Killing Joke is one of those groups, who's output just seems so vast, it's hard for someone to really know quite where to start, and none of their 'collection' releases really seem to do much justice. The fact is there are only two Killing Joke releases you ever need to worry about. One being their first release, that's the one which sleeve depicts the iconic imagery of shadowy, anonymous figures preparing to demolish a wall. The latter, being their 1986 release 'Brighter Than a Thousand Suns'. This is one of my all time favorites. They had already put out several albums treading closer to a more electronic/industrial, even dancy type sound, which is a high contrast from their first album. Though on early songs such as 'Requiem' and 'Wardance', it's perhaps not so difficult to fathom that BTATS is the album they would be releasing half a decade later. The title of the album refers to a quote describing the explosion of a nuclear bomb. Well, armageddon had come and gone, well not exactly, but 
at least Jaz Coleman had returned from his hide out in Iceland at this point to continue writing some extremely foreboding, cryptic, and very 'dance' sounding Killing Joke records. The production of BTATS is larger than life, very dramatic, very ethereal. Huge sounding drums, guitars that slice through your brain with lazer-like precision, pounding bass lines, and to top it off is Jaz Colemans over the top vocals. There is really nothing I could say to do this album justice. The atmosphere is tense, while the mind bending lyrics create visions of apocolyptic beauty. If you are a Sandman fan (dork, I know) you are probably already into this album. If not, this is the perfect album to have playing while reading volumes of Sandman. It's as if Coleman is chanelling some great, ancient mythological god, recalling the past, looking into the future, watching down from the heavens as we 'Move like pawns on chessboards.' Stand out tracks are, well, all of them really...But 'Sanity', which contains an eerie piano melody, over frightening guitars, and a heavy dance beat, and 'Chessboards' are probably the greatest. Do yourself a favor and find this album!
"So let the sunrise light up the distant shores And we'll remember last days of Rome again"
7 comments:
that art is beautiful
Then definitely check out Sandman. They used alot of different artists for the series, but the story is incredible. It was actully one of the first comics to win a certain, very prestigious literary award. Also mostly responsible for use of the term 'graphic novel'
i have the full Sandman on a disk somewheres, way to good to be true. neil is amazing, as are killing joke.
Amebix were heavily influenced by that first Killing Joke record. Have you ever heard the Metallica cover of The Wait?
shit, that's sandman?? i havent even thought about that comic in years, i used to go to forbidden planet and read that because i could never afford to actually buy it in the aisles all the time when i was like 14 years old... i had a big girl crush on death, haha
Yeah, I don't know how Metallica goes from covering 'The Wait' to group therapy sessions... I've bought like 2 volumes of Sandman a year for the last like 5 or so years, and still haven't finished reading the damn thing. Now they have that huge ultimate edition or whatever, which is cool though cause I think it has alot of the great cover art...one day it will be mine. I think we can count on the fact that as long as Gaiman is alive, he won't let it become another shitty hollywood comic book gimick movie.
I have a pretty good ex-employee discount at FP if you wanna make use of it.
Sandman is a big investment though, long as hell and not all that cool.
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