KILLING JOKE — Pylon (review)

KILLING JOKE — Pylon album cover Album · 2015 · Industrial Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Pylon" is the 15th full-length studio album by UK industrial rock/metal act Killing Joke. The album was released through Spinefarm Records in October 2015. It´s the successor to "MMXII" from 2012. Killing Joke formed in 1978 and has been through some lineup changes throughout the years, but after the death of long time bassist Paul Raven in 2007, the original lineup of Jaz Coleman (lead vocals, keyboards), Kevin "Geordie" Walker (guitars), Martin "Youth" Glover (bass), and Paul Ferguson (drums, vocals) reunited, with the addition of keyboard player Reza Uhdin. And as "Pylon" is now the third studio release featuring this lineup, it has turned out a long lived reunion.

Stylistically the music featured on the album is unmistakably the sound of Killing Joke. They´ve made adjustments to their sound over the last 20 years, but the more riff oriented and metal oriented sound they introduced on "Pandemonium (1994)" is still the blueprint on "Pylon". The band´s style has always been hard to describe, but hard pounding repeated beats, atmospheric guitars/keyboards (sometimes harder edged and raw riffing), a rumbling bass, and Jaz Coleman´s strangely monotone clean vocals and occasional more raw shouting ditto, is a valid description. At times it´s quite powerful music, but Killing Joke also masters a more atmospheric sound.

The material on the 10 track, 57:09 minutes long album is well written, and although slightly same sounding (which is not unusual for Killing Joke), quite catchy and for the most part memorable. Tracks like "Dawn of the Hive" and "New Jerusalem" set the high standard, but the remaining tracks are equal in quality. The deluxe version of the album features a second disc with more material recording during the same sessions, and those tracks are of a high quality too, and could easily have been included on the regular version of the album.

The album is relatively well produced although I could have wished for a slightly more sharp and edgy sound. Overall "Pylon" is a very well sounding release though. The musicianship is as always strong and upon conclusion "Pylon" is yet another high quality release by Killing Joke and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Great review, 'Dawn of the Hive' and 'New Jerusalem' are easily my favorites as well. Incredibly catchy stuff.

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