[kj] Hosannas Day two

[Christof hamille]

All right

So I gave it another listen on my way into work.  It works a lot better on 
the car stereo but I am still convinced that it is a intentional leak witha  
bad mix.  the biggest reson being that the levels go up and down noticeably 
quite a bit.

So a few things that I will mention about the album in general before going 
track by track

1. Drumming is bland.  I definately hear some interesting/complex bass and 
hih-hat/cymbal work.  But to me that is not part of the Killing Joke sound.  
More dynamic then Pandemonium or Democracy.  But it almost sounds like it 
could have been a drum machine

2.  the majority of these songs are toooo long.  It seemed to start with 
BTATS but was real noticeable on Extremities and Pandemonium.  Democracy and 
2003 do not seem to suffer from that as much.  Also all of the Murder Inc 
and Damage Manual stuff plods on to long also

3. I liked 2003.  And one reason that stands out to (this may not be true) 
me is that the songs seem to be written individually.  Where as Extremities, 
Pandemonium and Democracy seemed like the situation was thata they needed to 
put an album out.  So get together in the studio and come up with something. 
  This isn't necesarilly bad and a lot of bands do this (especially 
established).  But 2003 seemed more about the individual song then the album 
as a whole

4.  I can hear the bass fine.  It is mixed more as a presence.  Which is 
common in a lot of recordings and KJ for that matter.  If you took it out of 
the mix you would definately notice it is gone.  It is a link between the 
guitar and drums.

On to the tracks

1. This Tribal Antidote - The shortest song on the album at 4:15.  I like 
this song.  A KJ rocker with some nice Geordie work.  There are some subtle 
keyboard effects that work nicely.  Not the strongest but by no means weak.

2.  Hosannas from the basement of Hell - 5:52 - I think this is where the 
continuation of 2003 is present.  Pretty much the same as above.  Start and 
stop dynamics.  No problems with this song.  If I had to pick something I 
would say work on the keyboard sound.  And maybe trim a little of the fat.

3.  Invocation - 7:54 - This has more of a Pandemonium feel to it.  Middle 
Eastern flair with the repetitive guitar/bass lines.  I actually like this 
song quite a bit.  BUT not as a stand alone song.  This is a perfect song as 
a background o something.  A DVD menu, video game intro, something.  More of 
an instrumental.  The keyboards would have been 100 times better as real 
violins then samples.  If they play this live this is the "time to get a 
beer" song just because of the length.  I could imagine this being the 
opener and taking ove rCommunion.

4.  Implosion - 6:41 - Too long.  This may be one of the weaker ones.  In 
line with 2003.  The chorus is nice.  Between it sounding like a 2003 
leftover and being to long I rack this up with Millenium and Loose Cannon.  
Not the best examples of the album.

5.  Majestic - 5:40 - Right now this is my favorite one.  Repetitive but it 
has a great build up. I get more of an Extremities feel from it.  It sounds 
like there may be some better drumming here.  Will have to wait for the 
final mix.

6.  Walking with Gods - 8:36 - Again tooo long.  This certainly has the 
goth/spookly club sounds/samples going on.  Keyboards are much more 
important to this song.  I guesss a Pandemonium feel but Pandemonium seem to 
have better tones.  Once it finally gets to the chorus it gets better.  
Between the length and hokey sequencing I would liekly skip over this one 
more often.

7.  Lightbringer - 9:38 - Asteroid part 2.  I like Asteroid.  And I think 
the pay off here isn't nearly as dramatic.  Maybe part of it is the length.  
It is good but just way to long.  3:45 and the song would improve 100%

8.  Judas Goat - 6:21 - Interesting song.  The dynamics and transitions are 
not typical Killing Joke.  Does it pay off?  For me yes.  But I will see how 
many will not like this song.  A mellower song.  Which is fine by me.

9.  Gratitude - 7:04 - For a brief a second I though this was Loose Cannon.  
Again too long.  Jaz is singing (gravelly at times).  I like the song but I 
am not sure if I would end the album on this.  It seems more liek a middle 
song.


There you have it.  I don't know if I would listen to this much at first.  
But to be fair I barely touched Democracy when it first came out and now it 
is part of the regular rotation and I hardly listen to Extremities and 
Pandemonium now.  And when those first two came out I was listening to them 
every wakign minute. I guess it is more subtle in it Killing Jokeness

Chris