It's best to takes notes as lead singer
Jaz Coleman calmly reads a list of provisions ("Put on your masks/And animal skins") because
Killing Joke's second self-titled album is about to take over. Moments after
Coleman's stoic opening, Geordie Walker's guitar chugs into action and awakens
Killing Joke's most threatening juggernaut of an album in years. Bass players
Youth and
Paul Raven are both back (although
Youth's stint in the group looks to be temporary) and
Dave Grohl guests on drums, perhaps paying
the Joke back for adapting the killer riff of "Eighties" for
Nirvana's "Come as You Are."
Grohl's drumming is suitably intense and tribal when need be, while
Andy Gill's production miraculously makes sense of the band's thunderous sludge. Still the
Coleman/Walker partnership is the star of the show as they play off and push each other like a doom-and-gloom
Jagger/
Richards. It sounds like
Coleman is sitting in the dentist chair with one of those little vacuums sucking out the words on "Total Invasion," while Walker patiently waits his turn to blast out his own brand of stately mayhem. "Asteroid," "Blood on Your Hands," and "Loose Cannon" are all highlights with the band sounding as inspired as when they started, adding the advantage of years of interaction, and "You'll Never Get to Me" presents a brand new shimmering and yearning angle to the group. While
Killing Joke's discography has more than its fair share of awkward and overly ambitious albums, they've once again returned to the fury and focus of their classics. ~ David Jeffries