In the long, winding, complex and crusty annals of loud rock history, very few influential bands have been as wildly and ritualistically ignored as Killing Joke. Despite the collective's reward of being admired through the lens of the intense adulation of its earnest followers, the fact remains that even the invested music fan probably struggles mightily while trying to place any Killing Joke reference at all. (And, if you're now wondering where to start in the catelogue, explore the monumental, and very listenable, Night Time and then venture into the caustic absurdity of What's THIS For...!)

Killing Joke’s lessons haven’t been lost on Tau Cross, but that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Featuring Michel “Away” Langevin (Voivod), Rob “The Baron” Miller (Amebix), Andy Lefton (War//Plague) and Jon Misery (Misery), Tau Cross’ members came of age right as Killing Joke was making its mark, a suture that binds much of this debut record. Written in the style of melancholic ‘80s punk but with the volume that runs so prominently through each of Tau Cross’ source bands, this album recollects a time when the world was divided by an iron curtain and a smart phone was one that didn’t have a rotary.

The aura of authenticity that makes its way through this debut is undeniable, as is the grey, chipped-cement songwriting. Underpinned by Langevin’s solid and recognizable Voivodian drumming (you can tell his distinctive playing miles away, a style that Xavier Cafeine, Quebec punk legend, told me back in 2004 was “amazingly recognizable’), Tau Cross is both homage to, and revival of, some of the ‘80s darkest moments, times when the plastic fashion of that decade hid society’s true disparity and inequality.

This Tau Cross debut is an undeniably engaging record, one that will appeal to those who were around at Foufounes Électriques or the Concert Hall in 1985, as well as to those who wish they had been around. In that spirit, Tau Cross reflects the grittiness of that other era, before gentrification put up its shiny veneer. To bring things full circle then, let's stick with two words: Killing Joke.