Outside the Gate by Killing Joke

Outside the Gate, Killing Joke's seventh studio album, came out on E.G. in June 1988, and it's the record where the band that made post-punk sound like a foundry swapped the furnace for a concert hall. The arrangements are thick with synthesized, orchestra-minded parts, and Geordie Walker's guitar, normally the great grinding engine of the band, gets pushed toward the back of the room while the synths and Jaz Coleman's savage voice take the floor.

The sessions were in trouble before they had properly begun. Paul Ferguson was fired as work started and a hired studio player took over the drums, and bassist Paul Raven, who did play on the album, later asked for his name to be struck from the credits after a serious falling-out over where the music was headed. "America" led the way as the first single, a big, glossy slab of the new sound.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.