Customer Reviews

Pandemonium

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

After a messy few years filled with trouble-- including the loss of original drummer Paul Fergeson, a Jaz Coleman solo album forced out by the record label as a Killing Joke album (and rushed to be finished at that), and a disasterous reunion with industrial drummer Martin Atkins that broke the band up, Killing Joke looked done for good. But when guitarist Geordie called original bassist Youth while assembling a "best-of" compilation (the superb "Laugh? I Nearly Bought One!"), they talked about working together again. The result, after getting in touch with vocalist Jaz Coleman, is probably the strongest Killing Joke album in a long time.

"Pandemonium" is really a reflection of what the band members have been up to since the last time the three of them worked together-- the more industrial edged sounds of the previous album ("Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions") and side project Murder, Inc. (Martin Atkins-assembled group of all the KJ members past and present minus Coleman) is apparent ("Exorcism", "Black Moon"), but so is the Middle Eastern music that has so heavily influenced Coleman's compositional works ("Pandemonium", "Millenium" and "Communion" in particular, all among the best of the Killing Joke catalog) and the Youth's techno/ambient production work ("Labyrinth" and the relentless "Whiteout"). Its really a standout album-- sort of tribal Killing Joke sounds meets Middle Eastern percussion meets industrial. Lyrically, Coleman is largely concerned with his belief that the world will reduce into tribes (a theme that would reoccur on the followup), although some songs are far more human in nature-- notably the swirling "Jana", about a woman with A.I.D.S. There's a couple moments that aren't particularly exciting ("Pleasures of the Flesh"), but these are few and far between.

This reissue is remastered with a couple bonus tracks and at least one unexpected surprise. Sonically, by and large there's minimal differences to the original issue-- the bass is somewhat subdued (it was positively thunderous on the album), but there is one key difference. "Pandemonium" hasn't just been remastered, its been remixed-- guitar lines that were previously not there or well buried rise and fall and the main riff drops out during the verses, which it never did before. Honestly, I'm not so pleased with this, though I may change my mind.

The bonus tracks include two remixes-- the "A Thread of Steel in the Suspension Bridge of Time and Space Mix" of "Pandemonium" is largely disposable-- its like the old dub mixes Killing Joke used to do, but adds a dance beat to the mix. I'm generally not looking for that, and the "Portobello mix" of a piece called "Another Cult Goes Down". Same deal with the sound, though I'm not familiar with the original (is it released?).

This album is essential for any Killing Joke fan, or any industrial fan, or anyone interested in genre-fusing music. Its a great record, highly recommended.

I can honestly say that no album comes close to Pandemonium for pure sonic diversity and thus remains my favourite twelve years after it's release. If you have the original CD release don't bother with this reissue as the couple of bonus tracks are not so great and probably spoil the "balance" of the original track-listing. In a world where people listen to acts simply because they are fashionable Killing Joke remain an individual listening choice...

A nice addition to the music collections of Metal fans everywhere. A rarity that is like a cherry on top of your sundae. I know no other band that is like Killing Joke. Their style is welcome in my book. I cannot comment on their other albums because I don't own them, but Pandemonium is killer good. This is the newer version with a couple extra tracks. Buy it!

I'm surprised that this one has only attracted three reviews so far. Released in '94, it was their tenth studio album and by this time Youth was back on bass, accompanying full-time members Jaz and Geordie, but the drums were being manned by a fairly eclectic collection of stand-ins (and it shows, to an extent).

The album is a real cracker, pretty much all the way through, but with reservations that I'll come to anon. I have to admit that on the first few passes I tended to overlook the later tracks (Whiteout and Mathematics in particular) in favour of the first four, which grab you by the wotsits and don't let go, but almost the whole album is shot through with a barely contained power that could only be The Joke, but I'm getting ahead of my self...

The opening (title) track gives you a hint of what you're letting yourself in for. What with Geordie's gutsy, growly, fuzzy axing, Youth's thumping (if rather muted) bassline and Jaz's mystic doomsayer chant it's clear that the album is going to be something special. The theme is maintained with Communion, complete with its simple, repetitive drumslap and Hossam Ramzy going ape on the tom-toms. These two tracks are wonderful, powerful creations and have been put to pretty good use as crowd-pleasers in KJ's live sets. They are both well complimented by their first half-companions Millennium (another trademark invocation of the end-times) and the truly demonic Exorcism. This last one is so savage, so raw, and it harks back to early Joke but with an added dimension: it has to be the stand-out track.

Black Moon and Labyrinth both attempt to maintain this savagery but something about these two fails to move me like the others and they mark a brief hiatus in the album. Jana, which follows, is strangely out of place amongst all this grunge; a melodic, almost gentle love song? from the Joke? You're kidding me, right? Don't get me wrong: standing alone, Jana is a perfectly acceptable song (lovely, even!), but it really doesn't fit in.

Next we come to what probably /is/ my favourite track - Whiteout - which takes the all the rawness and power of Exorcism, doubles the speed, turns it up to 11, and bounces you off the walls. I was privileged to experience this one live at the London Forum back in '08 and it truly is a track to bring out the animal in you. Things drop back down a notch or two for the closing track - Mathematics of Chaos - but not by much and this track closes the album proper on a real high note; strange, fractal and, above all, fast moving.

There are a couple of extras (remixes) which follow, but I won't dwell on these.

Overall, this may not be their best album - the flow is spoiled by some below-par or misplaced tracks in the middle section - but it certainly includes a goodly proportion of the group's best work (at the end as well as the beginning). Dirty, rough, fuzzy and hyped-up, it is classic, stonking Joke and it beats (in my opinion) their most recent studio work by a mile.

"She said 'Unlearn. You must forget the values that you hold. Life is not longevity and beauty is the only goal.'"

Thsi is very hard rock with energy and originality as only killing joke can or could deliver.