Church of Industrial Music: My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Kooler Than Jesus

Yet another of the releases that I first heard through that same friend who first introduced me to industrial music. Released in 1990, this is actually a CD compilation of three previous 12" EP's which were originally released from 1987-1989 (My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Some Have to Dance, Some Have to Kill, and Kooler Than Jesus).

I think some of TKK's best material appears on this release. It opens up with two of the danciest of industrial dance tracks, one of which is the title track, and "Devil Bunnies". Most of the time, "fun" isn't necessarily the first word that comes to mind when talking about industrial music, but those two are definitely fun, and proof that it can work out just fine. The rest of the EP is also great, and even at their darkest, one could never accuse TKK of taking themselves too seriously, it's just that those two in particular have a very energetic disco feel. Of all of the tracks on this release, I think "Devil Bunnies" most embodies the techno-sleaze TKK would come to be known for. "Nervous Xians" is one of my favorite TKK tracks ever, with some excellent use of samples, and an all-around great dark dance atmosphere (there is also a pretty cool reworking of this song on the soundtrack for The Crow, called "After The Flesh"). This is followed by two versions of the same song, "The Devil Does Drugs" and "Final Cut", of which I think I slightly prefer the former. "Shock of Point Six" is another favorite, and perhaps one of the most "industrial" tracks in TKK's catalog. "Resisting the Spirit" leaves the dance rhythms behind for a more spooky feel to bring things to a close.

In my opinion, very few industrial bands have pulled off the borderline silliness that TKK has. It could just be a matter of me liking the actual music more in their case than in the case of some others who have tried, I'm not really sure. Whatever it is, I think this release contains some of the best examples of their early work. I think this kind of set the bar for me as far as industrial dance goes, and I think it still holds up well as an example of that style.

Listen to My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, which contains all of these tracks, on Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/us/album/56429652