Killing Joke - XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey

“We have so much work to do tonight” announces Jaz Coleman between the first two songs on this latest live offering from Killing Joke. The fourteen years between those two songs would be a lot of work on its own, but that’s only part of the story. The title of XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey is pretty self-explanatory, a collection of Killing Joke songs spanning their entire career, recorded live at their 25th anniversary shows in February.

Killing Joke are one of those bands who always managed to escape the mainstream consciousness, but nevertheless had a big impact on the music scene by influencing a whole generation who came after them. Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Ministry, Metallica, Fear Factory and many others freely admit to having drawn inspiration from the Killing Joke sound. Their most recent, self titled album in 2003 has possibly been the most visible to the general music public thanks to the drumming spot being filled by Dave Grohl, who then spent following interviews gushing about how exciting it was to work with such an important band.

The songs on Gathering span everything from this most recent release all the way back to the 1980 debut, also a self-titled album. So how can you objectively review a show which celebrates the fact that a band is older than you? Fortunately in this case it’s easy. Perhaps Killing Joke are lucky to have been spared mainstream success, as the passion and vitality of their music is still prominent. They’re still around because they still have something to say. I myself only discovered the band through the 2003 release, so it’s good to see a few songs from that album like Asteroid, the fast point of the set and a strong crowd singalong. But the real beauty of this album is that you can forget the time span and listen to this right next to tracks like Wardance (1980), Communion (1994) and Sun Goes Down (1992) with none of these periods seeming weaker than the others.

It’s also great to hear the older songs in a slightly different format. The recording is clear and despite much being made of the “rough” nature of the performance, the true test of a bands skill is not their ability to play perfectly, but their ability to keep going and not let any mistakes cause an issue. Thus as Coleman states in the liner notes that this recording is “unoverdubbed [and] imperfect”, it’s followed up with “and beautiful”. So there’s a few mistakes, it just goes to show that Killing Joke still put passion into their performance. It still feels dangerous, because the band still aren’t afraid to do and say what they want. “Who killed Dr David Kelley and Diana… Did Tony Blair know? ... I’m waiting for the truth.” Coleman asks in a break in The Wait. The live setting also gives a new life to even the older songs. Requiem may well be the highlight of the set. The thumping drums, crunchy guitar and pulsing bass/synth sounds are what most modern industrial bands still aim for today.

XXV Gathering celebrates 25 years of one of the pioneers of the industrial scene. But it’s far from the end, with a new album planned for next year.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)