(From BAM, US music magazine, 18 November 1994.)

Killing Joke

November 19, Slim's, SF

November 20, Edge, Palo Alto

Think you know about "industrial" music because you've heard Nine Inch Nails? Thin you know about aggressive techno-metal because you've heard Ministry? Well, both would graciously bow their heads to Killing Joke. One of the world's most potent and volatile bands, Killing Joke has, since its 1980 self-titled debut, produced art-noise designed to scramble brains. Fronted by the enigmatic Jaz Coleman, and currently including original members Geordie Walker on guitar (perhaps the most distinctive player of the last 20 years) and psycho-experimentalist Youth (who's also a renowned producer and re-mixer), KJ's latest album, Pandemonium, is indispensible.  The pounding, aggressive tribal beats are trance-inducing, while other portions of the album float off to the Middle East on a cloud or prompt pogoing or barking like a lunatic. Live, the likes of "Requiem," "Eighties" or "Wardance" will be revealed as timeless classics of the genre. If I wasn't going to be 6000 miles away, I'd beat you for a place up front.

--compiled by Karl Fischer and Alexandra Haslam