Search - :: Pandemonium

Pandemonium!

mike | chapel hill, NC | 11/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Though not as freaked-out as the earlier stuff, this album kicks a lot of ass. It's more in the style of industrial music. Very bass-heavy and dancey, sporting similar-sounding guitars as the debut. The lyrics as always are doom-prophesies and weird occultist poetry of sorts. The production may be lacking at some points like "Mathematics of Chaos", but the songwriting is top-notch. "Jana" is one of their most truly beautiful songs."

Wall Of Sound Record

EerieVonEvil | The Rabbit Hole | 12/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album to this day still kicks ass. I like Fire Dances, NightTime, and the 2003 album alot but this record takes the cake for heavy groove layden songs. Bad ass. Killing Joke rules."

Return to greatness for Killing Joke.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 04/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After a messy few years filled with trouble-- including the loss of original drummer Paul Fergeson, a Jaz Coleman solo album forced out by the record label as a Killing Joke album (and rushed to be finished at that), and a disasterous reunion with industrial drummer Martin Atkins that broke the band up, Killing Joke looked done for good. But when guitarist Geordie called original bassist Youth while assembling a "best-of" compilation (the superb "Laugh? I Nearly Bought One!"), they talked about working together again. The result, after getting in touch with vocalist Jaz Coleman, is probably the strongest Killing Joke album in a long time.



"Pandemonium" is really a reflection of what the band members have been up to since the last time the three of them worked together-- the more industrial edged sounds of the previous album ("Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions") and side project Murder, Inc. (Martin Atkins-assembled group of all the KJ members past and present minus Coleman) is apparent ("Exorcism", "Black Moon"), but so is the Middle Eastern music that has so heavily influenced Coleman's compositional works ("Pandemonium", "Millenium" and "Communion" in particular, all among the best of the Killing Joke catalog) and the Youth's techno/ambient production work ("Labyrinth" and the relentless "Whiteout"). Its really a standout album-- sort of tribal Killing Joke sounds meets Middle Eastern percussion meets industrial. Lyrically, Coleman is largely concerned with his belief that the world will reduce into tribes (a theme that would reoccur on the followup), although some songs are far more human in nature-- notably the swirling "Jana", about a woman with A.I.D.S. There's a couple moments that aren't particularly exciting ("Pleasures of the Flesh"), but these are few and far between.



This album is essential for any Killing Joke fan, or any industrial fan, or anyone interested in genre-fusing music. Its a great record, highly recommended."