Although they’re legends, Godflesh isn’t a band for metal purists. Unapologetically industrial and chaotic, the Birmingham duo of Justin K. Broadrick and Ben Green have been delivering skull-crushing, but fearlessly experimental music for over thirty years now (no, the period where they disbanded doesn’t count in fans' hearts). They are unmistakable and yet inimitable. You know a Godflesh song when you hear it.
It’s a band you either “get” or don’t. For those who do, you’ll be happy to learn that Godflesh has a new record out. The first since Post Self in 2017. Purge has eight songs and lives up to Broadrick and Green’s legacy of being industrial oddballs and metal marginals in every conceivable way.
Purge starts with the single Nero, which originally came out in April along with three remixes conceived by Broadrick himself. Straightforward in the way only Godflesh knows how to be yet highly conceptual, it situates Purge in the band’s more expansive range. If you’re looking for another Streetcleaner or A World Lit Only By Fire, it’s not what you’re going to find. Nero starts with a distorted beat doubled by Justin K. Broadrick’s powerful, downtuned guitar. The music is sequenced, manipulated, denatured. It’s monolithic, obsessive and full of nuances and subtle electronic elements that celebrate the entire range of Broadrick’s musical interests.
The follow-up song Land Lord is even more expansive than Nero. Featuring a drum-and-bass beat for backdrop, it’s reminiscent of Skinny Puppy’s brand of industrial music. Of course, there’s more than enough anger and pounding riffs for it to be a Godflesh song, but it’s different. Land Lord has some of the boldest riffing ideas I’ve heard on one of their records in many years. Broadrick diverges from the predatory, power chord heavy formula that made his renown and embraces a more intuitive approach. There are anachronic and cinematic qualities to Land Lord that make it one of the most memorable songs the band has written in a while.
Without compromising on the overall heightened electronic approach on Purge, Army of Non is a more conventional Godflesh song. It features the crisp and overwhelming bass sound of Ben Green at the beginning before kicking in a more familiar cadence. It’s quite groovy for Godflesh standards’ mind you and I might’ve heard a hip-hop sample in the background? I know it’s unfamiliar, but it’s done in a super tasteful way. That’s what I mean when I say this record is expansive. It incorporates new ideas to an already well established musical structure.
Purge is not diluted, it’s richer and more dense than your usual Godflesh record. It’s a little less brutal, but who gives a fuck? Listen to Streetcleaner again if you want brutal.
Lazarus Leper is, well, another curve ball! Anchored around an unapologetically electronic drum beat and squealing guitar chords, Broadrick doesn’t howl on this song. He uses more of a spoken word delivery, giving Lazarus Leper a haunting vibe. The chords and the fleeting sense of melody also reminded me also of 90s alternative rock. It’s like being trapped in an Eddie Vedder nightmare. Permission is another throwback that mixes a more classic rock riffing approach with drum-and-bass beat. It’s swirling and obsessive and features both singing and howling Justin K. Broadrick. The guitar is so different on that record. It’s rare that a band thirty years into their career offers so many new ideas, but it works so well on Purge.
Broadrick and Green reconcile the future with the past again on The Father, a song that somehow brings together the sounds of Godflesh, Jesu, JK Flesh and the entire musical scope these two have been simmering in. Am I hearing some shoegaze structures and elements on that song too or am I crazy? The Father is a beautiful, haunting song about imperfection and vulnerability and being alone on your path. The contrast between Broadrick’s vocals and the shrieking guitar is so powerful. Mythology of Self is the most conventional and muscular song on Purge. I loved its slow, almost doomy tempo. It also has one of the freakiest, most original atmospheres. I don’t know what all these sounds are, but they created images of desolate landscapes in my head.
Purge ends up with You are The Judge, The Jury and The Executioner, a whopping eight-minutes long atmospheric track. It’s really the only song on the record I couldn’t get into. After getting so relentlessly pushed and challenged, I had a difficult time getting into a more contemplative mood. I liked the noisy ending, but I would’ve taken like eight minutes of that instead of a souped up Jesu song? I love me some Jesu, but it just clashed weirdly with the rest of Purge. It's a whole other vibe.
Well, this is another solid Godflesh record, but it’s different. Purge is rich, cinematic, conceptual and thoroughly idiosyncratic. Only Justin K. Broadrick and Ben Green could’ve come up with such a UFO and make it work the way they did. That said, it’s kind of a 201 Godflesh class. If you weren’t into the band already, I think this is too weird and experimental for newcomers to get it. Fortunately, Streetcleaner, Hymns, A World Lit Only by Fire and all the others already exist to usher you in. But if you’re already into the Godflesh soundscapes, Purge has enough surprises and challenges to keep you under the spell.
