Killing Joke

The sound coming out of this album is before its time. I really liked this album more than I thought I would. Instead of being some relic of the late London punk scene, Killing Joke provided some good sounds to last and inspire the next generation of musicians. Of the bands that have cited them as profound influences, Metallica and Soundgarden are not my favorite, thought I did find it interesting to know both LCD Soundsystem and Jane's Addition cited them as inspiration. Never listened to them before, but will definitely listen to them in the future.

Not to be confused with 2003 album "The Killing Joke," also by The Killing Joke. (Although Killing Joke fan Dave Grohl played drums on that album, interestingly enough.) Also not to be confused with the 1988 graphic novel "Batman: the Killing Joke," by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, widely regarded as one of the best Joker stories ever told. Also not to be confused with American band The Killing Joke, which seems to have released three singles in 2021. Rather, this The Killing Joke are led by frontman Professor Severus Snape. Ok, not really. Jaz Coleman looked nothing like Snape when this album came out. But he really bears a striking resemblance now. If he actually believed himself to be a wizard, that wouldn't even be so surprising. Consider this from the Seattle Weekly: "The long-standing “mystic,” who lives on a small New Zealand island these days (perhaps to avoid having to wear a tinfoil hat every day), believes, among other things, that China has built microwave towers to control the population with microchips, which are secretly implanted via vaccines, and this will eventually happen elsewhere around the world; that people are being mind-controlled by chemtrails in the sky and fluoride in the water; that nutrients are being purposefully removed from foods to kill us and keep the world population down; that swine flu is a bioweapon; and that due to changes in the earth’s magnetic field, time is actually speeding up (actually, this one’s sort of believable—is it already the holidays again?!)." But as for the actual music? The opener "Requiem" was kind of cool, but "Wardance" almost lost me. By the time it got to "The Wait," I was back on board, and I really enjoyed "Complications."

I did not enjoy this album until The Wait which is track 5. Aptly named.

"Bass, lead, to tell the killing joke, we mean it man ! Total exploitation, no information, anonymity" I’ve read this a bunch of times and I still don’t get it. But that doesn’t matter because Geordie Walker and Youth soon both joined and the band made an interesting album. I dig the post-punk sound, especially the bass player. The guitars shred. I wish the instrumentals Bloodsport had words. While this isn’t going in my library, I would like to listen again.

Já já, ágætt en ekki gott fyrir prófaundirbúning.

Didn't quite get to the end, because I just got tired.

79. Killing Joke - Killing Joke 13 tracks. Lazy naming aside, this surprised me in a good way. It has aged REALLY well. While certainly not something I would choose to listen to, it kept me engaged and interested in what the next track would be like. Decent. 👍 3/5

I really liked this. I had high expectations and this album exceeded them. I will definitely be listening to this again.

Bit too thumpy and repetitive, but fine as background music. Fav new track: Requiem

In the context of 1980 I can see why this was groundbreaking and influenced the whole industrial genre. It's just not my thing

Hi: Complication, Change Lo: Tomorrow's World A little bit Jane's Addiction and Fugazi, a little bit Pop Will Eat Itself and Pigface. KJ features driving machinelike rhythms and crunchy guitars, and just enough synth to set it even farther apart. This album may sound a little dated by today's standards, but it still has good bones, and we wouldn't have much of an industrial scene in the 90's if it weren't for Killing Joke.

Killing Joke is the debut studio album by English post-punk band Killing Joke, released on 5 October 1980 by E.G. via Polydor Records. The band's musical style emerged from the post-punk scene, but stood out due to their heavier approach, and has been cited as a key influence on industrial rock. I liked the raw sound of the mix, especially the sound of the snare drum. My favourite tracks: Wardance, Tomorrow's World, Bloodsport, S.O.36, Change. (18/02/2023).

Pretty tough to imagine that this band was a big influence on such great hard rock groups. Their songs felt boring and repetitive. A lot of them were long and would drown on. Their style wasn’t bad but it’s been done better by other bands of the same era. This was a pretty passable album. 3.4/10

231221 15:49 2.5

It was fine. Probably better than fine. I just didn't really have any strong feelings. Didn't really like it, but it wasn't bad or anything. It was fine.

Dark crunchy goth grooving. The soundtrack to trying to stay standing up on a dancefloor for longer than you'd like.

Pretty cool noise and way ahead of its time.

Rock punk

never really listened to them before but absolutely loved the dark inventiveness of this album, some great sounds enjoyed it very much

I had never heard of these guys, but I was glad to have listened to this. A very pleasant surprise

A little bit overwhelming for me, but sometimes you're in the mood for something like this.

An interesting mix of heavy/dark rhythms with synth. Requiem stands out and the others blend in a bit with each other, but overall good energy and attitude.

Je n'ai pas tellement envie de rédiger de critique de cet album de punk alors je vous propose de lire celle que j'ai écrite pour l'album Pink Flag (et non le groupe Pink Flag comme j'ai pu le penser) des Wire qui s'applique grosso merdo à celui-ci.

Et bien moi j'ai beaucoup aimé cet album n'en déplaise à robpelletiere. L'occasion d'encourager tout le monde à lire ses dernières reviews, qui sont toutes plus décevantes les unes que les autres. C'est donc ça le niveau requis pour être le deuxieme revieweur le plus populaire du générateur? Laissez-moi rire...

Good tunes, let down by the vocals.

Pretty good album. Some really catchy songs and very ahead of its time.

It sounds really like a contemporary album.

I wasn't sold on the first song, which is apparently the most popular, but the album won me over with its grit. No masterpiece, but enjoyable.

A decade ahead of it's time

I really liked this one. It’s a solid post punk/proto-industrial album that utilizes funk, electronic musical elements and noise to interesting effect. What they’re doing is foundational to what industrial artists will be doing 8-10 years down the line, but it’s also fairly accessible for the casual listener. The arrangements are simple and surprisingly melodic on occasion. Jaz Coleman’s vocals are strong, and the lyrics are spare, visceral and effective. The band has great chemistry and takes a less is more approach overall, with bass and drums taking a prominent place in their sound. Paul Ferguson’s hard driving but simple drums show a necessary restraint many drummers don't have. Youth’s bass guitar work is killer. This is all augmented by Geordie Walker’s fierce, grinding guitars and an economic use of synthesizers. Fave Songs: The Wait, Bloodsport, Complications, Requiem

Had always just filed these guys under "punk" without really giving them a 2nd thought (despite loving the clear Gothic tendancies of Love Like Blood). But so much more than that right? None of the 3 chord bish bash bosh here. That industrial vibe is GRIT.TY.

litesmåmys

I LOVE the first track (Love Like Blood) but am bored with the rest of it. A true one hit wonder. The hit IS deliriously good, though.

I have to keep reminding myself that this was made 4 decades ago. If you forget everything that has happened in music since 1980, this LP sounds very original and interesting. While songs like Requiem are quite good, a number of songs sound like work in progress. It's punchy and can be effective to make each line in a stanza a separate sentence but an entire album consisting of sentences limited to no more than three or four words can be tiring

I guess they were more known (in the early days) for the throbbing industrial numbers like Requiem, but I prefer the more "up-tempo" tracks. The scratchy guitar and rhythm section are a bit Gang of 4-ish, especially in “Complications”. It sounds like Simple Minds had heard “BloodSport” when they wrote “Love Song”. Quite a leap from this to “Love Like Blood”.

I really like Killing Joke’s single - Love like blood it’s propulsive and has great guitar and bass hooks. Most of this album doesn’t come close to this benchmark and all of the songs sound pretty much the same to me. The exceptions are Requiem, Wardance and Change but it just isn’t enough for me to seek this out to listen to unfortunately.

Rad.

Not bad

enjoyed it more than i thought i would - post punk, post industrial album with a few songs that really hit the mark. altogether, could have had shortened some of the interludes and the angsty vocals

Weird. Not really for me.

Alright. Nothing extraordinary. Some of the songs were monotonous which detracted from the experience.

Classic. Requiem and Bloodsport are probably favorites.

There's a lot going on here. Not really my thing

Interesting. Enjoyed this. Sits well alongside Gang of Four's 'Entertainment'.

Need to listen again!

Medium

Killing Joke 1980 debut not their later album of the same name which is stupid. Very of its time lyrically, war references despite there not really being a war on middle children of history angst. all about war. Bloodsport is one of the only good tracks and is instrumental, this is not co-incidental. Only other decent track was The Wait which is a cover. S.O.36 this ain't no CBGB primitive is a strong closer but did not save the album and would have been better as an instrumental 2 - not for me but doesn't hurt my ears - experimental for experimentals sake. not a one but could be depending on the day.

First song gave me hope for a gem but it just delved into punk garbage. Not feeling this at all.

Decent. Reminds me of the Black Angels.

Sowing the seeds of industrial music. Not bad, but somewhat forgettable. Will need another listen

This definitely just reminds me of Metallica, motorhead and such. The more I listened the more I enjoyed it for that.

harter rock mit metal einflüssen

Hard to get through this one

A bit of a grower but I'll probably never go back to it.

Por algún motivo me hizo acordar a Sumo. Particularmente Tomorrow's World. Me gusta el sonido medio podrido y psicodélico que manejan. El arte de tapa me hace acordar a esos viejos fancines que te daban en la puerta de los recitales que eran la fotocopia de la fotocopia de la fotocopia, cosa que me encanta. El sonido en general del disco está muy bien. Bloodsport, The Wait (que tiene los acordes bastantes parecidos a 'Yo Canibal' de Los Redondos) y Requiem son los temeas que más me gustaron. 7/10 ludomatics

La parte punk del post-punk, la otra cara de la moneda de Joy Division. Credito donde corresponde, son buenos. No me gustan, pero son buenos. Digo lo mismo que siempre digo de Joy Division. El objetivo no era sonar perfecto, era decir lo que tenian que decir.

I have heard of this band but never heard anything from this band, what a great surprise. Sounds ahead of its time

Did not enjoy

enjoyed - reminded me of The Clash

Better than I expected. Big driving bass and drums, heavy riffs, some pommy bastard over the top. The Wait was a good song. Heavy, energetic, competent and keeps it up for the whole listen.

Not my type of music. Theres better and theres worse, but this falls short of my expectations. Favorite song(s) are Requiem and The Wait. This rating was scaled because its not my type of music, but I understand how other people could listen to it regularly.

Bloodsport and S.O.36 were very repetitive melodically. Liked some of the bass lines. Vocals reminded me The Clash a little bit.

Best Tracks:

Ooooooo I like the intro for the first song. Second song has some alien vocals lol. Ya know what, it's a good beat though. This album kinda sounds like the first or second one after a garage band period. In this case, it's a good thing. I'm digging it. Yeah, I liked this a lot. I'm gonna give it a 4 only because I think it could've been mixed just a little bit better.

As a youngster this was great but now... 3 stars.

As expected. OK, but dated

Lotta cool things happening here. I can hear their influence in a lot of places.

The Wait and Changes are the best songs on this album

laughably bad at points, one decent song, not sure why it's on the list

Bracing.

Right mood at the right time. The album hits pretty hard to listen to at work, but it happened to work for me on this day. This album is fantastic. Music is so much about current mood. DIG IT!

Killing Joke в порядке, мне нравятся как минимум хитовые темы (особенно знаменитый кавер на Нирвану, балдеж же) По альбому — немного смешанные чувства. Вообще ну, я его понял. И для себя в целом сделал вывод, что нет смысла гнать на затянутость композиций, ибо сделаны они таковыми намерено. Ну и свой поинт в этом есть, особенно если учитывать, что в жанрах указан индастриал — примерно так там всё и происходит. Долгие зацикленные куски. Здесь ещё и время от времени годным вокалом разбавлены. Также в голову пришло сравнение с Телевижн опять же, но быстрее поспешил отбросить, ибо по сравнению с Марки Муном этот альбом просто плотнейше сосёт. Но и цель другая была, вероятно. В целом и общем мне понравилось, например, более, чем Джой Дивижн. Несмотря на тэг «пост-панк» в этом музле нет вот того раздражающего примитива и пересахаренности самых видных представителей жанра. Да и в целом под этот тэг попадали самые разные группы, в том числе Мелвинс, Дево, Депеш Мод, Б-52, Хускер Ду и прочие, имеющие мизерное влияние на декаданс нынешней пост-панк сцены. Посему огульно клеймить не стоит. Но всё же неприятие немного э. Вторая песня своим отпроцешенным вокалом раздражает. Bloodsport всё-таки слишком скучная для инструментала. И вообще всё немного однообразное. Но под настроение, думаю, можно врубить и почиллить (ага да). Ну 7/10 всё же есть, наверное, особенно там за риффаки в The Wait и Complications, за припев S.O.36. Довольно годное музло по итогу.

Не сильно пропёрся. The Wait интересный, крепкий трек. Не него, к слову, Метла в своё время кавер запилила для альбома. Wardance скучная муть. К слову, изначально был уверен, что поётся Wardrobe, мол кто-то сильно гардеробы любит. Но оказалось скушнее. Change просто кал, благо, была добавлена при переиздании, можно попробовать воспринимать альбом без неё. Primitive намного менее примитивный трек и лучше справляется с ролью закрывашки. В целом альбом часто душит репетативностью. Если сократить до EP - мб и норм было бы, а так - проходняк с парой интересных моментов.

3 и 7 тречки вообще хорошие, эх вот бы их семплами кендрику!

As for this album, it's a nimble, uncompromising distillation of everything good about 70s punk, reimagined as an artistic statement from another world. It's catchy but haunting. It's simplistic but ambitious. It's hardcore punk mixed with synthpop, yet it predates both. It's a post-punk paradox and a strong example of PERFECTION.

Appreciate them for beign fast paced. not an every day album but a fun one.

Great album with no skips. Love the industrial sound

First track is a bop, decent sound overall. Could get into this if I'm in the right mood

Its different and you'll either like it or not. Funk/Industrial/Prog Rock is an interesting combo. Band is obviously talented, discovered their own sound and inspired a lot of big name bands today

cringed at the album artwork, but it wasnt what i expected. first 2 tracks were pretty good. is this metal? doesnt feel like it in places

Toohard

Sommige nummers waren echt lekker. Simpele maar doeltreffende basloopjes.

I enjoyed this album a lot. It's hard to believe this was produced in 1980 - the sound is way ahead of it's time. I also didn't realize how many covers of their songs I'd heard without knowing the true origins. It reminds me of NiN or Tool, but with a little more edge to it and less dystopian metal clanging.

Kende niet veel van Killing Joke eigenlijk, heel tof!

Tja, heeft veel weg van Joy Division maar dan iets funkier. Ook veel rauwer dan Love Like Blood. Leuk om een keer mee kennis gemaakt te hebben maar niet voor een hele plaat.

Kon er niet zoveel mee.

Verschrikkelijk, zeg. De naam van de band vind ik wel heel leuk (omdat ik een tante Joke heb), daarom twee sterren ipv een.

kind of weird but not in a bad way, interesting sounds

Killing Joke’s _Killing Joke_ killed it! I only know of their music from a little later in their career, specifically the song _Eighties_. I quite enjoyed this album, it had some fun experimenting going on.

This was ok, in the right mood I could really like it. In the wrong mood it sounds very sixth form. Will give it 4 but it should be 3.5

I enjoyed this, good heavy production

Postpunk, pre-goth?, marihuano, depre y casi pesado en partes iguales. Varias canciones interesantes con percusiones energéticas que contrastan con las cuerdas mansas, repetitivas y medio hipnóticas. Supongo que el mood vampírico habría sido satisfactorio para los aires góticos de los ochenta como Sisters of Mercy, no lo sé. Tomorrow's World le gustó a mi darketo retro interno y aprueba porque me recordó a Theatre des Vampires. The Wait está movidona para bailar un headbanging ligero dando saltitos, vestido de negro, en un bar lleno de gente que dice que se quiere morir. S.O.3.6 = Atisbos de depressive doom metal??? calif: 4 por algunas cancionsillas que están medio flojas, pero en general muy satisfecho.

Good hard rock. More interesting than I expected.

Pues no es mi tipo de música

This whips ass.

Primera canción bien. Segunda, miedo. Post-punkindustrial rockhard rock. Se desgañita. Le he puesto un 3 porque hay varias canciones que me gustan. Pero casi le doy un 2.

8/10 disfrute mucho el disco

Muy buena energía, rock darks, grandes riffs y una batería siempre presente. Disfruté mucho de inicio a fin. Le doy 9/10.

Well that was suprising. I enjoyed that album alot. I winced when I saw 1980, never have been a huge fan. I think it helped I had heard covers of these songs previous maybe. Top 3 The Wait, Requiem, Change 4 of 5

meh

I had never heard of these guys, but I was glad to have listened to this. Ahead of their time sound-wise, hard to believe this was 1980. A good mixture of punk and more melodic. Elements of the Cure or NIN in there.

The opener, "Requiem" was an attention grabber. With the exception of a few noisy interludes in the middle this was an excellent album. It felt about 10 years ahead of its time as its influence on industrial metal and alternative rock are immediately clear. Will definitely revisit this one.

Ni fu ni fa

Distant, pissed off, 80s shit. Not the worst but not for me.

Además de algunos soniditos adelantados a su época, nada memorable.

I’m way behind on my appreciation of this band, but I’ve always liked their name and wanted to do a deep dive. Maybe this is the push I need. Really liked it, especially the voice. Can clearly hear the influence on a ton of other bands I’ve listened to over the years. Good stuff.

Um, nah. I'm not listening to this. Too metal for me man. It does make me want to listen to the Arctic Monkeys though, so here I go!

Actually liked this more than I thought I would. Not exactly my type of music but it was actually kind of good to write goals down too? It wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be.

Definitely sounds before it’s time

Some good some not. Music more engaging than lyrics. Particularly like bass guitar. Change might be my favorite.

I could give it another try but I'm not feeling it. I could see myself really liking it if I fist heard it as a teenager

3 1/2, In line with my year-of-Covid angst pretty well. Also nice “prequel” to ‘The Downward Spiral’

It's incredible. Astonishing. and thoroughly underheralded. This is going to get listened to again in this house.

No sé qué calificación ponerle porque sí me gustó pero muy poquito.

Pues nada especial por aquí

Avangardiste

Too heavy

Correct, mais un peu trop all over the place je trouve

Interesting, but bit hard

Brutal but surprisingly groovy. Progenitor of so much I love.

Sadly, another entry on this list that is just decent, mostly forgettable rock.

I understand why this could be influential but I just didn't enjoy it that much

not bad sound wise but hard to get into

The music wasn't bad. Is there a reason why this album needs to be on this list?

Fine, if a bit weird. Not my speed.

Ugh industrial post punk is not for me. I feel like if some one asked me to make an album this weekend, I could could probably bash this out easy enough but I wouldn’t be happy with the results.

Haven’t finished listening.

Made me feel uneasy

not my thing, but i can see why some might like it.

2.5 stars

I liked this way more than I thought I would. It's a weird mash of genres: proto-industrial, post-punk, metal... But the mix works. It was also nice to have some actual rock and roll for once. It falls shy of full marks only because a few of the tracks are a bit (or more than a bit) monotonous/obnoxious.

Listened to it twice and never understood a single word (to be fair, some of it was in German). Some really sick grooves, though. Best track: S.O.36

Yo lo odie pero los demás no tanto

On first listen this didn’t massively stick out to me. I enjoyed the sound of some of the songs and the new wave elements. I think I was slightly lost by the album being a compilation and therefore would prefer the opportunity to check out albums to get a more cohesive feel of the band’s work.

This is more of a 3.5 than a 3. Some songs were just listenable, but others were quite nice. Reminds me of middle school and discovering the Cure, the Smiths, and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

ahh metal