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"Love Like Blood" is Killing Joke's second single from their fifth studio album, Night Time. Produced by Chris Kimsey, it is perhaps the most recognized Killing Joke song to date.[3]

Contents[]

 [hide*1 Releases

Releases[edit][]

"Love Like Blood" was originally released in January, 1985 under E'G Records as a 12" in the UK, and a 12" maxi single in Germany. The 7" single under E’G Records was released in the UK, The Netherlands, and Germany. Polydor also released a 12" single in The Netherlands and a 12" maxi single in France. E’G Records' 12" and 12" maxi singles’ A-sides featured the track "Love Like Blood (version)", a track different than the studio version of "Love Like Blood", and the radio version of "Love Like Blood" and "Blue Feather (version)" as the B-side, the same track list of Polydor’s release. E’G Record’s 12" maxi single, released in Germany, featured the same tracks, as did Polydor’s maxi single released in France. E’G Record’s 7” single exempted "Love Like Blood (version)" and instead featured the radio-version of "Love Like Blood" as the A-side. E’G Records also released "Love Like Blood (Gestalt Mix)" in the UK as a 12" single. It replaced "Love Like Blood (version)" with the remix as an A-side and was limited to only 2000 copies. It later appeared in the 2008 reissue of Night Time, along with a completely different version of "Blue Feather" that did not appear on any of the releases of "Love Like Blood". "Love Like Blood" was reissued in 1998 as a live remix with the remix of the song, "Intellect", from Killing Joke’s eleventh studio album, Democracy. It was released as a 12" single under Butterfly Records.[4]

Reception[edit][]

"Love Like Blood" was an international hit and defined who Killing Joke were in the 1980s. Allmusic stated:[5]

[Love Like Blood] is driving, with guitarist Geordie Walker providing the basis for the song in huge, chunky guitar chords and riffs — cyclical and inverting in on themselves. He plays various arpeggios for the different sections of the song, with a tone that combines blistering distortion with a cold and edgy chorus effect. Drummer Paul Ferguson plants a steady four-on-the-floor dance beat, along with Raven's funky bass line, for the rhythm track. Unlike many of the industrial bands that followed in its wake, Killing Joke uses no sequencers or drum machines, leaving some human feel within the industrial framework. Coleman plays a haunting legato synth line that floats over the staccato guitar and rhythm section. Near the end of "Love Like Blood," he also offers an ominous piano bass note on upbeats, like a horror-film bell tolling.

Influence[edit][]

"Love Like Blood" has been covered by several bands, and has been featured in several compilations featuring other various artists. The German gothic rock band, Love Like Blood, took their name from this song.

Band Album Year
Blacklight Dream Dance, Vol. 25 2002
Iva Davies Berlin Tapes 1996
Icehouse 1996, 1999, 2002
Love Like Blood Love Like Blood EP 1998
Out Unik 2003
Blackmail Friend or Foe? (Japan edition) 2004
Sybreed The Pulse of Awakening 2009
Dead by April Stronger 2010

Charts[edit][]

Chart (1985) Peak

position

German Singles Chart[6] 24
Irish Singles Chart[7] 30
The Netherlands Singles Chart[8] 5
New Zealand Singles[9] 6
UK Singles Chart[10] 16

Dead by April version[edit][]

"Love Like Blood/Promise Me"
Single by Dead by April
from the album Stronger
Released May 10, 2010
Format Digital download
Recorded 2010
Genre Alternative metal
Length 3:40
Label Universal Records
Dead by April singles chronology
"Angels of Clarity"

(2009)

"Love Like Blood"

(2010)

"Dance in the Neon Lightwith Lena Philipsson"

(2011)

In 2010 the Swedish alternative metal band Dead by April released a cover version of "Love Like Blood" as a stand alone single. The single was released May 10th 2010 to iTunes. The single was released as a double A-side single including the previously unreleased track "Love Like Blood", taken from their compilation album Stronger released on January 24, 2011 and the previously released track "Promise Me" released on their debut album Dead by April released on May 13, 2009. No music videos were made for either of the tracks. "Love Like Blood" was the first track recorded by the band with their new singer Zandro Santiago. [11]

Digital single[edit][]

No. Title Length
1. "Love Like Blood"   3:40
2. "Promise Me"  
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