Killing Joke
Democracy

It is well known that even the greatest make mistakes, and in sixteen years of career, Killing Joke had never produced an album that could truly be considered negligible and unworthy of the band's great name. It was destined that sooner or later the myth would fall, and the capitulation came in 1996 with "Democracy": the title is one of those interesting ones that says everything and nothing, arousing curiosity and expectations. The cover is really beautiful. Alas, the same cannot be said about the album's content: for the first time, terms like tiredness, reflux, craftsmanship, and lack of incisiveness can be used to refer to Killing Joke. Yes, this review will be a well-thought-out, reasoned, weighed but clear and unequivocal critique.

I have already talked about the two albums preceding "Democracy," namely "Extremities..." and "Pandemonium": two different records, united by a great expressive and musical power. I consider the first a masterpiece without mincing words, the second a product of very high class. It's a shame that with "Democracy" this great sonic strength dissipates like snow in the sun. It is worth remembering that, sixteen years after their debut, Killing Joke is now a "middle-aged" band; the inspiration is no longer continuous and torrential as in the beginning, and the two years that separate "Democracy" from "Pandemonium" may be too short a period of time, insufficient to once again create favorable and positive premises. The fact is that the final result is an uninspired, empty, and almost never incisive album. A potentially impactful, catchy, and melodically well-conceived single like "Democracy" is not enough to save the situation. Examining the lyrics, an essential and indispensable component of every KJ work, one finds less cohesion compared to previous episodes; taken individually, they always remain beautiful texts: fascinating, poetic, characterized by evocative and immediate images and metaphors, but there is no underlying idea, no common thread: social critique, celebration of nature, feelings, even a bit of optimism; it's a collection of beautiful scattered sonnets rather than an epic poem like its predecessors.

However, the real pain point of "Democracy" is obviously the musical aspect: apart from the title track, the highest peaks (hillocks) are found in episodes like the opener "Savage Freedom", in which the solid riff of Geordie Walker is appreciated, but mostly he is very overshadowed in this unfortunate album, and the bass of the always excellent Youth. The ecstatic "Lanterns", from whose catchy refrain beams of hope radiate, and the atmosphere of melancholy and disorientation in "Pilgrimage" with its hypnotic tribal rhythm, perhaps the album's gem, which says it all, because they are good works of craftsmanship, which would have been nothing more than very dignified fillers in "Pandemonium." The rest of "Democracy" is all a continuous roundabout: "Aeons" tries to replicate the trance atmospheres, the obsessive groove of "Mathematics Of Chaos" without having any of its evocative power and sonic virulence: it's basically stuff we've already heard. This is how all other episodes can be summed up: "Prozac People", "Absent Friends", "Another Bloody Election"; "Intellect" at least would have a nice danceable groove, but the flatness of the melody ruins everything, "Medicine Wheel" with its initial pan flute seems to hit the mark with its ethnic, evocative atmosphere but it's a flash in the pan; as soon as the real song starts, it falls back into the void.

The tiredness is evident and palpable, especially in Geordie Walker, who, not surprisingly, will declare himself dissatisfied without mincing words with the final outcome of the album. Even Jaz Coleman is not without blame, as his singing turns out to be decidedly too monotonal, too tilted towards the guttural side of his voice, which completely smothers the cleaner one, styles that in "Extremities..." were perfectly dosed and alternated despite that album's much heavier weight compared to "Democracy." Martin "Youth" Glover is excellent and impeccable as usual, but he alone is not enough. Very few and confused ideas, the only "novelties" worth noting are reduced to a few acoustic arpeggios, including the one of the title track, and the rest is mediocre recycling. For the Killing Joke, it's time for a long hibernation, and here closes my small journey into the history of this extraordinary band: it closes with an episode that is certainly not exciting, but it has been a pleasure to recount this underestimated and still flourishing artistic period in the history of a group that has given so much to music, and certainly a "Democracy" will not tarnish a reputation "semper imitatum, numquam idem".