Love Like Blood (song)

"Love Like Blood"
Single by Killing Joke
from the album Night Time
A-side	"Love Like Blood (version)"
B-side	"Love Like Blood" "Blue Feather (version)"
Released	January, 1985 (January, 1985)
Format	12" single 12" maxi 7" single
Genre	New wave Post-punk, Gothic Rock
Length	15:05
Label	E'G Records Polydor
Writer(s)	Jaz Coleman Kevin "Geordie" Walker Paul Raven Paul Ferguson
Producer	Killing Joke Chris Kimsey
Killing Joke singles chronology
"A New Day" (1984) "Love Like Blood" (1985) "Kings and Queens" (1985)
Night Time track listing "Darkness Before Dawn" (2) "Love Like Blood" (3) "Kings and Queens" (4) Love Like Blood (Gestalt Mix) Love Like Blood (Gestalt Mix) Side A Inner Sleeve

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

Releases

"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 that 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.

Reception

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

“

[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

"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, was named after this song. Below are a list of a few bands who covered "Love Like Blood" and/or performed it.

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
Blackmail	Friend Or Foe? (Japan edition)	2004
Sybreed	The Pulse of Awakening	2009
Dead by April	Stronger	2010

Single issues

Each release of "Love Like Blood" in the UK under E'G Records was significant. Some singles featured different coloured groves, and included glossy card sleeves. The following table provides the type of single and what was included with the single.

Type	Includes
7" vinyl single (first issue)	glossy card sleeve and blue label
7" vinyl single (second issue)	paper sleeve and silver label
12" vinyl/maxi single (first issue)	band photos taken by Jeff Veitch
12" vinyl single (second issue)	white label

Track listings

7" vinyl single

Side A

1. "Love Like Blood" – 04:14

Side B

1. "Blue Feather (version)" – 04:09

12" vinyl maxi single

Side A

1. "Love Like Blood (version)" – 06:42

Side B

1. "Love Like Blood" – 04:14
2. "Blue Feather (version)" – 04:09

Love Like Blood (Gestalt Mix)

Side A

1. "Love Like Blood (Gestalt Mix)" – 05:05

Side B

1. "Love Like Blood" – 04:14
2. "Blue Feather (version)" – 04:09

Charts

Chart (1985)	Peak position
German Singles Chart	24
Irish Singles Chart	30
The Netherlands Singles Chart	5
New Zealand Singles	6
UK Singles Chart	16

Dead by April version

"Love Like Blood/Promise Me"
Single by Dead by April
from the album Stronger
Released	May 10, 2010
Format	Digital download
Recorded	2010
Genre	Pop metal
Length	3:40
Label	Universal Records
Dead by April singles chronology
"Angels of Clarity" (2009) "Love Like Blood" (2010) "Dance in the Neon Light with Lena Philipsson" (2011)

In 2010 the Swedish pop 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.

Digital single

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Love Like Blood (Killing Joke cover)"	3:40
2.	"Promise Me"	3:35

External links

• Love Like Blood TOTP
• Love Like Blood music video