Killing Joke - 'Loose Cannon' (Zuma)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Some people just never lighten up. You'd think that after 25 years of being in a band often cited as one of the most influential of the past few decades, Killing Joke could finally afford to sit back and, you know, crack a smile or something. Come on, guys - everyone from Steve Albini to Nick Cave counts you as an influence, even Dave Grohl was falling over himself to bash the drums on your new album... surely now is a moment for some self-contented joy?
Not by the sounds of this. 'Loose Cannon' is indeed joy, but not in an uplifting sense - it's dark, imposing, and brutal in extremis. It's also painfully slow, industrial strength guitars drawing out its foreboding sense of doom with every calculated step. Instead of age softening the 'Joke, it seems to have made them all the angrier. Take vocalist Jaz Coleman, for example - time has hardly calmed him down, his voice now even deeper and more full of grit than it was in their 1980s heyday.
Grohl drums as if every strike is a profound honour, a sentiment that's entirely understandable. 'Loose Cannon' brings Killing Joke back into frame with one almighty, utterly welcome bang. Quite what the famously tame V2003 audience will make of them is anyone's guess.
Artists in this article: Killing Joke
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