Godflesh - Pure

It's that time again; another Godflesh post! How long will this one be? How far up Justin Broadrick's arse can I get this time? Ha ha! All jokes aside, my love for Godflesh is seemingly never-ending, although I do have lapses in listening time these days as there is so much other stuff out there I'm currently wrapping my lugholes around. At the moment I've been on a tremendous (and possibly worrying) hip hop / Bjork kick, so switching back to something as punishing as early Godflesh for the purpose of this review has really juxtaposed my listening ability. I guess it makes Pure seem twenty thousand times heavier. That can only be a good thing.

I'm not sure if Pure was the logical progression from something as sprawling and nauseatingly epic as Streetcleaner. I can totally see how the band got from A to B, so to speak, but Godflesh could have just as easily wandered off into the wailing, droning, clanking territory instead. Regardless of what could have happened, history dictates that Godflesh tightened and disciplined their sound for their second record. Pure is clinical and more machine-like than before. Both Streetcleaner and Godflesh are mechanical as fuck, but they also both presented a harrowing sense of depth and that weird sense of claustrophobia (or is that agoraphobia?). Pure just gets in, fucks you up, and leaves. It is an absolute riff machine.

I'm surprised this isn't more popular in "regular" metal circles; the riffs on display here are tight and mosh pit inducing. If this record didn't exist, neither would Fear Factory (or maybe they would have just stayed as a death metal band). The production is something that is very similar to the later, metal-to-the-core Pantera, and I don't suppose that it's a coincidence that Justin ended up remixing on the "Walk" single. Even Metallica's Kirk Hammet claimed that Godflesh were the heaviest band on the planet, before he stole a bunch of artwork ideas and was a general all-round dick. To top it all off, Metallica went on to release Load and Reload at this point, so karma is a bitch.

 

This LP can be rather difficult to find at a decent price. If you keep scoping and peeping that shit on various websites you will eventually be very lucky and can score a copy for a pretty good price. I got mine for the absolute steal of £10, because the seller insisted that the copy wasn't in good shape, despite sending me pictures that seemed to show otherwise. My copy is a bit crackly, but that just lends to it's charm. It looks just like any well-played record would look like after 20 years of storage. Out on Earache Records, and has also been re-issued on CD a gazillion times so you can probably get a copy for 5p or something.

Godflesh - Slateman

"Slateman" is one of my favourite 'Flesh songs, and is a prime example of what excellence can be achieved by simply using a drum machine right. This isn't particularly heavy or drawn out or even harrowing in any way, but it is the perfect example of Godflesh's sound. The drum sound is absolutely spot on, I don't really know what does it here for me but it's just so right. The bass is clanky and thick, holding down the rhythm perfectly, whilst the guitars wail over the top of everything, kicking into riffage every now and then, bolstering the heaviness and hitting home the beat.

Finally, with the vocals ranging from breezy cleans to distant shouts, there simply isn't a more perfect example of Godflesh. This was released by Sub Pop Records, as part of their "Singles Club" in the 90s. I think this is also available as a 12" which Earache put out. I want to get my grubby hands on that fucker too, even though it is pretty much the same record on a different sized disc. My Godflesh fan-dom knows no bounds! 

Godflesh - Slavestate Remixes

I initially thought this just a completists item, and being a total crazy fan I simply had to get a copy on my quest to own all Godflesh stuff. The "Radioslave" version carries the original off on a whole new tangent, keeping the opening 90s dance vibe as its leading beat rather than heading into the heavyness the original does. The sample of the lyric "Jesus!" blares continually. "Total State" batters "Slavestate" into an unrecognisable mess, and if the world has fallen apart, or the song had demonically re-arranged itself within the machine. Almost as if the computer has taken over the song. Nasty. "Perfect Skin Dub" on the other hand, is rather relaxing for a smoldering fuck of a drawn out remix. All hope that remained in the original has been squashed and crushed to fucking nothing.

This original Earache package didn't last very long, but suprisingly it isn't very expensive. I guess people have to want something for it to be collectable. Horrible Godflesh self-remixes obviously weren't the order of the day in 1991. But if horrible re-workings of usually clinically precise songs are your bag, get some of this.

Godflesh - Slavestate

Godflesh is one of my favourite bands. Not of all time, because I have not known them "all time". But, when I finally got my head out my arse and searched for some music that wasn't grindcore, German techno-porngrind or Sunn O))), I never, ever looked back. Godflesh's effect on my outlook of music is just as important as Napalm Death's original input into my perception of music (how ironic it is that both bands are / were so closely related). I was originally going to explain how Godflesh made me learn how horrible noise can be fantastic to listen to, but I guess some areas of grindcore cover that already. And as for learning that music doesn't have to be 1000mph to be heavy, I can thank Sunn O))), or more traditionally, Sabbath, Cathedral et al. No, what Godflesh did is teach me more about an underlying mood in music. I have always felt moods in music, don't get me wrong, it is why I feel so close to music in the first place, but to use sounds in such a way that create such a sense of claustrophobia and helplessness is truley an artform.

Slavestate starts off with the title track; pounding 90s dance beats (that Godflesh seem to sneak into a lot of tracks around this era) quickly become dissonant guitars and pummelling drum machines. Rather pacey for a Godflesh track, Broadrick bellows "Fear Factory" over the top of this track as if there was no tomorrow (or any death metal band to instantly start mimmicking him ;D). "Perfect Skin" comes on next, mingling brain-bashing drum machines with a glimmering, hopeful synth that nicely counteracts the crushing heavyness of Benny's bass and Justin's guitars. It continues to ache away behind the main barrage. If one may divulge into some top notch art-faggery; Godflesh is the oil rig, the synth is the beautiful ocean and sunset behind it. Wow that was deep. Ha ha.

On the flipside "Someone Somewhere Scorned" bashes drums into your face like it wants you dead (again first coming on like something you'd hear on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack) before closer "Meltdown" is riff-bendingly good 'Flesh of old. Chuggachugga Snare! Snare! *Head explodes*. Unlike many Godflesh EPs that would follow Slavestate, I would suggest this to somebody who was unfamiliar with the works of Godflesh. It represents their sound enough but isn't as interverted and self-hating as later records. Godflesh become more "poppy" from Selfless onwards (disregarding final album Hymns), so Slavestate is a last shining example of their crushing original sound.

A couple of different pressings of this exist, all on Earache of course, but the original contains only the main four songs. The remixes were originally released as a separate 12" (which I also have here) but on later pressings of Slatestate the speed was cut down to 33rpm and they were bundled onto side B. This is fairly cheap, and the remixes even cheaper, so I recommend you pick it up :D

Godflesh - Godflesh

It is often easy whilst analyzing Godflesh's contribution and effect upon heavy music to focus wholly on the groundbreaking Streetcleaner record and to overlook this crooked, snarling little gem of industrial terror. More claustrophobic than Streetcleaner's sprawling inhuman soundscape, Godflesh pummels the listener with a mechanized drum machine attack and plodding, menacing bass.

 

What I have here is the original, untouched Swordfish Records pressing of this EP. Some think that the clear Swordfish pressing is rarer, but it is actually a repress. All original copies of Godflesh were made on black vinyl. Subsequent Earache re-issues of this can suck my fucking cock. And whilst the original Swordfish pressing isn't the most pricey and saught after record in existence, it remains one of my personal favourites. It is the mechanical hell of Godflesh's early existence and sound summed up in 6 tracks. It's concise and to the point, and then destroys the listener - mind, body and soul - with it's never-ending outro; "Ice Nerveshatter".

I could sit here all day thinking up new ways to tell you how good Godflesh are, and how fucking crushing this record is, but I think I've written enough so I'll just let the music do the talking. Track 3, "Godhead", is one of my all time Godflesh favs, so please do it justice and play it loud as fuck, and prepare to be pressed into oblivion!