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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lift up your spirits!, 7 April 2006
Long awaited follow-up to the awesome 2003 offering from The Joke. Bit of a curate's egg this one, but the good bits are - as usual - the best stuff you'll hear this year.'Hosannas...' kicks off with a decent but unspectacular rocker, 'This Tribal Antidote', which sounds like it could be a candidate for a single. Then into the title track, which we've all played to death since being released as a single. It's still totally stunning though. Onto 'Invocation' a string-driven stomper with a Middle Eastern feel which feels like it going to be an instrumental before Mr Coleman kicks in after a couple of minutes. Next is the other track previewed, 'Implosion', a cracking thrasher which has really grown on me. 'Majestic' reminds me strongly of 'Intravenous' off the 1990 album 'Extremities'. Then the main course. And there's two of them - what a treat!! 'Walking with Gods' and 'The Lightbringer'. 'Walking...' brought up the hairs on the back of my neck ("Push yourself to the limits of human endurance"). Up there with the best tracks they have produced - EVER. 'Lightbringer' takes the riff from 'The Wait' on the 1st album and stretches it into a blinding track nearly 10 minutes long. Get in! Just listened to it three times on the bounce and it is totally Joke-tastic. Truth be told the album fizzles out a bit after these monsters. Track 9, 'Judas Goat', I don't like after a couple of listens and the final track 'Gratitude' is a decent enough grinder very similar to a lot of the stuff on 'KJ 2003'. In summary, Jaz and the lads have delivered with this. Some staggeringly good tracks, a few not so good. But that's The Joke for you. Also worth a mention is the incredible artwork on the CD
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