Recorded during a series of performances celebrating the band's 25th Anniversary in early 2005, "XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey" captures the then-reunited (and quite rejuvenated) Killing Joke in full flight, an almost overbearing entity that crackles with a tangible energy. Some of this is admittedly lost in translation onto media-- there's something about seeing the band that gets lost, particularly in the unusual presence of vocalist Jaz Coleman.

Still, it proves to be a pretty exciting set-- a bit heavy on the band's debut (5 tracks and a b-side are taken from that album), but still capturing a number of great performances-- Coleman introduces "Wardance" ("We have so much work to do tonight-- WARDANCE") that cuts loose under its danceable frenzy, "Asteroid", goofiest song in the band's catalog, cuts loose and provides a slice of punky explosion, and the last half dozen pieces, regardless of whether high energy ("Pssyche"), slow grinding ("Pandemonium") or tribally meditative ("Sun Goes Down") are all pretty much universally fantastic.

Coleman does falll a bit flat on a couple of the early pieces ("Song and Dance" and "Primitive" both find the singer a bit thinner than you'd like), and the sound on the recording is muddy, and both of these temper my feelings on the recording, but this is a good performance and well worth investigation.

Live albums are always sketchy, and this one is no exception. The guitar is sometimes lost in the mix here, especially on Pandemonium (which is more suited to an openning song rather than the closing). And the tracklisting is not my favorite. Songs I really would've like to have on here:

Exorcism / Savage Freedom / Hollywood Babylon / Sanity / Money Is Not Our God / Inferno / Mathematics of Chaos / Whiteout / Change / Intellect / Millenium / Zennen / You'll Never Get To Me / Kings & Queens

If you're a huge fan, this will do better than some half-assed bootleg with the one drunk dude cheering over the whole thing. Otherwise... start with the proper albums.

P.S. - the Amazon tracklisting is WRONG (it can be so difficult to actually look at the product).

1. Communion

2. Wardance

3. Song & Dance

4. Primitive

5. Total Invasion

6. Bloodsport

7. Requiem

8. Asteroid

9. The Wait

10. Pssyche

11. The Pandys Are Coming

12. Sun Goes Gown

13. Are You Receiving?

14. Love Like Blood

15. Pandemonium

The playing is superb as one would expect from Killing Joke live. I saw them back in the 80's in Geneva and they were fantastic. They apparently still are as we can hear here. The only problem is the slightly murky mix shich would have benefitted from more clarity. Anyway it is very good. They play with incredible energy.