Killing Joke

The band that launched a thousand punk-metal Tools, Killing Joke traffic in mercilessly hook-laden guitar riffs, pummeling rhythms, sickly synthesizers, the dystopic but poetic and frequently explicitly anti-capitalist or anti-fascist or subtly religious lyrics, and sometimes clear / sometimes abrasive / always assertive vocal delivery of Jaz Coleman. They’ve been around, on and off, since about 1980. Their songs, even when they’ve been on obscure labels with no distribution, have always been powerful and this one is no different in that respect. For trainspotters, Andy Gill, guitarist for Gang Of Four is chief knob-twiddler, part-time guitarist, and co-songwriter and some guy Dave Grohl is pounding away in back. Excellent (the album, not that Grohl is on it).

1. Prototypical Killing Joke riff/roar with great melody
2. Staccato attack on globalization … Jaz fairly spits out the particulars
3. Crazy-ass freakout sung from the point of view of an all-destroying asteroid
4. Popping speed metal riff, queasy synth whorls, and lyrics on scientific control; “fucking”
5. Economic facts, anti-GMO and anti-imperialist imprecations set to manic riffs
6. Helmet-like chugging power chord melody
7. Song of uplift and encouragement; appropriately, it’s anthemic but at the same time, it’s perplexingly lethargic compared to the pissed-off tracks elsewhere on the album
8. Shards of monotone guitar, a bass-carried melody, and normal vox on verses; on choruses, Jaz is possessed to roar “RED” over and over as power chords fly
9. Doom, goth, and guttural consonants break into a pounding march decrying man’s destruction of the Earth
10. Sort of messy but undeniably heavy catharsis – “I’m manic … come into my house of pain”
11. Reinterpretation of song from first KJ LP; this song is so primal that the original still stands up without sounding dated; this redo is less choppy and I think therefore a bit less forceful; on the other hand, the synth and bass are more in the mix now than then