Sons Of The Silent Age

Absolute Dissent (Spinefarm Records, 2010) is the fourteenth studio album by Killing Joke. Absolute Dissent has the sludgy sonic quality of their 2006 release Hosannas from the Basements of Hell, much of the same metal influence of their 2003 album Killing Joke, and the melodic grandeur of 1986's Brighter Than a Thousand Suns. Apocalypse, geopolitics, population, societal control, and random acts of kindness are some of the main themes in the album. The opening track, "Absolute Dissent", with its chopping guitar, the frantic dance beat, the hymn-like chorus, and the apocalyptic content, sounds utterly euphoric somehow mimic their classic 1980 song "Pssyche". The album's second track, "The Great Cull", is a heavy song in the style of their 2003 album, Killing Joke. It talks about Malthusianism, the Codex Alimentarius for creating a sick population, water fluoridation and dopamine increased in the brain, chemtrails, malleable population, and mass control to maintain the population preferably around 500 million. Single "European Super State", the most commercial track on the album, is a mixture of dance-punk, UK hard house, and electronic body music, with a soundscape fitting of Depeche Mode's Violator era. It is a continuation of their convictions about the European dream. Q magazine gave the album a rating of four stars out of five, pointing out that "The post-punk provocateurs' 13th album finds them straddling post-millennial metal and ritualistic pounding, Jaz Coleman still roaring like he's the only sane person in a world of fools". Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England. Founding members Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards) and Geordie Walker (guitars) have been the only constant members. A key influence on industrial rock, their early music was described by critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and John Dougan as "quasi-metal ... dancing to a tune of doom and gloom," which gradually evolved over the years, incorporating elements of electronic music, synth-pop, gothic rock and alternative rock, though always emphasising Coleman's "savagely strident vocals."