| Brighter Than a Thousand Suns | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Killing Joke |
| Cover: | Killing Joke Brighter Than A Thousand Suns Cover.jpg |
| Released: | 10 November 1986[1] |
| Recorded: | October 1985; spring 1986 ("Victory"), August 1986 ("A Southern Sky") |
| Studio: | Hansa Tonstudio, West Berlin, West Germany |
| Length: | 41:17 (original vinyl release) |
| Label: | E.G., Virgin |
| Prev Title: | Night Time |
| Prev Year: | 1985 |
| Next Title: | Outside the Gate |
| Next Year: | 1988 |
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns is the sixth studio album by English post-punk band Killing Joke, released in November 1986 by E.G. Records. It was their first album to be distributed through Virgin Records. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number 54 on 22 November 1986, staying for one week.[2] It was produced by Chris Kimsey, who had produced the band's 1985 album, Night Time.
The majority of the album was recorded in Berlin during October 1985 with returning producer Chris Kimsey. The band's stage keyboard player David Kovacevic recalls the recording sessions and time spent in Berlin as "wild".[3] The track "Victory" was recorded months later in Spring 1986, along with "Ecstasy" (the B-side to the Adorations single release), produced by Stewart Levine. The last track to be produced was "A Southern Sky" in August 1986, produced by Chris Tsangarides.
The album, with the exception of "A Southern Sky", was originally mixed by Chris Kimsey. However, E.G. Records requested that all of Kimsey's mixes (bar "Twilight of the Mortal") be replaced with new mixes by Julian Mendelsohn for more commercial appeal, against the wishes of the band. It was these replacement mixes which were ultimately released, with prominent reverb and the guitars and rhythm section generally mixed lower. Some songs were significantly altered, such as extending "Victory" from its original 4 minutes to over 7 in the style of a 12" remix.
The 1986 vinyl release contained only 8 tracks due to the limited runtime of LP records, while the cassette and CD versions both contained 11, each with a slightly different running order, as detailed below. The album reached number 54 in the UK Albums Chart.[4]
At the request of Killing Joke, Chris Kimsey's original mixes were restored when the album was reissued in 2008. The reissue also features bonus tracks, including the B-side "Ecstasy". The verse riff from "Ecstasy" was reused on the track "Obsession" from Killing Joke's next album, Outside the Gate.