[kj] Positive 8/10 "Pylon" review in Classic Rock: FYI

[Paul Rangecroft]

"...bringing to mind The Teardrop Explodes" - eh?! That can't be right.

On 10/2/15, Rheinhold Squeegee <kjlist at live.com> wrote:
> https://www.teamrock.com/reviews/2015-10-02/killing-joke-pylon
>
> [http://files.teamrock.com/images/696d616765-560518690fc6b2.06476013/1280x720.jpg]<https://www.teamrock.com/reviews/2015-10-02/killing-joke-pylon>
>
> Killing Joke: Pylon - TeamRock
> The original line-up release their 16th album, the third in a 'triptych'.
> Read
> more...<https://www.teamrock.com/reviews/2015-10-02/killing-joke-pylon>
>
>
>
> The original line-up release their 16th album, the third in a 'triptych'.
>
> 'Our time has come!' declares Jaz Coleman on opener Autonomous Zone. Which
> is a somewhat strange declaration from a band whose time was generally
> considered to have been the late 70s/early 80s.
>
> But then Killing Joke, Coleman in particular, were always of an apocalyptic
> predisposition; it has probably come as a surprise to them that Western
> civilisation had survived unscathed this far into the 21st century and
> humanity has not been reduced to a pack of survivors poking about in
> irradiated ashes.
>
> Still, with the times presently turbulent geopolitically, as reflected upon
> in tracks like New Cold War, there is always the chance that Coleman and co
> will be vindicated in their heavy-duty pessimism this time round. 'Is this
> the winter of humankind?' asks Coleman on I Am The Virus, perhaps a touch
> hopefully.
>
> In the meantime, there's much to enjoy about Pylon, not least on the
> punitive, jet-black musical side of things. Autonomous Zone is more than a
> return to the Joke at their gale-force finest - it reminds of what came in
> their wake, as if they have been strengthened by feasting on the fruit from
> their own black tree. Machine-like and remorseless, with an attendant mulch
> of electronics, it recalls groups like The Young Gods and Nine Inch Nails,
> the industry that grew up in Killing Joke's wake.
>
> The album stretches to 15 full tracks - 16 including Snakedance, a
> Rattlesnake dub remix by Youth (who went on to work with former Killing Joke
> roadie Alex Paterson in The Orb), which is full of spectacular drops and
> vistas. It suggests the culmination of a head of steam that began with
> previous albums MMXII and Absolute Dissent.
>
> The black-sky riffing of Dawn Of The Hive and Panopticon show that they
> gather up a fast-paced storm like no one else of their era, and, as so many
> to have emerged from the post-punk scene, they have utterly refused to
> mellow with age.
>
> Yet as the title of Euphoria suggests, as well as the Gothic portentousness,
> there is a soaring, epic quality about much of Pylon that reminds of U2 and
> The Cure at their big, early best, even bringing to mind The Teardrop
> Explodes.
>
> Had they been of a more conciliatory, upbeat temperament, maybe Killing Joke
> could have had an alternative career as air-punching stadium rockers. As it
> is, you can expect their upcoming gigs to be packed to the rafters. Their
> time has never really gone away.
>
> FINAL VERDICT: 8/10
>
>