Killing Joke is still stirring chaos

“Lord of Chaos” by Killing Joke (Spinefarm Records)

Time has a warping effect on perceived reality in music – what we think we know about a band, what kind of role performers have in music history and questions about how good the band really was (or wasn’t).

The British band Killing Joke issued its self-titled debut in 1980 as a postpunk/pre-grunge band that fit in snugly with both Goth music and industrial rock. The group’s melodic darkness was both in the moment and influential, though these days their legacy may feel vague.

The band’s breakthrough was the 1985 song “Love Like Blood,” though over the years came lineup changes, a long hiatus and reunification and the 2015 release “Pylon.”

So, with Killing Joke still releasing fresh material, including the new EP “Lord of Chaos,” you don’t have to know anything about the act to appreciate the band’s still-relevant potency.

The quartet rolls out of the gate on the new EP with the title track, a careening apocalypse that can prompt exhilarating and visceral responses as frontman Jaz Coleman sings of end times: “Fatal attraction to bright lights and loud explosions/insects will rule when we’ve had our go.” By contrast, the subsequent “Total” chugs like a locomotive keyed to a ghostly hum as Coleman delivers soaring repetitions of the song title.

“Lord of Chaos” also features a remix of the “Pylon” track “Big Buzz,” with Killing Joke flipping the grinding rock context of the original version into the high drama of a propulsive dance song. For some reason there’s also a remake of “Delete.”