Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell

Killing Joke | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2007)
• Original Release Date: July 16, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cooking Vinyl
• ASIN: B0009VY6NC
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,247 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

"As a teenager when I started this group, we sat around and we said: 'What do we want to achieve out of all this?'" Jaz Coleman. "The answer to the question was that we wanted to inspire other people," he says. "We had this idea that Killing Joke is a mirror, and what you see in us, you can do too; that the stage is the audience and the audience is the stage." If the growing army of acts who have taken inspiration from Killing Joke is anything to go by, then Coleman has achieved his goal. The British band's influence on groups such as Nirvana, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry has been well documented. A generation of death metal bands - such as Fear Factory who have just recorded a new version of Millennium - have paid homage to Killing Joke. But so too has Kate Bush, who has long been a fan of the group and whose most famous single, Hounds of Love, featured Killing Joke's original bass player, Youth. 2005 saw Killing Joke pick up the "Lifetime Achievement" award at the Kerrang! Awards, firmly cementing their place in rock history. They were presented this award by Dave Grohl who himself is a huge fan of the band and even played drums on their last album. Coleman describes Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell, as being "brutal" and "more tribal" than the last album. "The unthinkable and the unimaginable... I think there's an eco-meltdown on the cards. That's certainly in there. Killing Joke continues to span the generations, with old and new fans alike.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Caustic, ferocious, gloomy, and excellent new Killing Joke material, November 4, 2006

By 

Oliver Sheppard (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell (Audio CD)

After reading some of the negative reviews from listeners below -- and consequently wondering if my eyesight was failing -- I felt like I had to jump in here and defend this LP, which I think will easily be one of the Top 10 LPs of 2006 when all's said and done.

First thing's first: Killing Joke have been around almost 30 years and have gone through various phases. Some folks like the New Romantic, dance floor-ish KJ of the mid- and late-1980s; some like the MINISTRY/KMFDM-sounding Killing Joke of the mid 1990s; others prefer the original era of Killing Joke from 1978 to 1983, the incarnation that toured with JOY DIVISION and had much in common with GANG OF FOUR, PiL, UK DECAY, AMEBIX, and others, but who always kept their own, distinct noise above that fray. During those ambitious years, KJ virally influenced almost every punk-related genre you can imagine: post-punk, heavy metal, punk, hardcore, crust, industrial, and more.

This KJ release is not for those who want every Killing Joke song to sound like their 80s dancey "Love Like Blood" from 1985. Instead, "Hosannas from the Basements of Hell" is an amazingly angry, driving, thrashy LP that has a lot more in common with the kinds of angry hardcore punk bands KJ inspired over the years more than with their industrial or techno-nightclub-y accolytes (though there are hints here of that element, too). In fact, "Hosannas" *boasts* that it is a relatively lo-fi, back-to-the-roots affair. And it's a qualified and amazing success: It was recorded on an 8-track studio in a basement in the cold dungerons of Eastern Europe. The album bleeds with urgency and ferocity of a like KJ listeners haven't heard since their first LP's "The Wait." In fact, the "Hosannas From the Bsements of Hell" LP finaller heralds the return of the Killing Joke of "The Wait," and at times has much in common with MOTORHEAD, VENOM, and AMEBIX -- or, for the more esoteric, even modern doom-y crust like TRAGEDY or P.E.S.D. -- as it does with their earliest material.

Remember, KJ's 1980 "The Wait," a song METALLICA covered only 6 years after its release, and which is also a fan favorite at live shows, inspired the dark sub-genre of punk known as crustcore: AMEBIX, early NEUROSIS, etc. So, when you buy "Hosannas," expect to pulverized along those lines. DO not expect the cleanliness of "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns," or to swoon to stuff that sounds like THE CURE. Expect a fiery armageddon: The album is as apocalyptic as the times singer Jaz Coleman sings about in his lyrics.

Highly recommended for fans of the 1978-1983 era of KJ and for fans of modern metallic crust.

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some people won't get the Joke, no matter how good., April 18, 2006

By 

D. Cross "D_Cross" (Hollywood, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell (Audio CD)

I just had to write a review after reading the previous one. Personally, I thought the last KJ was song-for-song their best ever. And this is a good, though much different follow up. If you want a band to age gracefully with, a soundtrack to your daily treadmill routine of driving your pod car to your pod office and back to your pod house, talking to your wife on the cell phone, checking your stock numbers and a football score, putting the kids to bed and sitting in front of the TV... then go buy a Coldplay album. If you're the kind of person who begins to feel like a rabid animal when confined to the indentured servent treadmill in such fashion... maybe you'll get this Joke.
Now, as for the actual music - the drums thud, the guitar crackles, the bass throbs and the voice howls. No, this is not radio-friendly watered-down pop music. Some people grow older and become less intense. Not these guys. They've grown more ferocious, Jaz even more wild-eyed now than ever before. Thank god someone is here to deliver something more than the over-produced sanitized pop rock product that feigns teeth through your satellite radio.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Formidable Masterpiece, December 29, 2009

By 

Eric T. Goodrich - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell (Audio CD)

I'm actually surprised that this album has received mostly good reviews here, as I didn't think so many would enjoy it as much as I do. Completely cleansed in extreme aural exorcism, KJ has blessed us with an undated (unlike their 2003 release) blast of pure tribal rock ecstatic angst. They have been attempting to achieve a shamanistic state through music for the last 30 years, and I would like to announce that they finally have!
Personally, I seek the types of recordings that make you wonder why you continue to do the daily commute to the office rather saying f@#% it all, and running away to some remote island to survive as a savage. If this album doesn't invoke such feelings within you, then you probably aren't even alive enough to be eaten by cannibals. You'll be one of the lucky ones who just dissolves away watching the evening news when the coming apocalypse hits. As for those of us who let this album take us where KJ intended, we'll be ruling the world!

Lift up your spirits!