[kj] NEW ALBUM - lengthy longnessness

[Alex Smith]

 "and one of the things that's wrong with it is that the tracks are too long"

I've had the album on my iPod for the past several days, trying -- somewhat unsuccessfully -- to warm to it. On my way home from work last night, I was stopped by a friend coming out of a local coffee shop. I didn't have time to take out my ipod and put it on pause (this was right in the middle of "Implosion"). I stopped and chatted with my friend for two or three minutes and then walked on. When I put my headphones back on, "Implosion" was still trudging along -- almost as if I had paused it and then resumed. There was no indication of progress. My problem with too many of the tracks here is that they simply plod along endlessly, often without any semblance of fruition. Middle-eights -- when they finally arrive -- are bittersweet, as they signal that there's still another half song to go.

With the lone exception of "Majestic," there is no real definition to the bass Outside of this track, you'd never know the bass parts were provided by a four-stringed instrument. Poor Benny's drums take a backseat throughout the proceedings, with the possible exception of "Walking with Gods" -- elsewhere it's just a dull, incidental rattle (contrast that with Big Paul's tribal battery on FIRE DANCES and/or What's THIS for..!)

The weakest link overall, though, is Jaz. His vocals are completely shot and his lyrics this time around make "Loose Cannon" read like Homer's "Iliad."

Like the font that blights the cover, Jaz's contributions here have a "that'll do" sort've feel. Speaking of the font, I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in the Russian surrealist artist's studio when he saw what Jaz had scribbled on his painting.

Geordie brings his A-Game to the table (especially on "Universe B," -- a fuckin' B-SIDE!). I will say that, though the album overall suffers from a bit of a tune famine. Not a lot of memorable hooks here. While "hooks" might be the staple of the pop corps, Killing Joke -- for all their scary bluster -- have always found a way to find melody in the madness, and itt's a bit harder to find this time.  There might indeed be tunes here, but they're largely lost in blurry compresion to my ears. There isn't any space for the individual players, and the sum suffers as a result (as far as I'm concerned).

It's not all complaints: I quite like "Tribal Antidote," "Majestic," "Walking with Gods" and the groove of "LightBringer" (otherwise sullied by Jaz's vocals and adamant disregard for singing with any semblance of meter).

If I sound like I'm being unduly harsh, it's because I *KNOW* this band is capable of better, and we've all heard it.


Alex in NYC

-----Original Message-----
>From: fatpotanga <fatpotanga at gmail.com>
>Sent: Apr 4, 2006 7:21 AM
>To: The Gathering <gathering at misera.net>
>Subject: Re: [kj] NEW ALBUM - lengthy longnessness
>
>On 4/4/06 11:51, "Jpwhkj at aol.com" wrote:
>
>> and one of the things that's wrong with it is that the tracks are too long
>
>I don't think anyone would disagree.
>I think I'm going to be wronger than 'Jack McWrong, Wrong Championships all
>time Champion of Champions'  here but I have a niggling suspicion - and when
>I say niggling I mean nothing more than one of those irritating midgies of
>thought that zip past your ear every so often - that it's more akin with
>classical structuring?
>It started on Pandemonium with some of the breaks being overly long - the
>break Communion being case in point - & I almost expect something to happen
>in them but nothing does.
>All songs have a natural length & flow - you can feel when you need to
>insert a change or when a break is needed or something should should end -
>all of which seems to be ignored here.
>Lightbringer (my fave BTW) is very long, but it works because the groove
>carries it.
>
>Maybe they were just having so much fun Jaz kept forgetting to start
>singing? (sorry, shouting)
>
>
>-- 
>
>Cats are elephants
>
>
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