As I remember, I first became away of aware of Killing Joke as a thing in about 1982/1983. It was the sight of a scary looking bloke in a cut down T-shirt (weren't they all then!) bearing the image of a disconsolate jester that I recall. I thought nothing more of it until I heard 'Eighties' on The Tube quite a few months later. My next encounter with the band was when someone gave me a C90 cassette which had on one side 'Permanent Waves' by Rush (the album with 'Spirit of Radio' on it), whilst the other was better for it was Killing Joke's first album. In the weeks that followed, this borrowed tape was in heavy rotation.... well one side of it was at least! I still cannot believe that a lot of the revision for my mock O-levels was done with that album in the background!
In January 1985 I heard 'Love Like Blood' the single that heralded the arrival of the band's fifth studio album, 'Night Time' due for release the following month. There were no two ways about it, 'Love Like Blood' was an immense powerhouse of a song and I fell for it big time. So come February I was off to W.H. Smiths (perhaps with a Christmas Record Token in hand) to get the new album).
'Night Time', the song, sets the tempo for this, if not their best album one that is in most fan's top 5 I would guess. The two Pauls, Ferguson and Raven drive the tracks along with thunderous drums and bass, whilst moody keyboards glide over the top and provide a counterpoint to Jaz Coleman's unmistakable vocals. 'Night Time' feels like a complete body of work, everything is in its correct place. There is not a duff track on it and certainly no filler. It was a real return to form after 1983's rather patchy 'Fire Dances' album (an album that was perhaps always going to struggle as the follow up to another classic, the 'Revelations' album).
I think 'Night Time' was a turning point for Killing Joke. Many of the songs on the album, 'Love Like Blood' and 'Europe' for example, compositionally remind me of religious music, hymns I suppose, a writing style that the band have carried through to subsequent albums.
I know that there is a lot of cross over with The Stranglers fan base and Killing Joke (I believe Jaz is a fan of the band), but in case you are unfamiliar with them, then 'Night Time' would be the perfect point at which to jump in... then work both backwards and forwards to understand just how diverse their material has been over many years.
Unfortunately, I don't have a full complement of UK music press reviews for 'Night Time', so these will have to do for now.
Record Mirror (2nd March 1985)
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