“What’s THIS For...!” by Killing Joke - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1981Album Chart of the Decade: 1980s

TJR says

8 months on from their self-titled debut, the second Killing Joke arrived in June, 1981. They remain: Jaz Coleman (vocals, synthesizer), Geordie Walker (guitar), Martin 'Youth' Glover (bass guitar) and Paul Ferguson (drums, vocals). They came into this one in good heart, with a well-received tour and their first UK chart entry, “Follow The Leaders”, which peaked at #55 just as the album was being released. Whether they are or aren't, lots of Killing Joke songs sound like war, and that's the case in the evocative tribalism of “The Fall Of Because” which opens the set brilliantly. The titular phrase is attributed to occultist Aleister Crowley in his 1904 book “Liber AL vel Legis” (a.k.a. “The Book of the Law”). The emancipation of mankind from all limitations whatsoever is one of the main precepts of the Book. The Joke are as heavy as they sound. The rhythms of war are on the march again in “Unspeakable”, another lyrically impenetrable side one highlight: “Keep running 'cause it's nightmare time, Every direction leading to the same place, I wonder who chose the colour scheme - it's very nice. Unspeakable.” A sardonic wit binds these pieces, and the drums keep thundering away until the final “Exit”. Rarely will you hear a drummer dominate an album to such great effect.

The Jukebox Rebel
24–Dec–2008

Tracklist
A1 [05:12] 7.9.png Killing Joke - The Fall Of Because (Jaz Coleman, Kevin Walker, Martin Glover, Paul Ferguson) Post-Punk
A2 [04:33] 6.1.png Killing Joke - Tension (Jaz Coleman, Kevin Walker, Martin Glover, Paul Ferguson) Post-Punk
A3 [05:20] 7.3.png Killing Joke - Unspeakable (Jaz Coleman, Kevin Walker, Martin Glover, Paul Ferguson) Post-Punk
A4 [06:11] 6.0.png Killing Joke - Butcher (Jaz Coleman, Kevin Walker, Martin Glover, Paul Ferguson) Post-Punk
B1 [05:37] 6.6.png Killing Joke - Follow The Leaders (Jaz Coleman, Kevin Walker, Martin Glover, Paul Ferguson) New Wave
B2 [07:43] 4.7.png Killing Joke - Madness (Jaz Coleman, Kevin Walker, Martin Glover, Paul Ferguson) Post-Punk
B3 [03:37] 5.9.png Killing Joke - Who Told You How? (Jaz Coleman, Kevin Walker, Martin Glover, Paul Ferguson) Post-Punk
B4 [03:42] 6.9.png Killing Joke - Exit (Jaz Coleman, Kevin Walker, Martin Glover, Paul Ferguson) Post-Punk

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