What’s THIS For…! by Killing Joke

What’s THIS For…!, Killing Joke's second album, came out on E.G. in June 1981, and the Notting Hill four produced it themselves, as they had the debut: Jaz Coleman on vocals and keyboards, Geordie Walker on guitar, Youth on bass and Paul Ferguson on drums. The sessions were a war zone, depending on who tells it. Coleman's version has a scuffle wrecking the mixing desk and engineer Hugh Padgham walking out, leaving his assistant Nick Launay to finish the job at the band's direction; Padgham calls that rubbish and says the band were so out of it that the story is not to be trusted.

Either way, the record is a pummeling thing, Ferguson's drums pounding like a factory press and Walker's guitar grinding against Coleman's howl. Sounds gave it five stars, praising its energy and aggression, and Paste's Josh Jackson later heard as much post-metal in it as post-rock. It climbed to number 42 in the UK, and after Revelations in 1982, Youth was out and Paul Raven took over the bass.

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