review: GODFLESH -- hymns
By anders pearson 30 Oct 2001
i’ve been patiently awaiting the new godflesh album for a long time. their last album with new material, Us and Them, came out in 1999. almost immediately after its release, there was word that godflesh was recording a new album. a year and a half later it was supposed to be out but there were apparently problems with the godflesh moving to a different label. for the last year, the album has been coming out Real Soon Now and fans have had to keep checking on its status. well, it finally came out on the 23rd. being the rabid fan that i am, i had mine preordered. then this whole anthrax scare comes along and the day it arrives columbia suspends all mail service while they bring our facilities in line with new CDC safety recommendations. naturally, they do this before i’ve made it to the mail room to pick up my cd. so after waiting for a couple years, i’m forced to wait for a week with it just barely out of my grasp.
<p>anyway, yesterday, they started delivering mail again and i finally got my copy of <i>Hymns</i>. after work i go straight home, get myself a beer and crank my stereo up. godflesh is a subtle band and their albums tend to take repeated listenings to really get the feel of. i’ve got my work cut out for me.</p>
<p>many of godflesh’s fans were unhappy with the more experimental direction the band took on their last couple of albums, adding in more and more techno and hip-hop elements to the sound. in the liner notes for the “In All Languages” compilation that came out recently, the band even stated that they were unhappy with “Us and Them” and pledged to return to their earlier, starker, heavier sound. and they have.</p>
<p>for those who are unfamiliar with godflesh’s music: godflesh is quite simply the heaviest band ever. it is the apocalypse set to music. when he was but 13 years old, justin broadrick (godflesh’s guitarist and vocalist) formed the band Napalm Death and recorded the album “Scum” which remains the fastest, most extreme, harsh, violent record ever recorded. it single handedly launched the entire genre of “grindcore” music and raised the bar for fast, complex, precise riffing among heavy metal guitarists. after he left napalm death he formed godflesh which is napalm’s total opposite. godflesh has a slow and deceptively simple style. consisting of a guitar, a bass, a drum machine and occasional screams, godflesh hypnotizes the listener while slowly crushing them to death. godflesh has a way of making a single note ringing out for an eternity into an intense, beautiful experience. it really bears almost no relation at all to “heavy metal” despite justin’s teenage project.</p>
<p>i personally really liked the last couple godflesh albums. i thought godflesh was creating some of the most innovative music out there. i still think that. however, i have to admit that they’re still pretty damn good at building weapons out of simple mechanical rythms, rumbling, bowel-massaging bass, and overdriven guitars punctuated with piercing harmonics and tortured moans/screams.</p>
<p>every godflesh album is a unique experience but Hymns definately bears more of a resemblence to their older stuff (Slavestate, and Pure in particular) than to their more recent albums. if you liked those, you won’t be disappointed. Hymns does have a few surprises though. on two of the songs (Anthem, and the hidden track), there are actual <em>clean</em> guitars and <gasp> justin even <strong>sings</strong>! they’re still unmistakably godflesh songs though. Antihuman features a one of the coolest electronic loops i’ve ever heard.</p>
<p>i’ve still got to listen to it over and over again a bunch more times before i can say anything much more concrete than that about this album. overall though, i’m very happy with it. godflesh has not disappointed. it was well worth the wait that i had to endure. if you want more detail, go read <a href="http://www.godflesh.com/hymns/thoughts/">this review</a> by slateman. and go buy the CD. if nothing else, it will sandblast the wax out of your ears.</p>