Enemy — Re:Mission
3. Neuroactive — Never Felt Better (Recovery Mix)
4. Nachtmahr — Can’t you feel the beat (Nitronoise Remix)
5. Ayria Feat Jimmerz Semtex of Rein[Forced] & Jimmerz Cookas of I:Scintilla — Blue Alice (Jims Of The Flesh Mix)
6. Syrian — Speed of Light (T3chn0ph0b1a Remix)
7. Decoded Feedback — Resilience
8. Obscenity Trial — Üeber’s Wasser Gehen ([:SITD:] Remix)
9. XuberX — Terrible Strength
10. Monody — InBetween (Irradiated Mix)
11. Hocico — Embraced By The Light
12. ThouShaltNot — New Year (A Heartbeat From The End)
13. FGFC820 — The Heart Of America (Dräcos Mix)
14. Interface — Inner Light (Featuring Liebchen)
15. Terror Firma Sky — Music For Medicinal Purposes
16. Agnes Wired For Sound — Silicone Sheets
17. Society Burning — I Am The Man
18. DYM — Tumor

Disc 7 Testing: (Digital / Premium Editions only)

1. The Empty Stretcher — Nurturing Decay
2. for all the emptiness — i die (revisionist mix by cyanotic)
3. Antidote For Annie — Sanctuary (Refuge Mix)
4. Joshua Hart — Silhouette
5. Cyber Strukture — Ambivalent Frost
6. Black Ring — We Rise
7. Eisengeist — Apocalyptic Visions
8. Surgyn — Sharp As Stars (Terrolokaust Remix)
9. C0R3 MATT3R — Madness Not Medicine
10. vircon — Remission
11. Ghost In The Static — Saviour
12. Surviving The Odyssey Featuring Jimmy Semtex of Rein[Forced] — Weaponized
13. Platform One — Control
14. Jolexx — Mr Son
15. Tranzitional Override — Mechanical Reaction
16. Witness the Apotheosis — Phoenix Effect (Flash Point Mix by New Army)
17. Short to Ground — Somebody to Save
18. The Hose Face — Not On My Watch
    

Disc 8 Reconstruction (Digital / Premium Editions only)

1. The Molecule Party — Salvo
2. Mickle Boulevard — Frank’s Theme
3. Synthetic Division — The Essence of Pain
4. Bioassay — Where Did You Go (ES Mix)
5. Process Type — Fading Nothing
6. Shutterdown — Intonement
7. Venus In Furs — Gone
8. Project Rotten — From Hell
9. Veniculture Featuring Jimmy Semtex From Rein[Forced]– Inamorata
10. Hopefull Machines — Heartlikeaphoenixinafirestorm
11. Systematik Violence — Souless killing machine
12. Preacher — Hammer Democracy
13. Stoneburner — Apogee
14. Mike Saga VS BlakOPZ — Who Drugged Me?
15. Servitor Sanctum 7 — Boom Ra Tech
16. Microwaved — Black Lung
17. DJ Lollidrop — Waiting Game
18. Illusion of Joy — One Step Forward
19. Jordan Decay — Oathbreaker

In addition, while the official release date for No One Expects An Inquisition remains Tuesday, November 8^th, the album is already available for purchase on illusionofjoy.net. The official release date applies to purchases made through CD Baby, iTunes and more discriminating brick and mortar retailers. November 8^th is also the date that discriminating college and community radio stations should add Inquisition to their playlists.

One might ask why this album is available for purchase – and yes, it is an actual purchase, not a pre-order – in advance of it’s “official” release date. The answer is simple: in this age where information is immediate and a digital download is a click away, it makes no sense for an independent musician to sit on a product that has already been manufactured. As such, the merch section of illusionofjoy.net was updated to contain Inquisition and it’s associated schwag within hours of the shipment from Sire Press being received.

The first of these will be at Hurley’s Nightclub on the SUNY Potsdam campus Thursday, October 27^th. Once again, Illusion of Joy will grace or defile the Hurley’s stage as the opening act for their annual Halloween open mic. The show begins at 7:00PM and is open to all ages. And unless somebody has been walking around with a smouldering bundle of sage, Lehman Hall is still haunted.

The second show occurs Saturday, November 12^th at The Shop in Ithaca. Boston group Ellis Ashbrook will be headlining this all ages show with Illusion of Joy opening for them at 7:00PM.

Finally, Illusion of Joy heads to New York’s Capital Region on Sunday, November 13^th for an early performance at Moon & River Café in Schenectady. Once again open to all ages, this show requires getting up a little earlier than one usually would on a weekend as it begins at 3:00PM. Come back to Moon & River Café at 7:30PM for The Rkstar Open Mic.

And there you have it – three shows just north of Illusion of Joy’s home base in Pennsylvania; a strange land where gay marriage is legal and the roads seem completely devoid of potholes. See below for driving, biking or walking directions:

No One Expects An Inquisition cover art.

The release date has been set for the new Illusion of Joy album No One Expects An Inquisition. On Tuesday, November 8^th, Inquisition will be available for purchase on compact disc or as a digital download. The track list is as follows:

1. Triangle
2. Impact
3. What Might Have Been
4. Vertical
5. Amnestyville
6. Retribution
7. Resolution
8. Lungless
9. Two Thespians
10. Ayn Rand Shrugged

This is the first full-length Illusion of Joy album to be released since The Forever Syndrome five years ago. Overall, No One Expects An Inquisition is the fourth album in the Illusion of Joy discography.