Band:	Killing Joke
Album:	Absolute Dissent
Style:	Post-Punk, Industrial metal
Release date:	September 27, 2010
A review by:	jupitreas

01. Absolute Dissent
02. The Great Cull
03. Fresh Fever From The Skies
04. In Excelsis
05. European Super State
06. This World Hell
07. Endgame
08. The Raven King
09. Honour The Fire
10. Depthcharge
11. Here Comes The Singularity
12. Ghosts Of Ladbroke Grove

On 19 September 1987, during a typically rambling and insane lecture, Jaz Coleman warned his listeners of the impending awakening of the Elder Gods and the terrible apocalypse that is to follow. Mankind's sole means of countering a planetary invasion is through contact with the forgotten ones, gods that "dwell in the individual and irrational unconscious, (...) are the gods of survival, they are pre-rational, they are blind and immensely powerful, (...) their force manifested in man as hunger, the sex urge, the 'fight or flight' adrenaline reaction and the tribal cohesion factor". Killing Joke is therefore, of course, conceptually an attempt at summoning the forgotten ones to consciousness, releasing and consequently reabsorbing their force through comprehension.

With all of this in mind, Absolute Dissent, with its monumental cover artwork and inflated expectations is very much intended to be the ultimate attempt at magickal revolution that this band could muster at this time. Proclaiming a stance of ultimate counter-culture against the ideology-broadcasting majority, this album certainly is supposed to evoke feelings of grandeour and of rebellion of the most epic proportions. Unfortunately... it really doesn't manage to go this far. Here is Killing Joke, a band whose creative spark influenced everyone (Kirk Hammet, Kurt Cobain, Al Jourgensen, Trent Reznor, Mike Patton, countless others and more than likely, even your dog) and amidst the thundering production one can't help but notice that this spark is gone. Sure, most of the songs here are actually quite enjoyable: "The Great Cull" tramples all underfoot in a way that recalls "The Wait", whereas "Here Comes The Singularity" is propelled by an immediately addicitive vintage riff. The band's tribute to Paul Raven, "The Raven King" is a fantastically beautiful song held in the style of Brighter Than A Thousand Suns. Nevertheless, amongst these and some other highlights, there are also mediocre, uneventful and forgettable songs such as "Fresh Fever From The Sky", "This World Hell" and "Depthcharge". Paul Ferguson's amazing rhythmic talents are criminally under-used here - if a basic song like "European Super State" is so moving due to a focus on rhythm, just how amazing would a proper rhythmic workout have been? This is just one of the questions on one's mind while listening to Absolute Dissent, leading to the realization that while desperately still trying to sound fresh, Killing Joke is far too busy trying to please everyone. And how does a conformist attitude like this equal absolute dissent?

It doesn't. Hosannas From The Basement Of Hell, with it's cruel slabs of repetitive sludge took the band's vision to huge extremes, while Killing Joke 2003 was strikingly modern. Both of these albums were more relevant for their times than Absolute Dissent is for ours. These particular forgotten ones - Jaz Coleman, Geordie Walker, Martin "Youth" Glover and Paul Ferguson just sound a little tired and set in their ways. With this said, if we are to take this album simply as a collection of songs, its an enjoyable ride. It merely doesn't live up to Killing Joke's legend, myth and cult. Whether this is a problem is truly up to the listener to decide.