In On The Kill Taker

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Released in 1993, Fugazi’s <i>In on the Kill Taker</i> is a collection of extraordinary force—the sound of a band reasserting itself in the strongest possible musical terms. Following an aborted recording session with Steve Albini, the four members of Fugazi decided to re-team with producer Ted Niceley, who’d overseen much of their dynamic early material. To this day, <i>Kill Taker</i> is the Fugazi album that comes closest to capturing the band’s astounding live sound—if not its onstage fluidity. In contrast to the group’s previous effort, <i>Steady Diet of Nothing</i>—which found the band alternating between screams and silence—<i>Kill Taker</i> is incredibly dense, packed with a passion as muscular as it is heartfelt, and filled with a sound and fury that signifies as much as possible. The explosive, statement-of-purpose opening track, “Facet Squared,” finds Ian MacKaye writing some of his most perfect punk maxims—“Cool’s eternal, but it’s always dated”—while Guy Picciotto paid tribute to both Native Americans, and the simplistic way Americans are taught history, on “Smallpox Champion.” Elsewhere on <i>Kill Taker</i>, there’s “Cassavetes,” a fearsomely emotional shout-out to the revolutionary filmmaker; the blistering “Great Cop,” which finds MacKaye venting about an unnamed acquaintance; and “Rend It” is pure melodrama, a love song from a fellow who is clearly trying to put together his private life, but doesn’t know where all the pieces fit. But perhaps no song best sums up this essential entry like “Instrument,” which finds MacKaye trying to find the balance between, well, <i>everything</i>, really. It’s a song about being divided between art and politics, and between close emotions and safe distances—themes the singer would return to again and again. <i>In on the Kill Taker</i> arrived just as 1990s alt-rock was approaching its pop-culture peak—a time when plenty of eyes and ears were trained on Fugazi. This was a group that many musicians would try to emulate—or at least name-check—in the decade ahead. But while <i>In on the Kill Taker</i> would influence the next 10 years’ worth of punk, emo, and indie, no one could match Fugazi’s refined, hellacious power.

via Apple Music