This double CD release from British rock metal legends, Killing Joke, blows in like a post punk, industrial rock whirlwind. Armed with 12 unsurprisingly tuneful, blistering slices of disaffection and rage, the band have just released their thirteenth album,
'Absolute Dissent'.
The original line up - Jaz Coleman, Paul Ferguson, Youth and Geordie - are reunited for the first time since, and listening to '
AD' those missing years just fall away, with the band offering stylistic glimpses of their development over a 30 year existence.
The powerful title track opens the album, again revealing the band's highly distinctive brand of full strength garage rock, fuelled by bruising riffs and driven by clanging, banging rhythms.
Arguably, the tracks featured earlier this year, on the EP taster - the hypnotic
'In Excelsis', the icy
'Endgame' and the culturally aware
'The Ghost Of Ladbroke Grove' - are the highlights here.
Fans of the band will revel in familiarly apocalyptic lyrics that draw blood with knife edged metaphors and razor sharp observations.
Those without a strong stomach should look away now.
Jaz Coleman's dystopian worldview targets eugenics (
The Great Cull) and Orwellian flavoured government control (
The Raven King), while predicting (and welcoming) anarchy (
Here Comes The Singularity) and the Second Coming (
Fever From The Skies).
If KJ's albums ever have a common denominator, it's just that. It's passionate, articulate and just brimming over with challenging notions and opinions set to suitably abrasive, combative guitar rock / metal.
The sheer intensity of an album full of such material will pierce the thickest of skins eventually, and mainline into your bloodstream like a designer drug for heavy metal freaks.
The second disc is something of a salute to the band.
11 KJ songs, as covered by the likes of Metallica, Helmet, Fear Factory and The Foo Fighters. If nothing else, it indicates just how far and how wide the KJ influence extends. And it's always nice to see a new wrinkle on an old song.
Great package indeed.
Add it to your Christmas List.
Written by
Brian Wednesday, December 8, 2010
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