[kj] Perceptions so far.

[Mark Kolmar]

First Fossil has it about right.  Also Rangecroft says:

> Don't get me wrong, I _do_ like the new one. It's just that, all things considered, ED&VRE is a bit better.

_Hosannas_ is the best album they have done since _Extremities_.  2003
makes _Pandemonium_ and _Democracy_ seem a bit by-the-numbers, even
despite the new elements those two records had.  The sound is a bit
undercooked this time, but that is true of most of the catalog.  It
might have helped to bring in a fresh set of ears to do the final mix.
 A mastering engineer can only do so much.  The songs that sound like
you've heard them before are mostly stronger this time.

Some of Geordie's riffs reach new levels of abstraction.  If you are
looking for hooks in your Joke, _Hosannas_ is not about that.  If you
try to take this record for what it is rather than what you expected
it to be, it has a creepy power.  File it alongside other hard-to-take
records like Foetus' _Thaw_ or The Cure's _Pornography_.

Like the joke about country songs, if you play _Hosannas_ backwards,
I'd half expect genocides in Darfur would be undone, Ahmadinejad in
Iran would have the stroke instead of Sharon, and Saddam would return
to power and be contained.

--Mark

On 4/12/06, first fossil <firstfossil at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> I think Hosannas is a stormer, with the last two songs in particular being a
> step forward. I know it's another bloody Kashmir, but Invocation is a
> blissful 8 minutes if you just let it roll over you.
>
> A bit disappointed that some people are so indifferent to it. I'm curious to
> know what people were realistically expecting or hoping from Killing Joke
> this year.
>
> To those who are now coming out exalting KJ03, compare the soundalikes:
> What's Dark Forces against Invocation?
> And Asteroid against Lightbringer?