Killing Joke - "Lord of Chaos"

The world needs Killing Joke more than ever.  The band is currently working on a full length to that the two new songs on this ep are setting the tone for. Hopefully we will see a new album from them before the world ends, but if we do not then this will have to serve as their last will and testament, as it is the first new music in 7 years. They have gotten even heavier over the years with their brand of industrial strength post-punk. This song is mixed in a way where Jaz's vocals are more of an instrument. That causes the lyrics to not hit you from a pulpit even though he has some opinions about things going on today. I think this is interesting, though Coleman's opinions have veered off course of what the mainstream metal narrative, seems to be set the course for raging for the machine rather than against it. Here is singing about how technology is taking over, painting a dystopian picture very consistent with their work as a whole  

Where Jaz's vocals are more aggressive on "Lord of Chaos", "Total" finds the band giving him more room to breathe and creates a broader space for the vocals to exist. This gives the harder dynamic on the chorus more effect. It is the ole soft to loud formula, that got popularized in the 90s with grunge. Then we have two songs from the "Pylon" album remixed. This has made them dancier. The line in the lyrics to " Big Buzz" that was lifted from "the Book of the Law", ... "every man and woman is a star" stand out more in this mic. Coleman's occult leaning has always been noted, well at least by me, but are worked into a bigger picture, similar to what writer Alan Moore does. Killing Joke in this era would not be unlike the sonic equivalent to his series "Transmetropolitan". This version moves from a different place and is a worthwhile take on the song, 

 The dub remix that Youth oversees is way more techno than what you might expect from them. When I say techno here it is not the old white guy's way of saying a genre of electronic music is does not know, but because it makes me think of the "Rave til Dawn" flavored fare re-mixes were thought of as being in the 90s.  Yes 90s is once again dating the era of this frame of reference , but dance music as not changed since the 70s, there are just more commercial ways of coloring it than others. Overall the first two songs are pretty great and hold up with their work of the past 20 years. I will give this a 9.5 for what it is to hold us over til the new album.