Have you been waiting patiently for this to be released, I know I have, well maybe not that patiently actually. As I write this review it still seems ages until this comes out on the 27th Sept and indeed it is a few weeks away. I am suffering too as although I can listen to it, it’s only via an online stream set up by the record company and I want to be blasting the already delayed album out of my proper speakers. Ah well its Killing Joke so we have to be patient, after all, good things come to those that wait and this is very, very good. In fact I am going to be controversial and say this is the best Joke album since 1994 release ‘Pandemonium.’ If you are reading this you are probably well aware that this sees the original four jesters back together recording their first album in over twenty years. You probably know a bit about the themes which are as ever crazy, or are they? We tackle conspiracies, the very near end of the world and lots of other things you possibly do not want to think about, and no none of them are good. This album is a downer thematically be warned and go to the interview section of this site and read what Jaz has had to say about things, I guarantee you will at the very least come away enlightened.
Each of these 12 tracks has a real identity and considering the band have been going in one form or another for such a long time and have released so much material, the fact that they can still put together such a varied album speaks for itself. Starting at the title track the word ‘glorious’ comes to mind. This is a call to arms with a stadium house sounding bombast, magnificent chorus and striking melody. The combined weight of Youth and Geordie’s chugging bass and sinister uncoiling guitar lines is fantastic and this is very much the sound of a band completely back in the element and a song worthy of sitting alongside old classics such as Wardance, Fire Dances and Requiem. Despite sounding glorious and uplifting there is an air of dismal futility about it all, it could be a case of Rising Up but then again it could also be a case of Too Late. I always hated the ‘post’ punk tag but it is that sound I guess, summed up by the clattering drum heavy tribal beat of ‘The Great Cull.’ Jaz’s vocals again hit the rafters on the way out the roof, his indignant roar has never sounded better.
‘Fresh Fever From The Skies’ is the albums shortest track and acknowledges a close encounter witnessed by the singer and a lot of other people. UFO or Governmental experiment, who can say but the grating musicianship chops and rattles away whilst Jaz literally preaches with fiery intent and the song batters away like a heavy sounding ‘We Have Joy’ from yesteryear. The two singles of the album follow, ‘In Excelsis’ you already should have heard and it’s a persuasive, hard to shake off anthem with another massive chorus. ‘European Super State’ stems from the time the band spent in Germany as Kraut rock came into form and it has a techno backbone to it, kind of different from anything else the band have done before and perhaps the most commercial, thus perfect as a single number of the album. Apparently the single is out just before the album on 20th September and the cover art to this is seriously excellent, go and check it out! If Killing Joke ever came close to Laibach and Samael this is the sound it would make. It’s going to be a bouncy pogo of a pit when they play this for live that’s for sure.
Sounding like mangled scrap metal, I guess ‘This World Hell’ could be the bastard sound of the German industrial bands. It sees them angry and foaming at the mouth as it goes into a gnarly discordant diatribe with drums bashing the rhythm out like the sound of an impending motorway pile up. ‘End Game’ is another catchy as hell number and spurred on by Jaz first giving out 70s sounding ‘whoos’ and then almost rapping away before launching into another gloriously uplifting chorus. He may well be singing about the end of the world but it sounds like he is really enjoying the fact that it’s coming and if it is let’s face it there is fuck all you can do so you may as well sing and possibly grab a towel and some dry roasted nuts and keep your fingers crossed. This could well be the last song you ever hear and it’s a fitting one to go out on.
From here we go to the most poignant and emotional track but ‘The Raven King’ is more a celebration to Paul Raven who shockingly died far too early. It’s sombre, maudlin and a bit of a tear jerker to be honest but it is also beautiful, bursting with melody and flowering into another memorable beast of a number, which is a fitting tribute to a fallen comrade. I guess it’s fair to say this takes me back to that love it or hate it ‘Brighter Than A Thousand Suns’ era. As that is an album I love then it’s only natural that this is to me another excellent number. ‘Honour The Fire’ is another slow burner (seriously no pun actually intended). Jaz sings here, naturally and from the heart before everything pile drives in, I come back to the glorious again as the chorus hits only for everything to drop back into the reflective main frame of the song. Back into chug and chop mood goes ‘Depthcharge’ which has a stomp that takes back to songs like ‘The Wait’ and ‘The Pandys Are Coming.’ It’s one of the albums heaviest numbers and it is probably the song that really reminds of the past the most, when the band were at their most arcane and threatening. This is a grim and unrelenting death march of a number and it sounds fantastic.
Not having set out to write such a long or indeed a track by track review I find myself having done just that as I reach penultimate number ‘Here Comes The Singularity.’ The guitar riff here actually reminds me of The Fall, it certainly again this has that post punk tag on it. From here Jaz builds into an almost angelic higher force with his vocals and the bouncing drums and jangling guitar and bass add a weighty flow to the song making it sound as though it is the polar opposite of the rugged one before it. Finally we end on ‘Ghost Of Ladbroke Grove.’ It would have perhaps broken the flow of the album putting it anywhere else but I am so glad they included it as it is a real stand out different number. Youth’s input is all over this dub heavy sound clash of a number, which brings to mind The Clash and Don Letts and all those other ghosts of a vibrant area which is now a yuppified shadow of its former self.
So what is left to say about this… Well count down the days as you no doubt already are if you are a Killing Joke fanatic. If not its possibly a good starting point but be prepared to invest a lot of money as on hearing this you will want to invest in the substantial back catalogue of the band and you only have until the 23/12/12 to spend what money you have and enjoy what’s left of your meaningless existence anyway. Now whose going to have the last laugh?
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