Killing Joke

Satyricon – Satyricon

Hellbound Metal: “Satyricon took a chance when they first ventured into black’n’roll territory on Volcano, and many of us were ecstatic. Nothing made more sense than the ceilingless fury of black metal put to driving, Motörhead pace. It made instant converts of many. Now Satyricon seek to further push that envelope, a phoenix once again reborn from its own ashes.”

The Cult – Choice Of Weapon

Without further ado I want to state that Choice Of Weapon is an excellent rock album that can easily hold its own against classic The Cult albums, like Love(1985), Electric (1987) and Sonic Temple (1989). It’s quite a statement, but Choice Of Weapon is simply that good.

Killing Joke – MMXII

In short, MMXII by Killing Joke is one mighty fine follow-up record to its illustrious predecessor. The album has all the hallmarks of a great record. It has the songs, boundless energy and all the apocalyptic themes to do for.

Killing Joke / Cowards @ Venue, Vancouver BC, December 14, 2010

“Everyone roared for “Wardance” too, but Coleman’s conspiratorial microchipping/overpopulation banter between songs seemed lost on the Vancouver crowd just there to hear the old tunes – in fact, the majority present seemed interested in ONLY hearing the old songs. When the band launched into the title track (and other songs from the brilliant new record), the response was lukewarm – nowhere near as raucous as the early-‘80s tracks garnered. This isn’t a surprise in itself, but then again, Killing Joke is hardly a nostalgia novelty act.”

Kyle Harcott reviews the December 14th performance by KILLING JOKE at Vancouver’s Venue. Concert photography by Ted Wilson.

In Conversation With Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman

“We have no contemporaries that are alive, let alone making music for the right reasons. We’re the last ones of a certain era, really, from the second wave of punk. And our career’s been very different insofar as I think the most meaningful and exciting and perhaps vital part of our career has been from the middle to this point. The velocity of each album increases, and now with the original lineup back… wow, it’s great. But we’ve never stopped putting out records. And that’s it. Other bands reform, we haven’t, we just keep going.”

Kyle Harcott speaks to Killing Joke mainman Jaz Coleman on the eve of the release of their newest album Absolute Dissent.