Killing Joke - Ha!

Killing Joke released a short live performance, pushing new bassist Paul Raven into the spotlight in a gloating you-thought-you-were-rid-of-us return to form. The world did not come to an end, and the band sounds stronger than ever, having a go at a song from each album to date, and providing a glimpse into a very bright future. Recorded at a show in Toronto, Canada, the sound is balanced, drums pounding and guitars sawing away like good Killing Joke should. The version of “Wardance” presented here may be the best captured on record, brimming with confidence, Coleman’s shrieks and bellows bouncing off the walls over their trademark semi-robotic attack. New track “Take Take Take” grinds, grinds, grinds in demented funhouse fashion much more in line with older material that just stabs the eardrums with herky jerky aggression.

Their quest for world domination is back on.

Killing Joke - Follow The Leaders

The single “Follow The Leaders” was a foot-stomping track, a pulsing sequencer line, and Youth’s thick bass line giving it an almost Giorgio Moroder-esque dancefloor energy. Ferguson erupts repeatedly in massive, tumbling outbursts like he’s playing standing up. The chorus is another chant-along written about Thatcher, "Do you believe them?" is witheringly relevant. The playing around with supposed genre boundaries doesn't hurt either; the beatbox/synth loop pulse of "Follow The Leaders" crossed with the more brusque blasts from the core band, suggests its eventual path in later years, while "Tension" lets the slithering funk heart of the band burst forth even more strongly. The retreat from empathy and communication doesn’t prevent inventive guitar work that hides steady, rhythmic alterations against repetitious, thumping drums (especially emphasizing Ferguson’s insistent, implacable beats) the postmodern dance. Listen to Follow The Leaders and hear the birth of techno/rock/industrial music.

Love Like Blood

Released in January 1985 as the second single from Killing Joke’s fifth studio album, Night Time, “Love Like Blood” was characterized as gothic rock and new wave. With guitarist Geordie Walker providing the basis for “Love Like Blood” in huge, chunky guitar chords and riffs. He plays various arpeggios for the different sections of the song, with a tone that combines blistering distortion with a cold and edgy chorus effect. Drummer (Big) Paul Ferguson plants a steady four-on-the-floor dance beat, along with Raven's funky bass line, for the rhythm track. Unlike many of the industrial bands that followed in its wake, Killing Joke uses no sequencers or drum machines, leaving some human feel within the industrial framework. Coleman plays a haunting legato synth line that floats over the staccato guitar and rhythm section. Near the end of "Love Like Blood," he also offers an ominous piano bass note on upbeats, like a horror-film bell tolling.

Bill Janovitz

The Mission and Killing Joke

Two heavyweight contenders for the “Still Slogging It Out, Goth Legends” award, The Mish and KJ. Once rumoured to be playing a three band set of gigs with the Cult, KJ threw in the towel early and left T’Mish and T’Cult to co-headline an outstanding short UK tour. But enough of that, we’re here for T’Mish. Starting life as The Sisterhood, Wayne, Adam and the other two kicked of their new direction, after saying ByeBye to Messer Eldritch and T’Sisters, with a string of low key dates in Europe culminating in a London return as special guests to T’Cult. This stimulated the Eldritch fella to bang out some tunes, with the help of James Ray, calling this incarnation The Sisterhood just to piss Wayne and the boys off. Not to be downtrodden or deterred, The Mission were duly christened and a spankingly brilliant 12” single was released to celebrate.

Despite the primitive synths, the germination of the classic Killing Joke sound is here. The four tracks (three originals and one dub variation of the title track) all have that martial industrial beat and underlying aggression that the band is known for. What isn't fully formed yet is the abrasive, metallic guitars and Jaz Coleman's patented rage that would eventually define them. There are flashes, like the gritty "Almost Red" and "Are You Receiving", but tracks like "Nervous System" and the dub take on the title track "Turn To Red" groove more than they assault. It would take another year of marinating to completely bring that side of the band out with their brilliant debut.

This Is Madness

If not quite as remarkable as the band's gripping self-titled debut, What's THIS For...! showed that Killing Joke could maintain their frenetic, doom-wracked intensity while experimenting with their already strongly established style. Jaz Coleman's vocals go through even more treatments and tweaks than before, chorus shout-alongs swathed in deep echoes, hidden behind Geordie Walker's punishing riffs and the steroid-driven rhythm section. Big Paul Ferguson in particular lays down some absolutely skull-crushing drum slams and Youth is no less intense at most parts, and often they rather than Coleman or Geordie dictate the song, as the lengthy death-groove of "Madness" makes perfectly clear. Elsewhere Geordie shows a calmer (comparatively) side, soloing on songs like "Butcher" making common cause with the guitar work of Bernard Sumner in Joy Division days -- indeed, the song as a whole could almost be a tribute to that band, and one of the better ones at that. The playing around with supposed genre boundaries doesn't hurt either -- the beatbox/synth loop pulse of "Follow the Leaders," crossed with the more brusque blasts from the core band, suggests its eventual path in later years, while "Tension" lets the slithering funk heart of the band burst forth even more strongly. (The drums and opening riffs themselves almost sound like a parody of the Knack's "My Sharona.") "Unspeakable" is arguably the hidden highlight of the album, Coleman's heavily flanged, distorted singing sliding down a slowly descending chord pattern that suggests an early glam band gone martial and paranoid, Ferguson all over his set like four people at once. The debts of later bands toward Killing Joke are even clearer than ever, whether it's the fact a group named themselves after the opening track, "The Fall of Because," or that late-'80s Ministry so effectively cloned the whole style on songs like "Burning Inside."

Killing Joke

Killing Joke are one of the most bulletproof post-punk bands still around. Releasing their first single in 1978, they were right there with Wire and Gang of Four as indisputable early pioneers of the genre. In an era of Cold War hostilities and Reaganomics the band's (dead serious) brand of apocalyptic beats and conspiracy-oriented lyrics hit home with an entire generation raised on imagery of impending destruction. "Nervous System" was a decent if inauspicious introduction to the band, essentially blending the choppy, jagged chords of Wire with the whiteboy reggae affectations that The Clash had become known for.

1980's "Wardance" was where it all came together: lead-fisted, martial beats combine with Geordie's own innovative guitar textures to set the template for things to come. "Requiem" goes much farther toward establishing a unique identity, the band dialling back the guitars and laying the keyboards on THICK with its endgame lyrical imagery and air raid synth patches. That such a bleak and furious album could have such a widespread influence is a testament to its importance. Certain parts of the album have not dated well; the vocals and drums are mixed in such a way that they lose some of their effectiveness, and the fact that so many other bands have used this same formula does take some of the visceral feeling away. At this point Jaz Coleman's vocal delivery was the primary point of differentiation between Killing Joke and their contemporaries, although the song writing was immediate enough that the aforementioned influences would have been proud to call these tunes their own. This is an underground classic and deserves better than its relative unknown status. Fans of most kinds of heavy music will probably find something they like about this band, and this is a good a place as any to start the collection.