New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies is their second studio album, released 2 May 1983 by Factory Records. It features more electronic tracks and heavier synthesiser use than Movement. It combines post-punk roots with electronic influences into synth-pop, electropop, new wave, synth-rock, dance-rock, post-punk and dance-punk. At the time, it was the heaviest the band had ever flirted with electronica. Its sound has been characterised as a gentle portrait of ambient, post-industrial tenderness. '5-8-6' has been called a literal interpretation of early house music, with noted influences from Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder. Darker songs such as 'We All Stand' and 'Your Silent Face' are contrasted with brighter, more optimistic songs such as 'The Village'. 'Blue Monday' was recorded in the same sessions and released separately as a non-album twelve-inch single.
Film placements are the ones described in each film's own entry, so the list is partial rather than complete.
Worth your time?
Yes. Hear the whole thing.
4.5/ 5
What works
'The Village' establishes brightness as texture, not mood
'5-8-6' lands as early house before the genre had a name
The album sustains tension without release — a formal choice, not a flaw
What does not
Blue Monday is on the album
Guitars drive the arrangements
Lyrics narrate power, corruption or lies
Hear it if
People who want to hear how post-punk bled into synth-pop without losing its bones
Listeners who value contrast as compositional logic
Skip it if
People looking for guitar-led anthems
Listeners needing lyrical exposition
Who should hear it, and who should skipHide who it is for
The written brief1 min read
What the record is and where it came from
It is New Order’s second studio album. It was released on 2 May 1983 by Factory Records. It evolved from Movement (1981).
How it sounds, and how it was made
It uses synthesisers more heavily than Movement. It combines post-punk roots with electronic influences. The sound is characterised as a gentle portrait of ambient, post-industrial tenderness. ‘5-8-6’ has been called a literal interpretation of early house music, with noted influences from Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder.
What lands
‘The Village’ is brighter and more optimistic. ‘We All Stand’ and ‘Your Silent Face’ are darker. ‘5-8-6’ lands as a literal interpretation of early house music. The album’s synth-pop categorisation is supported by its blend of electronic textures and song forms.
What does not
It does not feature ‘Blue Monday’, though that hit was recorded in the same sessions. It does not rely on guitars as primary drivers. It does not resolve tension into catharsis; it sustains it.
The ideas inside it
Power, corruption and lies are named in the title but not dramatised in lyrics or sound. The album treats those ideas abstractly — through texture, contrast, and restraint — rather than narrative or polemic.
Who should hear it, and who should not
People who want to hear how post-punk bled into synth-pop without losing its bones. Not people looking for guitar-led anthems or lyrical exposition.
Is it worth your time
Yes. It is New Order’s second studio album and the heaviest the band had ever flirted with electronica at the time. Its contrast between darker and brighter songs holds up as structural intent, not accident.
