Review: Killing Joke - 'Killing Joke [2003]'

And there, in the title of this slab of pure fury brimming with intelligence, is the first warning to the uninitiated about the sheer size of Killing Joke’s colossal sonic testicles: that this is their second self-titled album.

This is entirely appropriate as a title, marking as it does a point of rebirth in the band’s history – a history that makes the story of your favourite band read like a council memo on lamppost legislation. The Joke are about as recharged as a musical act can be without actually spontaneously combusting: there is enough energy and sonic intent here to level cities.

Doubly interesting, then, that the band sound is completely stripped back, which pushes each instrument so far into your face that the collective aural beast manifests as a clenched fist. There is nowhere for the listener to take refuge, nor any let-up in the pacing. It’s the musical equivalent of a sound beating after spilling the pint of an intellectual.

And as usual, the forefront intellectual is Jaz Coleman – either a ranting, bug-eyed madman or one of the few to musically spew truth pearls into people’s faces in the hope that they’ll sit up and take notice (In this review, he is the latter).

Such is the skill, that fact is intertwined into memorable hook. ‘Five corporations earn more than forty-six nations!’ Coleman bellows on Blood On Your Hands. Total Invasion, meanwhile, has the sneering ‘Only fools won’t know, they haven’t been told/their empire’s run on the old black gold’. The sense of a shouted history lesson prevails.

The relentless barrage is also the great flaw of the album, one you don’t notice for a long time. Killing Joke pummel the listener senseless here, which is fine, as they do it with intelligence.

However, in concentrating on one of the things they do best, their other abilities are kept shut out, namely the talent in crafting danceable tunes and music with a sense of exploration and/or adventure, namely Bloodsport and Communion respectively as just two examples.

Nevertheless, for what Killing Joke is, it knocks out the competition with a swift knee to the balls and a diatribe on the state of the world. None do it better.