Killing Joke

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.

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.

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."

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.

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

not horrible, but very repetitive. not a lot that sticks out as really good or memorable. lyrics can be interesting but still repetitive. had no desire to listen to the re-issue bonus tracks

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

Post-punk debut that separated the contenders from the pretenders.

oooooh Killing Joke!! TBH The only song I know from them is Millenium. Which is a bad ass song!! super diggin this album, it's like early punk and also a little bit of like joy division tones maybe? I love this. 5 stars

The repetitive character of the guitar riffs, the keystrokes and the rousing drumwork have an hypnotic effect on the music, and musically and lyrically it provides a somewhat nihilistic and grey view of the world. It is the link between the punk and the post-punk. Killing Joke succeeds in creating a the atmosphere and sound that is characteristic of the British urban environments in the early 1980s. The album cover also contributes to that feeling. Absolute masterpiece

Loved it. Some really great rifts and just beats. Don't know how this escaped me. this what this list is for.

I know I've heard of the band before, but nothing on this album is familiar to me, and I'm not sure I've ever heard *anything* by them before--it's nice to get another unknown from the collection. And while it's not an earth-shattering album by any stretch, I enjoyed it more than I expected to enjoy what Wikipedia labelled as a "post-punk" band (a term that doesn't really conjure up much of anything in my mind, and seems to span a *lot* of territory). I was occasionally reminded of Ministry's take on industrial sound ("Wardance" in particular), and also The Clash's beat-driven sound, but they clearly had their own sound. My favorites were probably the opening track "Requiem" (in part because I wasn't expecting such heavy synths from the get-go), "Bloodsport", and "Primitive" (with a head-banging nod to the B-sides "Change" and "Pssyche" that apparently only appeared on the "Requiem" and "Wardance" singles (respectively)). This feels so much like the soundtrack to some post-apocalyptic/dystopian movie from that period, like "Escape from New York", "Running Man" or "Mad Max"/"Road Warrior" or the like, all of which would have benefited tremendously from the grind of Killing Joke. I can also see why Dave Grohl calls this one of his favorite albums, even if it's probably not going to live up there as one of mine. It's tough to know how to rate this, as it's much more interesting than three stars, but aside from its out-of-left-field-entertainment-value, I'm not sure it's really four star material. But why not reward experiments that actually (and largely) succeed?

So this album typifies the great divide in the late 70s/early 80s music world. Hipsters and kids with access to college radio, plus the extremely disaffected (a slightly younger version of Winona Ryder from "Heathers,' say), were listening to this album. I, on the other hand, like the bulk of kids in my lily-white suburb, was imbibing disco and yacht rock. It wasn't until Billy Idol broke through on the pop charts that I was even aware that punk/industrial rock really existed. Too bad for me. This album is great--inventive, interesting, varied. Now I get why people like punk. I will certainly listen to it again. It's just a shame that, instead of my limited brain cells being devoted to this kind of music, they've been squandered on more Air Supply lyrics than you can shake a stick at.

Very techno and seemingly punk. Rough, gritty, grinding and monotonous at times.

Probably one of the most delightful post-punk records Ive ever heard and am disturbed it took me 31 years to get here.

Well this is cool as shit! I’m a lover of post-punk, especially when it’s got this sort of dark industrial sound, almost a little metallic, with snatches of melody rising above the murk. Lovely. As a fan of modern bands like Preoccupations (fka Viet Cong) and Protomartyr, it’s thrilling to hear the roots of their sound here. Must-listen #274.

Fascinating time for music, and throwing up albums like this. Post punk - and post disco, with some of the funk retained, but the sound turned brutal. Throw in some Krautrock, some almost-new-wave synth, and even some metal (The Wait), and somehow it sounds great and cohesive, if also very bleak. Great find.

These guys should have either added more to each song that wasn’t repetitive or trimmed the fat. Too much of the same thing in each song. Repeated choruses way too many times. Put another verse in or trim the length

"Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals.. Its only Teenage Wastland" I think sometimes you have to be really young to really commit to nihilism. Its edgy, I get it. I also find it hard to be self-sustaining. But nihilism and cynicism have probably been responsible for a lot of the music I love. Just being honest. I first encountered Killing Joke in the liner notes of Metallica's Garage Inc. where the fellas had covered "The Wait." Unfortunately, I did not pursue this further, being more drawn to the Mercyful Fate medley and driving into the Melissa album. So this gets to be a new listen for me today This is a gnarly album, a pure dystopian soundscape. The repeating riffs of the guitar and the bass descend on you like inevitable doom. You can hear the primordial waters of of industrial rock. Jaz Coleman's guttural vocals are the last piece to set the scene and were there, a wash in nihilism. We start with a "Requiem" essentially for the present world which ushers us into the bleak "Tommorrow World." On "Bloodsport" I could hear the crowd clapping and shouting with the violence. If that was done musically without sound effects that may be the best use of a synthesizer I've yet heard on this project. After we suffer through "The Wait" and emerge in a more "Primitive" world than the one we lost at the beginning. What a helluva ride! Yeah, this was an album worth hearing. These guys were ahead of their time for sure. 4/5

My butthole clinched up when I saw "English" and "New Wave". I'm slowly developing some musical trauma with most of the dreck we've been subjected to on this list that combines those two words. *THIS*, however, turned out to be a pleasant surprise. First off, hats off to them for being at least 10-15 YEARS ahead of the curve. This could have been released in 1995 with no problem and would've sounded contemporary with other 'Industrial' music. Instead, it was (!!) 1980 (!!). Wow. Second, the less they sang the better the song. Actually, the deeper into the album I got, the more I liked it -- some. We just recently had Ministry album and I realized that time hasn't been kind to this type of music for me. It used to be my jam, but I've long outgrown it. Same here, actually. I appreciate how groundbreaking this was. It was drawing a blueprint out for more bands later and did so with a startling clarity and prescience. Top tier kudos for that, but it still doesn't excite me like it used to. Absolutely this was an interesting listen and considering it's time and place in musical history I'd concede it's entry on the list. I'll be fair to it and my tastes and keep it at a 'weighted' (3/5).

This one caught me completely out of right field, as I'd never heard of this band before and was stunned to discover these guys were making this style of music all the way back in 1980. You could have easily convinced me this was released in the late 80s or very early 90s, and it would have still been ahead of the surge of industrial rock/metal and post punk that left its mark the final decade of the last century. That's not to call it great, as the singer leaves much to be desired, and while it employs the hallmarks of that sludgy industrial grunge that was to come, it's raw and repetitive, with little progression or change, and several of these tracks overstay their welcome by a wide margin. But it's a solid 3/5, as there's certainly a foundation being laid, and given that this is their debut, I look forward to exploring more to see where they went with it after.

Nice. Best tracks are Bloodsport and Change 3/5

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

annoying

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.

126. Killing Joke - Killing Joke (1980) 6.28.26 Variety: 5 Adequacy: 5 Listenability: 5 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 4 = 4.8 rounded up to a 5 "Enjoy yourself/ This is your new age" Killing Joke re a band I've heard a lot of songs from , but the only full album I've listened to was Night Time which has tow of their biggest hits on it - "Eighties" and "Love Like Blood" - which are both awesome, and remain in my 5-star playlist. early 80s UK post-punk is kind of my jam, and the rest of their discography ( as much as I've digested piecemeal) is a shameful blind spot in my listening history so I'm happy to get started on correcting that. Shame they only have one album, but so it goes. I have also read some about front man Jaz Coleman who is one of those prolific renaissance man types you occasionally find buried in the popular music field, who had gone on to collaborate with a ton of different artists, both in and out of the music sphere, and who has trained as a conductor and helmed dozens of highly respected performances with elite orchestras. Dude also has some very uh, interesting takes on the nature of reality. Well worth your time to look up his CV. Anyway though, my point being, I already know going in that Killing Joke are on the more intellectual end of the sphere when it comes to this sort of thing, infusing politics, philosophy, and social criticism into their work. But as driving and hard-nosed as it might be with their proto-industrial beats, and metallic overtones, they don't skimp on the melodic structures. I fully expect to get some decent grooves mixed in with my anti-Thatcherite messaging here. THE TRACKS Side A "Requiem" - In the last review I talked about how crazily relevant Randy Newman's material still was on Good Old boys. In addition to the music itself holding up incredibly well, the opening lines of this hit pretty hard and are 100% applicable to today's screen culture. A funeral song written for the dying minds and culture Coleman saw around him, just waiting mindless, and subservient for the unavoidable apocalyptic nightmare scenario to play out. Have we been trapped in this purgatory of easy distractions, and intellectual pablum for way longer than it seems? This certainly seems to indicate a resounding yes. Maybe even longer than Coleman figured at the time. Musically we are steeped in a pleasantly plodding atmosphere with a buzzing synth line ( shades of Gary Numan) and casually motorik that carries us along and is punctuated by Coleman's powerful delivery. As hummable as it is strikingly dark and pessimistic ( but is this commentary of wake-up call?). "Wardance" - Things turn aggressive with some tighter, heavier drum line and a processed, ragged, robotic vocal line from Coleman on the verse. Truth in advertising here as this is definitely has a danceable groove to it. It's if like Gang of Four were inspired more by the krautrock from Faust instead of Can and Neu! and read way too much post-apocalyptic sci-fi instead of socialist critical theory. And man, the end of the world vibes keep on coming. This feels like a societal powder keg in song form. War and atrocity just around the corner, racist graffiti all over the place, people fighting over resources in a possibly engineered scenario? Perhaps to cull the herd? reading to much into things maybe, but I can't help but keep those more "out there" ideas of Coleman's that I mentioned earlier in mind. Some heavy shit. Literally and metaphorically. "Tomorrow's World"- Yeah, yeah, I know not every album is a concept album. But why can't they be? Death of the author and all that. I think this one has a better case than most. After the buildup of the first two tracks, we get the reality of the "Letter - on your doorstep" calling you up as meat for the grinder in the seemingly unavoidable war that been on the books. That apocalypse ain't gonna usher itself in , you know. And look at how great things USED TO BE. Back then. When people didn't look as... different as they do now. Put these rose colored glasses on first though before you closely examine that past, and then strap this rifle to your back. Best of luck! This one was a bit more raw, especially in Coleman's delivery ( the echo us used to brilliant effect here) but the drums and bass over up a fantastic groove that the chainsaw guitar can glide over providing enough of an accent to make this a head nodder nonetheless. This puts me in mind of Prime Juju-era Banshees stuff. "Bloodsport" - And then we get an instrumental where the only obvious thing to hang a narrative on is the title. What naturally follows after a call to war by the likely disinterested powers. Bread (Blood) and circuses of course. This funky number opens with a great almost disco by way of groove that leads into an either heavily processed or electronically recreated crowd noise that comes in with the hand claps, and reads to me like a good time had by a lot of people under some very not good circumstances. We get the actual cheers and whistles from the crowd at the end as the audio frys and sizzles away into a menacing tone. War as theater maybe? Seems to me like the very hard work of conveying a narrative using only instrumentation has been done here. Nods to Coleman's future as a classical composer and arranger. Side B "The Wait" - That same menacing tone opens up the most driving, danceable, and laser focused track yet. Coleman's distorted vocals on the verse sing us a song of post-nuclear disease and environmental decay and poison, where mutants of the body sit and rot, still alive while the mutants of the mind have maybe played out their end game ( but are they safe and secure in their bunkers or are they rotting away with everyone else?). All we can do is sit and linger in the new half life we've been given until the lights finally go out. Bleak as fuck and I've played it like three times in a row. Fuck yeah is it super catchy and energizing despite the lyrical content. This is peak artistic juxtaposition, folks. Also - seek out the Metallica cover of this. This lends itself VERY well to the garage punk speed metal take. "Complications" - We're well into the fallout era now with this more straightforward, yet still driving and energetic number. Martin Glover's bass is in full control of the proceedings here and he tears it up rather nicely. As low key as anything on here but still doesn't feel like any sort of afterthought or throwaway. "S.O.36" - The most overtly theatrical track yet as we get some sinister German radio chatter interspersed over alternately ringing and chainsawing Siouxsie and the Banshees-esque guitar work, and a falling down the stairs robotic drum beat with a fat bass assist. A showcase for all the players here, while they let Coleman kind of hang back and interject occasionaly about a poisoned, dying earth. Good times. "Primitive" - The funkiest track yet, with Glover setting the tone with that thick bass that leads into an almost brightly shining guitar tone. But instead of any kind of real optimism, the lyrics hear indicate some sort of new world order of chaos and back to basics survivalism. The old world is well in the rear view by now and maybe those mutants have taken the reins. But then, maybe this hand to mouth subsistence living is preferable to the clawing, pushing, and struggling. By day the mutants might run, but by night they dance. * BONUS TRACK "Change" - If Glover stole the show on "Complications", this one's a twofer with Paul Ferguson's drums and Kevin Walker's scratchy guitar assaulting us with some scratch funk stylings. I can see the cartoon lightbulbs flashing intensely over the heads of dozens of future nu-metal guitarists after hearing the playing on this. Great stuff. Included on the U.S. version in between "Complications" and "S.O.36", this would have been a fine addition to teh original release. HIGHLIGHTS - "Requiem" - "Wardance" - "Tomorrow's World" - "Bloodsport" - "The Wait" - "Complications" - "S.O.36" - "Primitive" - * "Change" MIDLIGHTS - LOWLIGHTS - FINAL THOUGHTS This whole album plays out like Coleman heard "London's Calling" and told Joe Strummer to hold his beer. Ear scorching, politically caustic, post nuclear dance music for radioactively disadvantaged mutant dissidents. Intense the whole way through and full of enough anti-authoritarianism stoking content to get any burgeoning worth his salt through any rough period of questioning. And all of this without sacrificing an ounce of listenability. I would have had my tiny little brain melted had I heard this at the right time. Unfortunately I had to wait several decades. I've heard several of these tracks before and really dug them, but listening to them in order as whole it really does feel like this ties together better as a concept album than a lot of ones I've heard from other artists that were actually constructed as and meant to be heard as. Lyrically, Coleman definitely has themes in mind here, and they all dovetail nicely from song to song, without worrying about any handholding or on the nose call backs and structure. I'm reminded of a fractal where every part of the whole contains within the structure of the whole itself. Amazing shit, and a shame I waited so long to get to this one. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - No FURTHER LISTENING - Faust IV by Faust - Radio-Activity by Kraftwerk - The Pleasure Principle by Gary Numan - Pink Flag by Wire - Entertainment! by Gang of Four - The Scream by Siouxsie and the Banshee - Clan Of Xymox by Clan Of Xymox - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste by Ministry - Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails - Herzeleid by Rammstein - Hymns by Godflesh

i'm thinking of a band named Killing Joke and their self-titled album featuring a bunch of children crawling over ruins on the cover. i am picturing a dour, humorless release with a vocalist who sounds like Mark E. Smith from the fall. there is an annoying sound collage on it and despite being only 30 minutes or so, it feels ten minutes too long. it is entirely popular with John Peel fans who had the worst day of their lives when Steve Albini died. i am listening Killing Joke's self titled album. it is the most fun i have ever had listening to a dismal record about how everything's fucked and man is evil. "Requiem" rips. "The Wait" rips. "Complications" and "Bloodsport" rip -- everything rips. i love it. i am now probably gonna check out the rest of their music because this was unbelievably good. don't judge a book by it's cover. listen to an album with an increasingly worrying genre tag; you might just be surprised.

The best Killing Joke album with best opening song ever. Superclassic.

This is great. Way ahead musically and conceptually against other similar bands, and for raw aggression, mood, anger, despair, intensity, and darkness no one comes close from this era, except for Joy Division and maybe Bauhaus. The use of synths and echo effects really elevates this in my eyes. It’s almost a No Wave record, and it really grooves for a post-punk/industrial/metal album.

Excellent album. The members of this band had only gotten together in June of 1979 and by 1980 this album would revolutionize the notion of punk and industrial music. On this album you get the proto tracks of industrial and electronic rock that would illuminate the path for groups I love like Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, and many others... My favorite tracks are "Requiem", "Wardance", "The Wait", and "The Primitive".

Finally, a band I've never heard of before.. let's go! Half way through the album. This is EXACTLY the type of album that makes this project worth it. Top notch discovery incoming! After two full listens. This is easily the best discovery I have made so far on the generator. In other people's reviews, everyone has a different opinion on who this band sounds like, or who they've clearly influenced. Obviously, the extent of their influence stretches pretty wide. But beyond that, this is a very solid, exciting assortment of songs. The album is well balanced, well paced, there are no weak tracks, there are no weak links within the band, just great music all around. 5/5 defiant fists in the air ✊✊✊✊✊

So glad this is on the list. I enjoyed it so much I listened to it twice along with two other albums. I was already a fan of their most popular songs, Eighties & Love Like Blood, but this album was rougher with a mix of rock, punk & industrial. At times, they reminded me of Ministry. I'll be listening to Killing Joke regularly (which is something I've been meaning to do anyway). They've got a new lifelong fan.

Heavy, industrial, feel like there are also some dub influences here. Surprised I'd never heard of this before; feel like a band like Big Black or Failure would have worn copies of this record. Favorite tracks: "Wardance", "The Wait", "S.O.36"

Great album with no skips. Love the industrial sound

Definitely not what I expected, i.e., more melodic/experimental. Sounds way ahead of its time.

Okay, that was great - industrial-goth-rock-minimalism-dub... stuff, that absolutely hits all the right buttons for me. I'll admit, if you didn't like the sound of that description in the first sentence then the album will do nothing to change your mind on that, but if you like any of those words then give it a shot!

This starts off with "Requiem", which I instantly recognized because Foo Fighters covered this song in 1997. After that I didn't know any of the songs. I wish the vocals were clearer. Is it on purpose to have vocals impossible to understand? or am I supposed to be reading the lyrics on my vinyl record when I listened to this in 1980? The music is great. Would get a higher rating if the vocals were clearer. I feel like bands like this have a lot of messages but the message gets lost in the gritty vocals that are not easy to decipher. I think more listens and knowing the lyrics will make this an album worth listening to more.

New forms are being worked out in this,pulled together by some bold riffs, pace and the savagery of intellectuals. Never heard them before despite their being a big influence on my beloved Big Black: you can really hear this on “The Wait”.

I love the sound and the energy of this, I just find the songs themselves unmemorable. Bumped up a bit to honor my pre-teen fondness for the later, excellent "Love Like Blood"

A+ album cover and great band name. Post Punk is one of the greatest rock subgenres because you get the anarchist spirit but you can dance to it. They sound a little like Gang Of Four playing Cabaret Voltaire covers. Dare I say it but this drummer gets wobbly sometimes, though I guess that's part of the charm.

Knew “The Wait” from my days as a Metallica obsessed teenager, but was largely unfamiliar with Killing Joke aside from that. An enjoyable and influential electronic/punk hybrid.

Groovy, bleak, industrial punk.

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

This was quite enjoyable, could've done with some more singing but otherwise quite nice to listen to. 60/100.

Killing Joke I don’t think I’ve heard a Killing Joke song before, and I’ve never quite been sure what they’re like, I kind of assumed they were a metally-grunge band, but based on this album and a bit of reading they are much more of a post-punk proto industrial band, and you can hear the antecedent of NIN in the synth-guitar-drums and the sludgy rhythms. Requiem is a great opener, a little Bowie, a little punk-ish with a great electronic throb. Wardance feels more post punk with its driving bass and plenty of toms, again throwing forward to an industrial sound - the guitar/synth stabs feel very Marilyn Manson, but its relentless groove is excellent. Tomorrow’s World maintains that same tempo tempo, this time with a Cure feel, and that little keyboard riff is naggingly brilliant. It struggles to keep up with that great start thereafter, losing me somewhat with Bloodsport and The Wait. While they aren’t bad, they do feel like inferior variations on those first 3 songs, and that sameness of feeling continues to the end, with only perhaps Complications and S.O.36 standing out from the prevailing style. I suppose if you’ve come up with something pretty unique and exciting then why wouldn’t you hammer that template. It’s a shame that the B-side Change wasn’t on the original track listing as that is a great, Gang of Four style bit of heavy new wave. Despite the tail off it’s nicely concise at 35 mins. And after the excellent first three tracks I thought this was a nailed on 4, but I think it ultimately settles at a high 3. 🃏🃏🃏 Playlist submission: Wardance (but could be any of the first 3)

If there is one thing they know how to do, it’s introducing a song. Every track on this album slaps you in the face immediately and creates such a dark and foreboding setting, and the transition from the end of Bloodsport into The Wait is especially phenomenal. Where they lose the ball is anything following the intro. Even saying that, there is not an anti-climactic moment in this entire album because there is a total lack of ANY developmental structure. They pique your interest by introducing the idea of a song and walk off like they just made War Pigs. Yes, it’s heavy, it’s punk, and yes, it resembles early industrial music at times. It’s influential but no it is not GREAT. Killing Joke is best experienced through the 30-second SoundCloud previews for each track, leaving the rest up to interpretation because God knows it would probably be better than what already exists here. Put short, listening to The Wait adequately describes my feelings consuming this nothing-burger.

This album doesn’t belong on this list.

Maybe I am just not in the mood for this kind of genre, maybe I am not into the music. Cant say that I enjoyed listening to the album. Will I listen to this album again? I dont think so. unless, if there's something that direct me this way again, some discoveries, some suggestions, I might. 2.1/3

The sounded like they were on the edge of a sound that was going to be something special but never got there. This isn't great, didn't finish.

Couldn't get into it or understand why it is so seminal

2 Thought it started off decent but got weaker as it went on.

First impression: these guys sound like the Anti-Nowhere League. Second impression: there's some good guitar and bass playing in here. Third impression: it all kinda runs together, and the vocals are often hard to understand. This feels like an album of unmet potential. 2.5 stars rounded down to 2.

They're only on this list because Nirvana and Metallica liked them.

Just boring? A really forgettable album. 4/10.

Music that sounds way too simple to these ears. Maybe I could have grown to appreciate it if I grew up with it, but that is not the case (and, I’d argue, for very audible reasons).

Hard to pin this sound down. Industrial, post-punk, Brit-rock. Is an odd mixture. Sometimes catchy (like "Primitive"), sometimes redundant and goes no-where ("Tomorrow's World"), sometimes hard driving ("The Wait"). Has it's own sound which appears a bit ahead of their time. To me, is like an unpolished version of Tool. In the end, not really much to me. D+

British critic bait. If only life in London wasn’t so shite. 4/10

There are a lot of interesting, very thematic with post-punk musical ideas here that blend right into the vibe of the music. That being said, I think other bands like Magazine and New Order did it better. I don't find this particularly exciting or new, especially when Magazine's Self-Titled came out the year before. These are just kind of punk songs that lack the grip, bite, and catchiness of predecessors & contemporaries such as The Clash, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, and Ramones.

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

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

Oh, I had never heard of this band before and didn't know what to expect but the first song GRABBED me immediately

I've heard of Killing Joke but never actually listened to them, I understand them to be a punk band so interested to listen to this. Definitely not punk, they seem to be a bit more heavy goth. I really dig this and am surprised I've never heard it before as this would have been right up my alley when I was younger. They remind me of many bands that I loved growing up and am blown away that they were never introduced to me. Definitely feeling some industrial vibes. Reminds me of some early Siousxie and The Cure. Great album and glad to have discovered it!

Been listening to this since the early '80s and it still kicks ass.

R.I.P. Geordie. 5/5

So ahead of their time...

5 Loved this and never would of heard of these guys otherwise. Requiem is a sick opener and the rest of the album lives up to it

Great album - I love punk, and whilst this may not be totally punk it has that punk aesthetic. Energetic, dark and gritty, maybe a little uneven on side two, but not enough to lose a star. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

I’d never heard of this band but I really enjoyed this album. It felt ahead of its time. This is like punk meets new wave. I think Complications was my favorite track.

I came into this only knwoing a couple of tracks off the album. I have been missing out on an absolute post-punk classic. Very little to fault on this. Every member contributes to leave this feeling a complete work.

I ended up really liking this.

Love it, such a classic

One of the greatest debuts in rock history!

Punk rock excellence.

Excellent album, lots of stuff that I will go back to and listen again. Reminds me heavily of the 80s and evenings with my mates all listening to each others collections

I only know of Killing Joke via the Nirvana connection and aside from 'Eighties', I'm a KJ virign. And I like this. I like this a lot. 'Requiem' is an excellent opener, nice guitar hook, over chugging chords, characteristically melodic bassline, and it's all rather Britpop-adjacent. Having read about their influence on metalheads like Metallica, it's surprising how unlike heavy rock it is. It feels like a bridge between post-punk (XTC) and 80s gothicism (Sisters of Mercy), although for the best part, the album manages to avoid sounding dated to the 80s. There's admittedly a couple which feel a little inconsequential, such as 'Complication', and the Dalek vocals on the otherwise excellent 'Wardance' are unnecessary; but these songs sit within the overall caliginous feel of the album, never breaking the spell. (What? I use that word most days). And all coming in at 35 minutes, it's an absolute doozy.

Menacing and ominous. Sparse industrial sound with buzzing guitars, drill-like riffs, muffled anguished vocals, clattering pounding drums, and a machinic funk to the bass. A perfect debut that pretty well defined the genre formula. Requiem is such a good song - despairing spirituality in a disenchanted world.

Perhaps I am a sucker for any band formed in the first or second wake of the Sex Pistols, but I dig Killing Joke's self-titled debut a lot. I do pick up an early Siouxsie and the Banshees vibe, but heavier. I had not listened to Killing Joke prior to this exercise. I am glad that I did.

Great one. Was surprised given I didn’t have much history here. Can see why it was so influential. 4.5/5

I'm listening to this for about the 10th straight time. It goes so hard. It's like the missing link between late-70s punk and mid-80s industrial

"Killing Joke" is the debut studio album by English post-punk band Killing Joke. The album was self-produced and recorded live in the studio with no overdubs. The lyrics deal with politics, death, hypocrisy, human nature, pollution and exile. The bandmembers were Jaz Coleman (lead vocals, synthesizer), Kevin "Geordie" Walker (guitar), Martin "Youth" Glover (bass) and Paul Ferguson (drums). The album was very well-received critically especially in retrospective and reached #39 in the UK. An oscillating, hypnotic synth which stays throughout the song opens "Requiem." Post-punk guitar. Drums and bass pounding giving this a raw live sound. Coleman's forceful, vengeful and screaming vocals repeating "requiem." Apocalyptic as he's just cattle for the slaughter in this world. "Wardance" continues in that post-punk mode with a ringing guitar but now a dance beat is added. Coleman's throttled vocals are distorted repeating "wardance." Nearly all of Ministry's late 80's through 90's songs can pretty much be traced back to this song and sound. Just fantastic! The first side ends with the instrumental "Bloodsport." The bass really shows its funky side and it's a good example of the band fusing post-punk, funk, dance and 80's synth into their own sound. "The Wait" kicks off side two with fast industrial drums and a charging, heavy guitar riff. Pumping bass. Various electronic noises. A bleak outlook as humanity's path is towards self destruction. A deep, loud bass highlights the closer "Primitive." A distorted guitar riff underlies the melody. What this album needed as an exclamation was chanting and we thankfully get that at the end of the song. This music on this album is heavy, hypnotic, urgent and catchy. The live sound in the production and mix really let each instrument stand out and creates and fuses the aforementioned post-punk/heavy guitar, funky bass, 80's synth and pounding/dance-beat drums into the band's own style. Coleman's vocals are loud, screaming, in your face and sometimes distorted. The lyrics are minimal stressing the bleak outlook theme. This had to have been a very seminal influence on the 80's and 90's industrial music world. This is an excellent album especially those liking harder, heavier and more aggressive music. And even if you don't like that music, you still might like this album.

expected more run of the mill post punk so the industrial elements really took me by surprise. a few of the songs dragged on a little too long but most stayed pretty fresh through their runtime.

I can safely say that this is the best post-punk album in history. There's no way anyone in the post-punk scene can do better. I've only listened to "Requiem" before listening to the full album. "Self Titled" is now one of my favourite records of all time. What a way to end an average week. 5 stars for "Self Titled".

My first exposure to Killing Joke was the poster in Ferris Bueller's room. Ferris Bueller is still to this day the coolest white high schooler in all movie history. This is a band that I've always admired, but never really had the chance to dig into. Not a lot of kids my age had Killing Joke on their iTunes in the early 2000s, so it was always a band that I was aware of and interested in but never took the plunge. I really enjoyed this record today. It has all of the heavy, dark, nihilistic style of their contemporaries (Joy Division and Fugazi come to mind). But its a little more interesting to me than Joy Division. The vocals are deep and poignant, and the bass is kind of turned up louder than it probably should be. But it all comes together in this really cool industrial sounding way. Also, the effects they use with synths and keys are really fun. They're never overbearing but they just add a really cool moving element to the record that's really fun. Certainly not 1 to 1, but the effects kind of remind of how Turnstile uses dream pop elements in a lot of songs. I had a blast with this one today!

Another album I had to listen to while driving. Not much to say here. Industrial rock hits really hard and this delivers.

I love this album. It’s dark, it’s harsh and „Wardance“ is one of the greatest Post punk hits.

A stunning debut. This album needs to be played at an extremely high volume to be fully appreciated. You can hear all the bands that the influenced, too. I don't fully understand what I just listened to, there seems to be a lot of rage in it. I'll need to do a deep dive into the lyrics to appreciate them more. Musically though, just brilliant. Love it.

Maybe the biggest discovery of the 1001 for me is that I'm really into industrial krautrocky post-punk. This one slaps just right in that same sweet spot. Gritty but groovy. Pretty much all the tracks are bringing some heat. Fave Tracks: Requiem, Wardance, Bloodsport, Complications, Change 5/5

LOVE. One of the 1st goth bands, even tho they had a punk twist, def an early goth band. All music has origins, this band is part of a whole genres start.

Holy shit! I always thought these guys were metal or something adjacent, but they’re more post-punk/industrial. I really dig it. “Requiem” is so good. Will be looking into more albums of theirs.

Want

Wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but I really enjoyed it. It has a simplicity to it that I find really amazing. Everything is tight and to the point, nothing is in excess. Will definitely be adding this album into a regular rotation.

Killing Joke is an album that i absolutely love. Let's get one thing out of the way, this is a hard album to get into as it really tries to experiment especially during the first half. It can be tough to get into due to the experimental melodies and the singer's robotic voice. But when it gets to The Wait, that's when things really start to get good as it and each song after it is just so enjoyable to listen to. There is so much to like including the great guitar riffs, the crushing basslines and even the singer's voice feels less robotic at this point. A lot of these songs also have super catchy melodies which really add to them. It isn't an easy album to get into but if you stick around, you are in for quite a treat. Best Song: The Wait Worst Song: Wardance

I really love the mix of industrial and post-punk here, two genres I really love. The album perfectly straddles the line between aggressive and infectious. It's harsh as hell but still danceable.

Really liked this.

Everything about this album rules. It feels fresh and relevant after all these years, even though there have been hundreds of bands that have sounded exactly like this since this album came out. Just an excellent record.

Killing Joke is no joking matter

The sentiment behind the name “Killing Joke” – a contrivance of Jez Combes’, who explains it with reference to a dying soldier realising he is a pawn in the game of “a cunt” – is one of something apprehended too late. It’s funny – though not necessarily “ha ha” – that sometimes one might realise that it’s better to have never realised anything at all; a joke’s a joke whether the punchline realises it’s the punchline or not. Across their self-titled debut, Killing Joke present a whole load of no laughing matter. Chunky, metallic edged riffs (“Bloodsport”). Vocals forced to sound like an anchor being dragged through gravel (“Wardance”). Repetitive bass lines that drive just as hard as the often militaristic drums (take your pick!). The whole thing’s war-coded, a theme that will repeat across Killing Joke’s discography. But then, too, there’s the opposite. Guitars that find moments of uplifting melody inside the structures they build for themselves (“S.O.36”, “Complications”); vocals (and keys) that wind in and out of the melee sweetly, even gently (as in the chorus of “The Wait”); drums that let themselves get carried away (“Change”). Judged solely on its merits, this is a fantastic album. It’s a focussed collection of justifiably angry post-punk tracks that never lets up. And while the full variety and canny intelligence of the songwriting are fairly obscured by some of the self-restrictive stylistic choices made, it seems no amount of chugging can camouflage the radiant charm of Killing Joke. Judged in the context of where it came from and what it went on to inspire … a word like “masterpiece” might even be apt. From entire musical sub genres to global musical entertainment platforms (I’m talking about Metallica there; their cover of “The Wait” is so bad that it actually sounds like a Metallica song) – Killing Joke’s impact is as felt today as it would have been in 1985. With all that said, it’s perhaps worth mentioning that I started listening to Killing Joke only relatively recently – odd, really, since there’d been ample opportunity for me to dial in to just how brilliant they are for more than 20 years now (disputes about the provenance of “Come As You Are”’s opening riff being well-publicised and all). It’s everything as it should be, perhaps; the time was right for me to develop that nascent enjoyment of goth and industrial tinged post-punk. I’d finally heard enough to help me put Killing Joke in their rightful context: peerless in so many respects. It’s a realisation had better late than never. And thank god; it’d be a real shame if the joke was on me.

This is what I’m talking about. This restored my faith in finding something great on here.

TWAS A GOOOOD ANGRY ALBUM FOR ME. REQUIEM WAS MY FAVE

I might prefer the other S/T from them (realeased 23 years later, very heavy and powerful, with an almost psychedelic twist), but this is first class. Their unique (especially at the time!) blend of post-punk & proto-industrial, with the prominent figure of Coleman, is fantastic and genre defining. You can feel the huge influence they had on other bands. Coleman is a genius in his own way.