The sleeve art says it all. Embroidered name on a rich blue satin field. KJ at this point knew they acheived a new level of 'art.' I bought this record in 1984 and have listened to it ever since. It is a staple so to speak. KJ's 3rd record is brilliant; a more dark, tribal, and sophisticated release than the previous 2 records (which I love as well). I understand why people can't get into this one as this takes time and patience to sink in....Most people want instant musical gratification so if you are THAT person skip Revelations. W/ that said the material on Revelations is heavy, angry, medieval, and describes an insane (cold war) world on the verge of apocalypse. The Hum's droning phased/reverb riff sets the mood of the record. Empire Song drives the record and band into new heights. Conrad Plank's production is perfect for KJ. He brought out what would become a trademark sound for many records to come. We Have Joy is a manic potshot at the West....Chop Chop, one of the singles released from Revelations is strangely catchy...The Pandys are Coming is a brilliant but creepy and unsettling song. I picture this song as their 'trumpets' of impending doom, the armies of evil are coming and cannot be stopped. Great imagery...heavy stuff. Have a Nice Day is another driving song w/ Paul's groovy tribal drums.....Too bad Sun Goes Down, Brilliant and Birds of a Feather weren't added....I played those singles to death growing up......The record ends the Dregs, intense, urgent music over which Jaz intentionally rants, raves, coughs, and stumbles through meaningless lyrics....lost on many listeners.....Dregs closes the record as an unhappy ending to a movie....Leaving the listener stunned...absolutley effective....not a bluff....Overall this record/remaster is a gem, some slow moments but by the time they arrive one is so taken by the lyrics/content/message that it all fits...The remastered sound is amazing. As a hardcore fan for 21 years this is one of my faves by KJ. Definitely a record explore w/ headphones, the lyric book and a glass of wine.....essential.

Having a younger sister that worked for Tower records at the time, I was already familiar with KG when this one was released. "The Hum": what can I say? The dark and grinding guitar sound is fantastic, and with "Empire Song" and "We Have Joy" following...they covered the price of admission right there. I'm not too keen on "The Pandies Are Coming", but this album could create hours of discussion on guitar tones alone.

As luck would have it, I caught the tour for this album...and rarely has any band been so mesmerizing in a live setting. I can recall Geordie never looking down at his guitar, and telling a bloke that wanted to "slam dance" with me "Sorry, I don't want to miss any of what this guitar playing is doing".

I just ordered the DVD...I'm hopeful, even without "The Hum" included.

Killing Joke's third album, 1982's "Revelations" is a pretty drastic departure-- working for the first time with an outside producer, Conny Plank, the is a cleaner sound-- more separation between the instruments rather than the somewhat muddy sound of the previous records-- this is further accentuated by a more metallic sound in the guitar.

The album maintains the sort of edgy apocalyptic vision of previous records, but Coleman's lyrics have moved into a somewhat ranting direction-- sometimes it succeeds ("We Have Joy"), but more often than not, it fails to sustain interest ("The Pandys Are Coming", "Chapter III" or the awful "Dregs"). And with the production uniform and consistent, and the album consisting largely of similar tempo and feel among the numbers, plus Coleman experimenting with his new singing style (he'd get it down right in a couple albums), the material really doesn't hold together well.

Its got its moments-- the album opens decent enough with "Empire Song" being one of the real highlights, and "Chop-Chop" barring annoying vocal is really amongst the most varied of early Killing Joke material, but beyond that, the album generally fails to sustain my interest.

The remastered release features much improved sound-- it's quite a bit more in your face while maintaining a claustrophobic feel. The reissue is also augmented by one bonus track, an alternate mix of "We Have Joy"-- I haven't done a side-by-side comparison, but I'm fairly certain this is the same mix included on "For Beginners", it's not particularly exciting either way and it doesn't sound nearly as nice as the rest of the record. The artwork has been expanded by Mike Coles (who did most of the original Killing Joke artwork but not this one) and includes the lyrics. It really is quite attractive looking on the inside of the booklet, and it definitely is an improvement over the previous issue's art.

It could be I'd think higher of this album outside of the context of the first two records, but it just doesn't hold up to them-- I'd recommend checking them out instead-- 1980's "Killing Joke" or 1981's "what's THIS for...!".

This is Killing Joke's third lp and the final one with Youth on bass for many years. The cd opens with The Hum which recalls The Requiem from their first lp. For me this is the weakest track on the cd. After that song the sonic attack picks ups the pace with Empire Song, a brilliant song which was one of the singles from this lp. The original issue of this recording closed with Dregs--a song I like but derided by some. I personally saw this song as an attack on the apathy of the youth of the day. Many saw it as a bunch of pointless lyrics strung together over a simplistic tune. You can draw your own conclusions. The remaster closes with an alternate take on We Have Joy. It would have been nice if the re-issue contained more bonus material, but sadly that is the only extra track. Most of themes of much this record revolve around the Cold War.

Tribal drumming and guitar noise are the sound of the cd. This release also showed the band maturing musically. It definately paved the way for the follow up lp--Fire Dances (my personal favorite). It was after this release that Jaz would disappear to Iceland in anticipation of the apocolypse. Youth and the band's management would find themselves fired after Jaz returned to the UK with Geordie.

A decent album, but uninspired compared to the earlier albums and less consistent than the following release (Fire Dances). This is the least essential of the early Killing Joke albums. Although any fan will find something to like here, there's also a lot of ho-hum songwriting that I end up skipping over when I do drag this one out.