Powered by dubby basslines and dread, English post-punks Killing Joke influenced huge bands like Nirvana, Metallica, Jane’s Addiction, and Faith No More. And now Italian label Overdrive Records is presenting an early look at the group’s proto-industrial sound with Extremities: The Albini Demos and Live Beginning. One side of this LP, you get demos the band cut at Steve Albini’s home in Chicago in 1988, before the band purchased Albini’s equipment to set up their own studio. These recordings have circulated among the hardcore faithful as “The Black Cassette.” And on the flip, you hear an early 1988 show recorded in Birmingham, where the band tears into classics like “The Fanatic” and “Beautiful Dead.” The record’s out February 27, checkout the Overdrive store’s exclusive splatter edition or the standard black vinyl edition.
