Killing Joke: MMXII (2012)

Hilarious

Killing Joke is a legendary band, hardly in need of any introductions. Nevertheless, I haven't made myself familiar with their discography. The only one of their records I've heard was 2006's Hosannas from the Basement of Hell. But I liked that record quite a bit, so when I happened across their new record MMXII, I thought I'd try it out.

And it's quite a bit different. Comparatively, Hosannas is much further into industrial metal territory, while MMXII is a lot more post-punk, with an infusion of 80's style synth-pop. I'm not ordinarily big on any kind of punk, but the synth-pop spin on heavy music--well, that's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.


The record ends up being much more varied, from the metallic "Glitch," to the industrial "Rapture," to the punky "Corporate Elect," to the synth-pop "In Cythera." It's still quite clearly the same band throughout, with a coherent style, but the varied songwriting allows each song to stand out a bit more and be more memorable. That is, of course, helped along by the fact these songs are catchy as a post-apocalyptic zombie infection, especially "Colony Collapse."

Speaking of post-apocalyptic, that is the general theme of the lyrics, for those of you who care about such things. For the rest of you, all you need to know is your body will be moving, and you will be humming these songs long after the record is over.



The Verdict: MMXII is the catchiest piece of music I've heard this year. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. It has convinced me to add some early Killing Joke to my very small punk collection of Misfits, Samhain, and Amebix.

Buy MMXII