Killing Joke- Killing Joke (1980)

 

This is uncannily of its time and quite brilliant. The soundscape, the production: both are so different from the much later singles from which I knew the band. Instead, we have a sound that echoes Magazine, Public Image Limited, the zeitgeist of 1980, a year when punk was fractured and all was in play for a decade of defiance.

The sound is exquisite. The vocals are surprisingly either absent or low in the mix. This is fine. In fact, within context, a plus. This is not what I expected.

I shall be seeing this band in March, with my awesome cousin... and a certain very lovely lady. The next Mrs Llamasttrangler. It will be a delicious occasion.

This is not, perhaps, too remisiscent of the later albums by which the band would come to be known. It's very post-punk, if very good. Yet this is a quietly seminal post-punk album, and one that prefigures greater things from the band.