Pandemonium

Album Review

After Killing Joke's lengthiest hiatus since it was founded, the band returned in 1994 with a new/old lineup and an interesting enough new album. Paul Raven, the group's bassist since the Night Time days, was replaced by original bassist Youth, who produced the album and released it on his label. Compared to the newfound intensity of Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions, Pandemonium partially steps away from the neo-industrial/thrash of that effort and toward a more varied, often quite surprising experience. With no single drummer replacing Martin Atkins, the threesome work with a number of performers, Jaz Coleman in particular bringing in some of the Egyptian musicians whom he had worked with on a variety of projects, including his collaborative work with Anne Dudley. Noted percussionist Hossam Ramzy takes a key role, replacing the frenetic fire of Paul Ferguson's work with a subtler, more textured approach, while Aboud Abdel's violin further gives Pandemonium a haunting edge, to some extent aiming to re-creating the epic, mysterious stomp of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" for a newer day. Elsewhere, the straight-ahead rampage of "Exorcism" and "Whiteout" show that Killing Joke hasn't forgotten the power of sheer intensity, and if Ferguson's sheer power and inventiveness is missed the most here, the results are still a thrilling, fierce listen. The core Coleman/Geordie Walker partnership remains strong, the latter at points holding back on his more scalpel-sharp approach for a thicker, overdubbed flow, sometimes — as on "Jana" — finding a friendly, open style that revisits the radio-friendly AOR days of the band without actually sucking. In turn, Coleman slides between his declamatory persona and the closer, more controlled style of later efforts; the combination — as on the striking, massive wallop of "Communion" — can be incredible, the contrast between the verses and searing choruses proving captivating. [This version of the album contains bonus material.]