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Sunday, March 30, 2025

EP Review - Light of Eternity: Collateral




Light of Eternity is the perfect name for a band born to deliver catharsis in the darkest of times.

Launched in the fall of 2023 by Killing Joke drummer Big Paul Ferguson as a side project in collaboration with ace singer/bassist Fred Schreck and stunningly inventive guitarist Paul Williams, Light of Eternity unexpectedly became a much-needed soundtrack for many as they faced uncertainty in an increasingly perplexing world — and, for Ferguson, the first step in navigating the prospect of a musical future following the loss of an iconic bandmate and friend — when the trio released its first EP, the four-song Edge of Fate, in June of the following year. (Read my review here.)

Since then, the fellas have been moving really fucking fast. With fans still catching their breath from Light of Eternity’s first sonic onslaught, the band dropped a second four-track EP, Aftershock, a mere seven months later. A few weeks back, the group issued both EPs as a single CD collection under the title Collateral.

Having covered my thoughts on the first four tracks in my previous review, I’ll now explore the pummeling freight train that is Collateral’s second half, Aftershock. These four more recently released tracks expand on the foundation laid by Edge of Fate, making everything even darker, angrier, more danceable (yes, danceable – this is Ferguson laying down the beats, after all), and more incendiary. Naturally, every song is a stunner, but the groove-laden “Dark Hope” is my pick for the definitive jewel of the group’s second release. The song hits its zenith at the 3:20 mark, leaving me sitting agape with the same goosebumps I felt when I first heard the mighty Joke at 10 years old.

If you’re a Gatherer, you know there’s just something about that fucking band. Describe it? Impossible. Feel it? Every damn time. Whatever that intangible magic is that has impacted and changed so many of our lives, Light of Eternity has it, too. In spades.

The release of Collateral came shortly before news broke that Light of Eternity would be supporting Ministry on its upcoming European tour. It's fantastic to know that Schreck — whose talents deserve to be experienced by the largest crowds possible — and Williams will be hitting venues that size. Most significantly, Light of Eternity's well-earned ascent is a victory for Ferguson, whose lengthy self-imposed exile from the music world was finally broken when he rejoined the other original members of Killing Joke in 2007. While it has been fantastic having him back behind the kit in the greatest goddamn band in the world, it has been an even greater joy hearing what he’s done on his own in recent years. While a question mark understandably hangs over the future of his best-known band, Collateral proves that he and his two immensely gifted cohorts aren’t about to accept the state of the world quietly.

Order Collateral



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Friday, May 17, 2024

First Listen: Light of Eternity




It typically takes nine months to birth a human being, but it’s not so common to see a fresh musical idea grow into a fully formed band and a debut EP in the same period. Desiring an opportunity to explore new sonic adventures, veteran Killing Joke drummer and occasional solo artist Big Paul Ferguson began sowing the seeds for what quickly became his latest venture, Light of Eternity (L.O.E.), last August. Enlisting Nashville-based singer/bassist Fred Schreck (The Ancients/Crush/The Billygoats/Satellite Paradiso) and Thailand-based guitarist Pauly Williams (Chaos 8), Ferguson took full advantage of technology to prompt a transatlantic collaboration that will unleash its eponymous four-song EP on June 1.

Naturally, this EP absolutely kills—just not in the ways you may expect.

First off, anyone expecting a continuation of Schreck and Ferguson’s past work together in Crush or The Ancients will find nothing of the sort on this release. As exceptional as that work is, this EP is not a Killing Joke-meets-Crush run through past magic—this is an entirely new aural aesthetic created by two longtime friends who were meant to make music together. While giving the metallic opening track “Edge of Fate” a first listen, I immediately thought that at least two vocalists were belting out the lyrics. Nope, that’s all Schreck—always fantastic but now showcasing a new level of versatility after already spending decades fronting some of the most consistently great outfits in Alternative music. (In my never-humble opinion, The Ancients is one of the best and most underrated bands of all time—and I’m not just saying that because Fred’s a fellow New Jersey native.) Few vocalists get better with age, but few vocalists have stood the test of time with as much grace and unwavering skill as Fred Schreck.

Ferguson also hits a stunning peak on the EP, prompting me to hit the guy’s Messenger to find out how many of the beats may have been programmed. The answer? Fucking none. Big Paul’s drumming has always struck a rock-solid balance between the soulful and the savage, but he drives Light of Eternity with some of his finest work in decades. (Bloody Fire Dances is 41 years old, folks. I don’t know how the man does it. As a fellow drummer, I simultaneously want to worship at his feet and punch him in the mouth.)

The EP’s finest moment, “Lament,” showcases both men’s greatest strengths. Schreck ranges from baritone balladeer to Goth Metal groaner, while Ferguson alternates between crisp tom/hi-hat work and full-on bombast.

While the EP charts new waters with great aplomb, hints of the mighty Killing Joke are still felt throughout the proceedings. Moments on the aptly named “Explode” would have felt perfectly at home on the band’s most recent singles, while the closing “Tipping Point” delivers an awe-inspiring Pandemonium/Pylon mash-up.  

Anyone who straps on a guitar in a project with Big Paul in 2024 has some unrealistically high expectations to meet. I’ll address that matter by saying this: Full marks to Williams for honoring the familiar spirit of the past while leaving an undeniably unique mark on Light of Eternity. A rare feat—and a truly stellar performance from start to finish.

Supergroups are funny things. At their worst, they fail to live up to the hype (and often flat-out suck). At their best, they remind listeners of what made their respective source groups so fantastic but rarely offer something meaningful and lasting as a unit. This EP provides the elusive third option: A supergroup that exceeds expectations and showcases individual participants still committed to reaching and growing as creative forces.

Light of Eternity is a high-water mark in the personal discographies of three musicians who’ve succeeded in embracing the strengths of their individual pasts while setting the foundation for an intriguing collective future.

An essential listen.


Light of Eternity


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Saturday, June 4, 2022

REVIEW - The Ancients: Leveler





Although former New Jersey/current Nashville-based singer Fred Schreck is not a household name, he has been the voice of some of the most exciting American Alternative music of the past three-plus decades.

Way back in 1991, Schreck made a name for himself in New York City’s then-thriving underground music scene via the eponymous debut album by his band, The Ancients. Regulars at CBGB and the Luna Lounge and championed by none other than Joey Ramone, The Ancients seemed destined for greatness. Unfortunately, the band never gained widespread attention outside of its local scene and imploded before achieving mainstream success. Schreck soon re-emerged as the singer for Crush, a short-lived supergroup circa 1993 with former members of Killing Joke and Siouxsie and the Banshees that released a stellar self-titled major label album before suffering a similar fate. Schreck’s inability to break through the second time around said more about the fickle nature of the music business than it did about the man’s gifts at the mic. In a marketplace consumed by Grunge at the time, Schreck’s soulful, Goth-tinged voice was too easily overlooked.

Shortly after the Crush era, Schreck worked on a second Ancient album with longtime collaborator Morgan Visconti and a host of guests (including Killing Joke/Crush drummer Big Paul Ferguson) before the sessions were put on the shelf for nearly 20 years while Schreck relocated to Nashville and pursued an Alternative Country route with a group called The Billygoats. (Schreck’s return to more Rock-oriented sounds roughly a decade ago as a member of the fantastic Satellite Paradiso is also of note.) This long-lost Ancients album, finally released in 2015 as Mind, was easily one of the best records of that year and served as a reminder of Schreck’s strengths as a songwriter and singer.

Here’s a snippet of what I wrote about Mind at the time:

It would be a shame if the Schreck/Visconti partnership doesn't take advantage of Mind's arrival to create new sounds in the future. The world needs more music as perfect as this.

Thankfully, we finally have it. Released on May 13, The Ancients’ Leveler finds Schreck writing, arranging, producing and performing virtually every note. Initially conceived by Schreck as a solo project during lockdown, the album became the third official Ancients album upon Visconti’s return to co-write and perform various sonic duties on the track “Nihilist.” With help from Nashville-based engineer Joe Costa (Ben Folds/Amanda Palmer) and occasional contributions from drummers Frank Coleman (Satellite Paradiso/Bentmen/Secret Agent) and David “Pup” Roberts and guitarist Rich Pilger (perhaps best known among New Jersey music scene aficionados as a member of ’80s glam rockers Monroe), Schreck has created a solid new chapter in The Ancients’ discography and perhaps the most musically varied album in the group’s history.

Here are a few of the release’s many highlights:

The album charges out of the gate with a title track (co-written by Schreck’s old friend and pre-Ancients bandmate David Landolin) that showcases the singer’s exquisite guitar playing - a stunning blend of Schreck’s Satellite Paradiso bandmate John Ashton (The Psychedelic Furs) and the late Andy Gill of Gang of Four. This album opener is followed by the beautifully somber “Blue Seventeen,” a perfect 3am driving song that inspires thoughts of what it would be like if Robert Gordon sang in a David Lynch film. The lush, elegant and multi-layered “Tanto” falls somewhere between the best moments of Peter Murphy’s solo work and Country Life-era Roxy Music, while the brooding “Nihilist” is the track on Leveler that most reminds this writer of The Ancients’ classic ’91 debut. (A reissue of that first album is said to be in the works. I can’t think of a collection of songs more deserving of new life.)

Leveler’s greatest moment, the extraordinary “Blow,” harkens back to the vibe of New York City’s glory years. You can practically smell clove cigarettes and feel the sweat of a packed crowd within the old Limelight’s former church walls as the song – fueled by Schreck’s soaring vocals in the chorus and some truly outstanding drumming by Coleman – plays on. Album closer “The Eastern Sky” (co-written by Pilger, another one of Schreck’s old Jersey pals and pre-Ancients bandmates, who also makes a guest appearance on guitar) brings the proceedings to a rousing conclusion thanks in large part to impressive, effects-laden lead fretwork.

In a 1993 Swedish television interview, Andrew Eldridge of The Sisters of Mercy said the following when discussing why his band hadn’t reached the same level of sales as Roxette and other more successful bands of the era:

“We might not mean as much to as many people, but we mean more to the people that we reach […] Ultimately, if I have to choose between reaching more people or reaching a few people deeper, I would choose to reach a few people deeper every time.”

For my money, there’s no better series of words to also sum up The Ancients’ sporadic existence over the last 30 or so years. The previous two albums released under that moniker didn’t get anywhere near the attention and acclaim they deserved, but those listeners who know Schreck’s work have experienced an artist (italicized for a reason, folks) whose output never fails to intrigue and excite. Leveler is an incredible addition to the Ancients canon and easily one of the strongest albums of 2022. If you’re new to what Schreck has to offer, this is an excellent place to start.

Leveler is available on all streaming platforms.

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Sunday, April 3, 2022

REVIEW - Killing Joke: Lord of Chaos



Surely, I'm not the only one who's noticed that the growing sense of dread currently felt in certain parts of the world coincides with the release of new Killing Joke music.

Although Killing Joke has been far from prolific in the 30-plus years since its first comeback via 1990’s Extremities, Dirt And Various Repressed Emotions, the band always seems to reappear just as the world takes another bleak turn towards oblivion. Extremities landed mere months into the Gulf War, while 2003’s eponymous album – released after a seven-year hiatus for the group – arrived during the early months of the Iraq War.

Killing Joke is always a cathartic and life-affirming experience. This writer will never forget seeing the band live in Boston less than a week after the Marathon bombings. “We want to be part of your healing!” announced singer Jaz Coleman from the stage during the most blistering Killing Joke set I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty confident that everyone in the club felt the band’s notorious “white heat” that evening. In a city still suffering the aftermath of unfathomable loss, Killing Joke was there – right on time as always – to be a beacon of light amidst the madness.

Now, at a time when people are struggling to exist amidst everything from economic decline to an invisible mass killer, the band’s original quartet – Coleman, guitarist Geordie Walker, bassist Martin “Youth” Glover and drummer Big Paul Ferguson – gift us with its first new music in seven years.

When Killing Joke last appeared on record with 2015’s absolutely molten Pylon, the decades-old band effortlessly shattered any notion that time had diminished its notorious fire. Now, 43 years after the outfit's debut EP, that same unmistakable Killing Joke rage is felt on Lord Of Chaos, a four-song release featuring two new studio tracks and two remixes of past material (and once again packaged in evocative artwork courtesy of longtime collaborator Mike Coles).

At his angriest and most incendiary, Coleman can be a venomous monster at the mic – an unhinged, face-painted opera phantom spewing proclamations of doom with a throaty growl. While he delivers plenty of pre-apocalyptic bile this time around, his greatest moments on the EP come when he showcases the softer feel he first mastered on 1985’s Night Time and 1986’s Brighter Than A Thousand Suns. Musically speaking, the title track finds Killing Joke continuing the overall sonic direction of Pylon – certainly one of the heaviest albums in the band’s discography in spots – while embracing touches of the band’s more melodic moments. (Think Night Time’s “Darkness Before Dawn” meets “Corporate Elect” off 2012’s MMXII.)


This duality is also felt on the EP’s strongest moment, “Total.” Everyone (particularly Geordie, forever Killing Joke not-so-secret weapon) is firing on all cylinders, resulting in the finest four and a half minutes Killing Joke has put on disc since the original lineup reformed in 2008.

The word “remix” often indicates a groan-inducing mixed bag for me. In my long (and, to be honest, often reluctant) experience with the medium, results have ranged from awe-inspiring when the task of reimagining another artist’s song is placed in the right hands (the work of Justin Broadrick and Jim Thirlwell immediately comes to mind) to dead-weight filler when clearly dumped on a release to drag out its runtime. (Let’s think back to most remix EPs released by major Alt-Industrial acts in the ’90s, slap ourselves awake and swiftly move on, shall we?) The dancey “Motorcade Mix” of the Pylon track “Big Buzz” won’t set the world on fire but is fine enough (mainly because the original track’s melody is go damn great), while Youth wraps up the Lord Of Chaos EP with a seven minute-plus Dub interpretation of the Pylon number “Delete.” Look, Youth is Youth – a lovely chap and a master at what he does – and this track is certainly Youth-y. That said, Dub mixes have never really been my bag despite my deep respect for the man’s many talents in this and many other departments. (I probably just need to take in the tune over a good spliff!)

Al Jourgensen of Ministry once joked that his band always makes its best music whenever a Republican is the leader of the free world. Killing Joke always generates its most striking sounds of exorcism and healing whenever mankind descends into darkness. Considering that conflict and struggle are forever intertwined with the human experience, don’t expect these lads to stop showing us a way forward any time soon.

Order Lord Of Chaos

More on Killing Joke


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Saturday, May 1, 2021

REVIEW - Big Paul Ferguson: Virtual Control





“Let’s hope Killing Joke is locked away in a bunker somewhere writing an album about all of this.”


I posted the above words on my personal Facebook page last year during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. I could not think of a more suitable band to express the anger, fear, isolation, confusion and grasps at hope that millions suddenly had to experience in the blink of an eye. Although a new Killing Joke studio album has yet to materialize (perhaps with the wildly disparate locations of the band’s members serving as the greatest culprit), listeners will soon have Virtual Control, the upcoming first full-length solo album by the group’s co-founder and drummer, Big Paul Ferguson.

Ferguson the man is soft-spoken, warm and welcoming – the kind of person who’d sooner greet a fan (or “Gatherer,” to use Killing Joke parlance) with a hug than with a handshake. Ferguson the drummer, however, is as terrifying as he is inspiring – the primal emotional engine fueling Killing Joke’s sonic storm through precise tom-heavy beats and a piercing, laser-focused onstage gaze that could cut through glass.

This duality is on full display throughout Virtual Control, which unpacks a hell of a lot in regard to our current state of world affairs through the juxtaposition of thunderous instrumentation and even-keeled, half-sung/half-spoken vocals. The album’s title alone should give you an idea of Ferguson’s present worldview as he comments on what has largely become a society manipulated into devolving into the human equivalent of rattled canines barking at one another in a circle. (As he sings on the album’s opening track, “Lapdogs of discontent never agree.”) Visually speaking, he addresses the pandemic in blunt fashion in the new video for the album’s first single, “Extrapolate.”





Lyrically, Ferguson’s primary interest on Virtual Control seems less focused on the pandemic itself and more targeted toward the societal and global implications of the cultural shifts it has produced, as demonstrated in these words heard underneath the loudly mixed musical blast of “Data Lama:”

Hard to imagine what the future’s gonna look like
When the structures we’ve been used to
Have all been swept aside
Barriers of normalcy
Barriers of trade
Have all been blown to pieces
By this fundamental change.

Of course, America (where Ferguson currently resides) recently faced racial unrest and a deeply polarizing Presidential election in addition to the lockdown conditions that shuttered the planet. This already combustible combination was made even worse by the proliferation of dubious information by sources driven more by the desire for clicks than the commitment to presenting anything resembling reality. These developments drive the slow burn of “The Unraveling,” a melancholic meditation on a citizenry rapidly succumbing to the seductive glare of portable screens:

Swipe left, swipe right
Scroll up, scroll down
Click here, click there
Watch the little wheel spin round
And round and round and round
Shopping online
Swallowing lies
Victims of circumstance
Telling porky pies
The world’s gone crazy
There’s so much wealth
Flushed down the drain
But so’s my mental health
It really doesn’t matter
There’s so much chatter
When the face on the screen
Says it’s safe, not safe.

Album co-producer/co-writer and veteran journeyman guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite, who’s spent the past several years collaborating with a staggering array of artists (The Mission, Peter Murphy, Tricky, Julianne Regan and late Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven [in the band Mob Research], to name but a few), returns to deliver the same high-caliber musicality that he brought to Ferguson’s 2018 debut solo EP, Remote Viewing. (His playing on “Extrapolate” and “Plausible Deniability,” which both give more than a passing nod to the stylings of Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker, is particularly blistering.) Additionally, Tim Skold (best known for his stints with Marilyn Manson, KMFDM, ohGr and – if you’re of a certain age like me – Shotgun Messiah) bolsters the album’s impact through a guest appearance on “Seeping Through The Cracks,” while Die Krupps mastermind Jürgen Engler appears on album closer “Dystopian Vibe.”

(Speaking of Die Krupps, Ferguson contributes drums to the group’s stellar rendition of Gang of Four’s “To Hell With Poverty” from its upcoming covers collection, Songs From The Dark Side Of Heaven.)

As for the drumming…well, this album has the name Big Paul Ferguson on the cover. If you’re a Killing Joke fan, get ready to groove. If you’re in the unfortunate position of also being a drummer, prepare to be horrified and humbled. Again. (Take a listen to his playing on “Glass Houses” – another dose of game over for most of us, I’m afraid.) Massive respect to him for keeping his skills consistently sharp and evolving through nearly 45 years of recorded output.

Ferguson once famously described the music of Killing Joke as “the sound of the earth vomiting.” Virtual Control is the sound of the world recoiling from the horrors it has created for itself under the guises of security and progress, delivered through thoughts and music that straddle the line between rage and resignation. This is more than an album; it is an essential statement on this critical moment in human history.

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Sunday, September 16, 2018

An Evening of White Heat: Killing Joke Live in Boston



Photo courtesy of Atom Splitter PR

With the exception of two brief flirtations with mainstream success (in the mid ’80s with the singles “Love Like Blood” and “Eighties” and again a decade later with “Millennium”), Killing Joke have always been a cult act. Those who have embraced the band’s power and magic – affectionately known as “Gatherers” – often travel great distances to experience the band live. Not surprisingly, an intense spirit of camaraderie was felt in the air when the band hit the stage at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston on September 11 and broke into “Love Like Blood.” With Killing Joke, there is no separation between artist and audience; for 90-plus minutes, all souls in the Paradise were one.

It has been roughly a decade since the band’s original members – singer Jaz Coleman, guitarist Geordie Walker, bassist Martin “Youth” Glover and drummer Big Paul Ferguson – reconnected following the 2007 passing of long-serving bassist Paul Raven. Although there have been some undeniably extraordinary players in the KJ camp over the years (including Martin Atkins, Ted Parsons, Taif Ball, Troy Gregory and studio-only drummer Dave Grohl), the classic incarnation produces an incomparable fury that has not diminished after four decades. In fact, recent post-reunion material comprised some of the Paradise set’s brightest spots. “New Cold War” and “Autonomous Zone” (off 2015’s extraordinary Pylon) raged with fury and finesse, while “Corporate Elect” (off 2012’s MMXII) sneered and soared its way through social commentary made even more relevant considering the date of the evening’s performance. In this Gatherer’s mind, a brutally heavy rendition of the 1994 deep cut “Labyrinth” was the night’s strongest moment.

Coleman’s voice was in top form, alternating between glowing clarity and guttural growling, while Ferguson’s work behind the kit provided an inspiring (and, let’s be honest here, a more-than-slightly intimidating) lesson to the other drummers in attendance on maintaining stamina and skill at 60 years of age. Full marks also go to touring keyboardist Roi Robertson, whose presence added the right level of mechanized menace to the proceedings. As for Geordie and Youth, well… If you’re reading this, there’s a very good chance you already know that what these two create on stage is beyond compare.  


If we’re lucky, Killing Joke have been recording the shows on this current 40th Anniversary Tour for a future release of some kind. They are absolutely on fire right now – as always.






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