Killing Joke - XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey
Killing Joke
XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey
2005 Cooking Vinyl Records
Show produced by John O'Sullivan
Personnel:
Jaz Coleman – vocals
Geordie Walker – Guitars
Paul Raven – Bass, vocals
Ben Calvert – drums
Nick Walker – keyboards
Ha! I nearly bought this one. No, wait, I DID buy this one. I had not realized it was even out on cd, but the impending DVD by Killing Joke, The Band that Preys Together, Stays Together, had an audio version there in the racks.
This was recorded at the Shepherds Bush Empire in the UK, to commemorate KJ pushing their eschatological soundtrack of destruction and gloom for a quarter of a century. While I can't say it strikes me as the best KJ experience to start with, it does feature a still vital and energized band, and it covers a decent swath of their catalog, albeit lacking in terms of being really comprehensive.
For the unitiated, Killing Joke is a band of sonic thugs led by a schitzophrenic idiot-savant with a voice that has been described as “the sound of the earth vomiting”. You can blame them for being instrumental in birthing industrial, metal and gloomy goth together into one cataclysmic, richter-registering sludge, and served to you, the listener, in large slabs. These guys may look old and haggard (and the sleeve pictures confirm this), but they are full of guile, tough, and still have enough chops and drive to still pummel just about anyone else. They are in many ways, the King Crimson of post-punk. Arty, unpredictable, manic, and inscrutible.
This disc starts with long-time opener Communion, which plays into their mystique of shows being more tribal gathering or ritual than just a “are you ready to rock, Detroit” moment. There are no filler tracks on this disc, and the band careens between material from the first 3 albums, and Pandemonium and their second eponymous album (the one with Dave Grohl on drums that should have won a grammy for most psychotic, spite filled, abrasive wash of erudite noise of 2003, and the best drumming of Grohl's career to date) for the most recent bits. The one token track from the middle period is Love Like Blood, and it comes off solid.*
Some of the earlier material sounds great live, since the original releases had some tinny production in spots, and with the fuller sound they have now, tracks like Wardance, Pssyche, and the Pandys Are Coming have a heaviness they deserve. When Helmet covered Primitive**, I thought they had done a better job of it than KJ's original. With this live version, KJ takes ownership back. The Wait, which I had actually first heard on Metallica's original Garage Days release (on cassette no less, oh how time flies), sounds just head-rattling with Raven playing as dirty a bass as possible, and Walkers serrated, spiralling riffs guiding it along. Hetfield and Co. can sit back down now. Since I keep mentioning songs that have been covered (read: I am creating a subtext that this bands influence far outstrips their commercial acheivements, pay some bloody attention), let's mention one more: Requiem. It is not the best live take I have heard of this, but it is more than adequate. A slow, depressing theme to having your spirit crushed. ***
The only songs that seem to lose focus a bit is Asteroid (a personal favorite) possibly because it is such a manic, tectonic plate-shearing mess on record, that it gets somewhat messier live; that, and the audience participation bugged me. The same goes for the title track from Pandemonium, which closes this set. Geordie's complex guitar work gets sort of lost in the wash.
The only bad thing about this release is its brevity, and lack of coverage of some eras. This should have been a dual cd, with more tracks from the 90s and mid 80s thrown in, and maybe throw in some unusual gems in there: Democracy, Another Bloody Election, Pilgrimage, Whiteout, Inside the Termite Mound, Money Is Not Our God, Fire Dances, Kings and Queens, Adorations and Chessboards would all have been great to hear.
But if you are looking for an initial KJ intro fix, this is not a bad way to go.
* Some of you Sarah McLachlan fans may have heard this, as she covered it live for several tours
** Helmet covered this as a b-side to one of their early single releases.
*** the Foo Fighters covered this as a b-side for something. This of course led to KJ having Grohl play on their last album. The connection was not always so amicable, as not only Grohl, but all of Nirvana were large KJ fans, so much so that they invoked a legal tussle initially over their uncredited use of the guitar riff from KJ's Eighties for their big hit Come As You Are.
Other bands that have covered KJ include Fear Factory and Juno Reactor.
XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey
2005 Cooking Vinyl Records
Show produced by John O'Sullivan
Personnel:
Jaz Coleman – vocals
Geordie Walker – Guitars
Paul Raven – Bass, vocals
Ben Calvert – drums
Nick Walker – keyboards
Ha! I nearly bought this one. No, wait, I DID buy this one. I had not realized it was even out on cd, but the impending DVD by Killing Joke, The Band that Preys Together, Stays Together, had an audio version there in the racks.
This was recorded at the Shepherds Bush Empire in the UK, to commemorate KJ pushing their eschatological soundtrack of destruction and gloom for a quarter of a century. While I can't say it strikes me as the best KJ experience to start with, it does feature a still vital and energized band, and it covers a decent swath of their catalog, albeit lacking in terms of being really comprehensive.
For the unitiated, Killing Joke is a band of sonic thugs led by a schitzophrenic idiot-savant with a voice that has been described as “the sound of the earth vomiting”. You can blame them for being instrumental in birthing industrial, metal and gloomy goth together into one cataclysmic, richter-registering sludge, and served to you, the listener, in large slabs. These guys may look old and haggard (and the sleeve pictures confirm this), but they are full of guile, tough, and still have enough chops and drive to still pummel just about anyone else. They are in many ways, the King Crimson of post-punk. Arty, unpredictable, manic, and inscrutible.
This disc starts with long-time opener Communion, which plays into their mystique of shows being more tribal gathering or ritual than just a “are you ready to rock, Detroit” moment. There are no filler tracks on this disc, and the band careens between material from the first 3 albums, and Pandemonium and their second eponymous album (the one with Dave Grohl on drums that should have won a grammy for most psychotic, spite filled, abrasive wash of erudite noise of 2003, and the best drumming of Grohl's career to date) for the most recent bits. The one token track from the middle period is Love Like Blood, and it comes off solid.*
Some of the earlier material sounds great live, since the original releases had some tinny production in spots, and with the fuller sound they have now, tracks like Wardance, Pssyche, and the Pandys Are Coming have a heaviness they deserve. When Helmet covered Primitive**, I thought they had done a better job of it than KJ's original. With this live version, KJ takes ownership back. The Wait, which I had actually first heard on Metallica's original Garage Days release (on cassette no less, oh how time flies), sounds just head-rattling with Raven playing as dirty a bass as possible, and Walkers serrated, spiralling riffs guiding it along. Hetfield and Co. can sit back down now. Since I keep mentioning songs that have been covered (read: I am creating a subtext that this bands influence far outstrips their commercial acheivements, pay some bloody attention), let's mention one more: Requiem. It is not the best live take I have heard of this, but it is more than adequate. A slow, depressing theme to having your spirit crushed. ***
The only songs that seem to lose focus a bit is Asteroid (a personal favorite) possibly because it is such a manic, tectonic plate-shearing mess on record, that it gets somewhat messier live; that, and the audience participation bugged me. The same goes for the title track from Pandemonium, which closes this set. Geordie's complex guitar work gets sort of lost in the wash.
The only bad thing about this release is its brevity, and lack of coverage of some eras. This should have been a dual cd, with more tracks from the 90s and mid 80s thrown in, and maybe throw in some unusual gems in there: Democracy, Another Bloody Election, Pilgrimage, Whiteout, Inside the Termite Mound, Money Is Not Our God, Fire Dances, Kings and Queens, Adorations and Chessboards would all have been great to hear.
But if you are looking for an initial KJ intro fix, this is not a bad way to go.
* Some of you Sarah McLachlan fans may have heard this, as she covered it live for several tours
** Helmet covered this as a b-side to one of their early single releases.
*** the Foo Fighters covered this as a b-side for something. This of course led to KJ having Grohl play on their last album. The connection was not always so amicable, as not only Grohl, but all of Nirvana were large KJ fans, so much so that they invoked a legal tussle initially over their uncredited use of the guitar riff from KJ's Eighties for their big hit Come As You Are.
Other bands that have covered KJ include Fear Factory and Juno Reactor.
posted by theloniusfunk at 12:49 AM
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