Pandemonium (Zoo)
by Paul Lee
They’ve had many important disciples in the rock world. From Metallica to Prong to Nine Inch Nails; all have cited the infamous Killing Joke as an influence. Since 1980, they’ve been firing out their angst-filled music and now, after a hiatus, they’ve come back with Pandemonium. Killing Joke can still blast the world with its distinctive, technologically-enhanced sound.
Personally, I only know one Killing Joke song from their past: “Eighties.” I dug them, but never got around to checking them out. Well, now I’ve heard Pandemonium a number of times and it has grown on my cortical region. One element that makes Killing Joke so electrifying is their ability to vacillate between the cerebral and the guttural. If I had to label their sound on Pandemonium, I would say it’s technical punk. It’s moshable at times and danceable at others. They have a number of mid-Eastern musicians to add to some worldly and mysterious melodies, and even did some of the recording in The Kings Chamber, which is in a pyramid in Egypt. Talk about experimentation!
With ten songs and over sixty minutes of music, Pandemonium thunders and courses in your veins. Songs like “Whiteout” hammer away with its tech-beat and punked-up power without even coming close to being a thrash song. “Exorcism” keeps the heavy groove going while songs like “Jana” and “Pleasures of the Flesh” lean more towards the mellow, cerebral end of the scale. Don’t worry, the lyrics will challenge your thought patterns as well, but you have to grab a copy of Pandemonium to hear for yourself.
Unfortunately for you diehard Killing Joke fans, I can’t tell you the quality of Pandemonium in comparison to their previous stuff. One artist here at Lollipop, a self-professed Killing Joke fan, gave this album a clear thumbs-to-the-heavens. At times, a couple of the longer songs (around seven minutes) got a bit repetitive. A small price to pay though for an album of this overall quality. Killing Joke are back to show all the young ‘uns in the industry how to use technology and rage with class and intelligence.