Killing Joke

Killing Joke | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 31, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: E.G. Records
• ASIN: B000003S1I
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #313,204 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Requiem

2. Wardance

3. Tomorrow's World

4. Bloodsport

5. The Wait

6. Complications

7. Change

8. S.O.36

9. Primitive

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The genesis of a brilliant and obscure career, July 9, 2004

By 

B. G. Shultz "pyfr" (Rockwall, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killing Joke (Audio CD)

When KJ released their debut album back in 1980, they should've issued some kind of manifesto as well, so that listeners would know exactly where they stood. To begin with, KJ are not easy listening...Jaz Coleman is not only one ugly baboon of a lead singer, he's not particularly pretty to listen to. Usually his voice is heavily processed, somewhat monotone (except when he's bellowing), and carrying messages of doom and decay. The drummer is a tribal pounder who rarely uses a hi-hat, the bassist is simplistic yet groovy, and the guitarist arpeggiates in a strange way and uses an odd choice of chords. Keyboards pop up here and there, often just one note pumping over and over. Basically, the music on here is a weird combination of metal, punk (as demonstrated on The Wait, which was covered by Metallica), new wave, and funk. Standout tracks are live favorites Requiem (covered by Foo Fighters), Wardance, Change, and Complications. The artwork seems to depict a bunch of teens having a jam session atop the Berlin Wall or something equally incomprehensible.

The philosophy espoused by this band on nearly every record for the last twenty five years is that people have suppressed their natural instincts, turned their back on the cosmic balance, and have thus become a bunch of perverted butchers. The Killing Joke take on tomorrow is that there is none; they borrowed the "No Future" slogan from the punks, and added "because the people in power will be slaughtering you". A very strange band that is probably not the least bit surprised that the world is currently teetering on the brink of collapse. This album is just the first installment of the Doomsday Book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The beginning, December 13, 2000

By 

Michael Heminger "pantherboy" (Pardeeville, WI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killing Joke (Audio CD)

The true Godfathers of almost any modern heavy music out these days, these guys were/are criminally overlooked and undercredited for their influence and vision. As reviewer Chuck Eddy so aptly put it, this music 'sounds like it was made 1,000 years in the past or 1,000 years in the future' but it's hard to tell which.

Apocalyptic savagery at its best, (the band was still pulling a handful of tracks off this album on recent tours and, unfortunately, skipping over others entirely) this album set a standard that has yet to be matched by any other band. Self -produced and precise as a surgeon's scalpel in its delivery, this lp contains enduring classics that sound as fresh and original today as 20 years ago (how old were YOU then??)

Bands such as Big Black and Sepultura borrowed a few riffs off here for their own aural pounding, and Ministry has been very forthcoming about its influence on their sound. But only Killing Joke can walk the thin line between primal intensity and soaring beauty found on tracks such as "Requiem" and "The Wait" (which was feebly covered by Metallica.)

The perfect starting point for a quality music library.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Political and Thought-Provoking Punk, October 29, 2000

By 

Douglas Coronel "Music Guru" (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Killing Joke (Audio CD)

With its steady pounding of polyrythmic drumming, which gave rise to later industrial music, and its scorching guitars and tribal vocals, Killing Joke was years ahead of its time. Despite the song listing saying $0.36 as one of its songs, it is actually SO36, which stands for SudOst 36 (southeast 36) a quadrant on the map of a then-divided Berlin. The picture in the sleeve of the album shows a devasted postwar Germany with children playing amid rubble. The sounds of this album can be considered either gothic or punk, or a mixture of both. The Wait is such a good song Metallica covered it on one of their albums. This is a must-buy for any fan of this genre.