"Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions" is the eighth studio album by English post-punk band Killing Joke, released in November 1990 by Noise Records. Following the commercial disappointment of their previous album, Outside the Gate (1988), the band underwent significant changes. After their record label Virgin dropped them and E.G. Records filed a lawsuit, only singer Jaz Coleman and guitarist Geordie Walker remained from the previous lineup. In December 1988, they recruited new musicians to perform a one-off concert in Porchester, where they premiered new songs, including early versions of "Extremities" and "The Beautiful Dead." Despite no longer having support from a major record label, the band pushed forward, performing the new material during a US tour in 1989. The album was recorded in 1990 for a German independent label, with bassist Paul Raven rejoining the band for the recording sessions. Drummer Martin Atkins, formerly of Public Image Ltd and Ministry, had joined the band in 1988 and co-composed the songs with Coleman and Walker.
The album’s lead single, "Money Is Not Our God," was released to promote the album, but the single failed to chart. The band toured extensively in 1991 to support the album.
Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions marked a return to prominent guitar work after the synthesizer-heavy Outside the Gate. Critics described it as a reinvention of Killing Joke's sound, drawing on the industrial influences that were becoming popular at the time. Trouser Press wrote that the band seemed inspired by younger industrial bands that were emulating Killing Joke's early sound, stating that the album combined the "intoxicating intensity and righteous fury" of their previous work with a more timely, Ministry-like feel. The album was recorded shortly after Coleman had worked on his Arabic-influenced album with Anne Dudley of The Art of Noise, Songs from the Victorious City.
The album also featured the memorable riff from "Intravenous," which would be reprised in the band's later songs "Majestic" (2006) and "Glitch" (2012).
The cover of the album features the eyes of actor Conrad Veidt, as seen in the 1920 German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The cover includes several pairs of eyes, with the top pair being the original and the other three inverted. The cassette version of the album showed all four pairs of eyes in their original orientation. The back of the CD includes two Latin phrases: "hoc volo, sic iubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas" (translated as "I wish it, I command it. Let my will take the place of reason") and "semper imitatum nunquam idem" ("always imitated, never replicated").
Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions was released in November 1990 on Noise Records. It was re-released on 15 October 2007 by Candlelight Records in three editions: double LP, standard CD, and a Deluxe Edition with a CD and a dual disc. The deluxe reissue included bonus tracks, such as a live version of "Age of Greed" and tracks from a rare 1989 cassette demo. One of these demo tracks, "Jubilation," is an early version of "The Beautiful Dead" and had previously been released on a flexi-disc. The other demo tracks included "The Fanatic," which had been performed live during the band's 1989 concerts. The Deluxe Edition also featured the music video for "Money Is Not Our God" on a DVD.
Despite its lack of commercial success, Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions is seen as a significant album in Killing Joke's discography, reflecting both a return to their roots and a forward-looking evolution in their sound.
