The most recent reissue I bought was Killing Joke’s “Extremities Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions”. In this case I could choose from a number of different versions. Being somewhat of a completist, I chose the most expensive and most comprehensive package. The only worthwhile extra being explanatory notes on all of the songs, provided by front-man Coleman.
Luckily, I didn’t own this album, so I was quite excited to hear it. I knew a couple of songs from live bootlegs and I saw Coleman playing “Kaliyuga” somewhere on YouTube. Although, at the time I didn’t know it was from this record. I even suspected that it was from the ill-received “Outside the Gate”! Probably due to the title of the song and the fact that it is an instrumental. To me, this song is more the “other” Jaz Coleman, than a Killing Joke song.
The “other” Coleman is a composer, who writes scores for Disney movies, allegedly that is, and is a composer in residence for the European Union. In the sleeve notes, Coleman touches the subject of his two sides as well. He has a troubled side which can be seen in his work with Killing Joke. Watching Coleman perform with KJ reminds me always of some cleansing process, a catharsis. It makes him an intriguing personality and reminds me of Janus or even Hermes.
In medieval and early modern texts on alchemy Hermes, or Mercury, is a kind of trickster. An alchemist starts with the Great Work and passes several stages before reaching the final one in which he creates the Philosopher’s Stone. Somewhere along the line, there is a moment of doubt and stagnation. This is usually the time when Mercury arrives. Mercury is a kind of enigmatic figure. He seems willing to help, but does this by providing riddles. When the alchemist finally knows what to do with Mercury/Hermes, he is already in the next stage and once again on his way toward the end.
I don’t know how much knowledge Coleman has of alchemy, but Hermes is prominent on the sleeve of KJ’s album “Pandemonium”. Another record of theirs “The Unperverted Pantomime” was released on Alchemy Records and features more references to alchemy. On this CD the following Latin text is printed: “Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem”. This means something along the line of: Visit the Interior Parts of the Earth; by Rectification Thou Shalt Find the Hidden Stone. It is also an alchemical motto, used by certain alchemists and texts inspired by spiritual alchemists such as the seventeenth century Rosicrucian Manifestos.
These alchemical references are not the only ones in the work of Killing Joke that show an affinity with Western Esotericism. In the sleeve notes of “Extremities” Coleman refers to some kind of magical training he received and temple/magical orders that he was once part of. Most of the twentieth century magical orders are somehow connected to the archetypical magical order: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Golden Dawn was founded in the late nineteenth century and had a lasting influence on all later magical orders. Be it through personal contact or through its ideas and writings. One of the most notorious members of the Golden Dawn was Aleister Crowley. It is common knowledge that Coleman and other members of Killing Joke were highly interested in Crowley. A couple of years ago, former KJ-drummer “Big” Paul Ferguson acknowledged this in an interview he gave.
Tags: Alchemy, Crowley, Extremities, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Killing Joke
