The ‘Decay’ of industrial strength
By Dan Lima
Staff Writer
Many people have made music history right beneath our noses, Justin Broadrick being a prominent example. A native of Birmingham, England, Justin Karl Broadrick earned a following by pushing the envelope within underground music, blending guitars and electronics. Getting started in his teen years during the mid-’80s, Broadrick was involved with extreme groups like Napalm Death and Head of David before forming Godflesh in 1988, joined by Ben Christian Green on bass and a devastating drum machine. Taking the discordant guitar playing of Killing Joke, the mechanized noise assault from Big Black, and the cathartic performance found in the early material by Swans, Godflesh became one of the earliest acts to blend elements of industrial music with heavy metal, around the same time as Ministry over in the U.S. They debuted in 1989 with the alpha and omega “Streetcleaner,” praised for its dismal scenery and heavy composition reflecting life in an industrial labyrinth. Broadrick is also famed for having many other music projects on the sides, such as his techno moniker JK Flesh, his joint industrial hip-hop act Techno Animal with Kevin Martin, and his shoegaze/drone metal band Jesu which earned him a feature on the new Phoebe Bridgers album per her request. Godflesh faced a number of obstacles throughout their career. Most recently, Broadrick announced earlier this year on Instagram that there would be no more music or live shows after undergoing surgery for an inguinal hernia. “If I continue to perform and shout/scream as I do with Godflesh, then I am at high risk for more hernias, and blowing out my abdominal wall entirely.” Godflesh is now set to retire with two more albums which were already underway. The first one is the newly released “Decay,” written shortly after the release of 2023’s “PURGE.” The album opens with the second single “Master and Slave,” an 8-minute droning track composed mainly of static and the rumbling of the eight-string guitar. Broadrick establishes a suffocating setting for the rest of the album with short verses and layered vocals, sounding like a digital ghost. The following track and leading single, “Living/Ending,” is textbook Godflesh. Pummeling, hateful rhythms from the drum machine and B.C. Green’s world-shaking bass paired with Broadrick’s dissonant riffing and hellhound-like barks create the signature nihilist orchestra the band is worshipped for. The album takes a turn with “Feral Colony.” This track employs desperate guitar notes clashing with each other and Broadrick’s singing resembling the moaning of a wounded angel. Add the constant pounding of the drums and you suddenly find yourself overdosing at an underworld rave. “Fear of Man” carries on that crushing atmosphere with brooding noise and guitar squeals. Broadrick’s spectre-like voice echoes short, cryptic verses of the anguish in interaction based on his experience of PTSD and masking autism. The listener likewise feels incapable to communicate and regulate like the lyrics state. The crushing guitar and vocal distortion on “Fodder” drag the anxious vibe of the album further. The lyrics, containing only two verses, hypnotize the listener into feeling that exact same dread. The album then closes with the 11-minute punisher “Consume Me.” Where the opener felt like crawling helplessly while being tamed with a leash, this track’s first half feels like sinking down into the earth and its second half like being infinitely cut by the “razor tongues” in the lyrics, truly giving the impression that the end is near. “Decay” finds Godflesh trading the previous album’s hip-hop-laden grooves that harken back to their late-’90s period for a burdensome, dense atmosphere. In fact, this may be the band’s most atmospheric record since their 1992 sophomore “Pure.” While the album has solid material, it loses the momentum of its predecessor, though that is an unfair criticism considering Broadrick’s current condition. If anything, they are doing way better than certain legacy industrial acts… but that’s a story for another day. Godflesh may be done, but Broadrick certainly isn’t. The follow-up to “Decay,” tentatively titled “The End,” is set to release next year. He also plans a new project called “White Light District” to continue his legacy of making “heavy, ugly music.” Despite Godflesh ending soon, their and Broadrick’s legacy will carry on, speaking to millions of nomads scattered on the Earth. To summarize the impact this music has, Broadrick said it best in an interview with The Guardian: “It’s outsider music. It doesn’t belong, and I don’t belong, and I’m happy to not belong. I don’t want to belong.” Rating: B “Cheers to us who don’t belong.”
