The gaggingly awful monstrosity of
Outside the Gate behind them,
Jaz Coleman and
Geordie came to their senses, brought in ex-
Public Image Ltd drum fiend
Martin Atkins as a new partner for
Paul Raven, and fired up a new version of
Killing Joke that finally recaptured the sprawling spirit of the earliest days. Wisely,
Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions didn't simply try and replicate the debut or
Revelations -- the group collectively allows for the later abilities of the members and incorporates that into the performances. Consider
Coleman's singing on the opening rampage "Money Is Not Our God" -- while the song itself rips along with the sheer fire of 1980 intact,
Geordie in particular just going off,
Coleman saves his now-recovered shout for the title phrase and the occasional verse. His later, smoother style, meanwhile, takes the fore elsewhere, a surprising but effective balance of control and chaos.
Geordie, meanwhile, if anything sounds better than ever, his ear for brutally effective, memorable and tightly wound guitar riffs combined with just enough technical flash to define what a guitar hero should really sound like. Songs like "Inside the Termite Mound" and "North of the Border" keep the slightly more accessible, calmer side of late-'80s
Killing Joke at least partially present, but never succumb to total polish. If there's a definite flaw to
Extremities, it's that too much of the album sounds like a response to the band's descendents -- most clearly
Ministry, with whom
Atkins had already worked -- than its own effort. At other parts, as on "Struggle" and sections of "The Beautiful Dead," the group creates generic speed/thrash instead of its own stronger variations. It's not the worst of sins, though -- certainly not in comparison with
Killing Joke's immediate past -- and the end result confirms the core
Coleman/
Geordie partnership as the strong beast it is.
–
Ned Raggett, Rovi