(From the NME, UK Music weekly, 18 September 1982)

Brilliant/The Jungle

The Venue

Autumn '82 and there's a rare abrasion in the air, a new purpose. It's now cold in the mornings and we find we don't sleep so much. We communicate in short spasms these days and lick away at drips of irony and cynicism (which is this generation's acid). We do not tolerate fools - or those who lure us towards precipitous paths. We play the smart-money game to our own satisfaction - a new kind of Brilliance in fact!

So the smouldering ruin that was a Killing Joke that was swept into the gutter. Were those roads to freedom really just a maze; was the illusion of hope just more barricades? How sad to have found barbed wire works from both sides!

Youth has made Brilliant. They used to call him Pig Youth. I liked the way he wallowed in a flatulent mire of self-indulgence - before he found a new home for his brain. That's the way for any youth to live / should live.  If Joke was a loud-mouthed sex bully trying to get it up and failing, Brilliant is a sexual athlete who humps structures to orgasm.  Youth's band wear the mantle of might well - and carry us bravely on their sound . . . .

Not so psychosis-ridden Jungle. Their night turned to sickly yellow at the edges. Their brutalism merely spat in vague ciphers. We must accept that in these advanced days, here we [text missing here]

Speaking of which, the band many had apparently come to see, the modestly named Brilliant! Formed by Youth after the various Killing Joke defections/fiascos and playing only their third gig, they were confident and in control.

They're fronted by Marcus, who was plucked from Brighton obscurity and has been looking increasingly anorexic ever since, and create a dark intense sound with sinister undertones.

There's a danceable feel though; the heavy rhythms are less brooding than KJ's and Marcus' powerful voice gives him the emotional edge, sounding not unlike Bono at times.

Youth's bass dominates, giving a primeval feel, with dense and absorbing drum patterns to make an all-out attack on the senses. 'Push' and 'Over And Out' were both stunning: Expect to hear a lot more soon.