Labels: Hydra Head
Review by: Kunal Nandi
This has been out a fair old while, but it seems to have found a legion of devoted fans, all the way from the hardcore mob who remember the dark heyday of (Britain’s more deservedly famous ‘J.K.’) Justin Broadrick’s previous band Godflesh through to today’s discerning mall-lurking indie fan as well as every bugger in between. Since disbanding his previous outfit on the eve of an extensive American tour, all seemed lost for an artist that was sorely underrated during his time, but since then, a kind of renaissance has occurred. Reappraisal during the interim has led to younger fans to discover the huge body of work Broadrick created with his numerous recording projects, and championing from upstarts such as Hydrahead-owner and Isis-member Aaron Turner has enabled newer work to attain the recognition it deserves. After a couple of years churning out some sterling remix work comes Broadrick’s new band proper, Jesu.
It is perhaps inevitable that similarities get drawn between Godflesh and Jesu, because on a purely sonic level, the approach is essentially the same. A feel for the epic pervades throughout, with huge guitars counterpointed by thrumming bass, all backed up by antiseptic programmed drums, so essentially we have another of Broadrick’s studio acts. The recent spate of support slots with bands such as Isis and Pelican saw Jesu flounder most of time with technical difficulties, the acoustic shortcomings of many venues and, most criminal of all, audience apathy, just like Godflesh did. So on a surface level then, Jesu has a familiar feel, comparing very favourably to Godflesh’s best moments, surpassing a lot of it in my opinion.
The mindset is what’s changed though, and the effect has made Broadrick’s music more universally appealing whilst retaining its fundamental style. Has Broadrick’s attitude mellowed in the intervening years since Godflesh ended? Whatever the reason, the ingredients are still ugly as sin – thick distortion, almost artless bass stabs, sometimes faltering vocals – yet this time round the whole is quite beautiful. Whereas Godflesh were all about sounding as inhuman as possible, with those pseudo-industrial rhythms and atmosphere pounding forth from the sort of environment that only the utterly undesirable environs that Thatcherite Birmingham could evoke, Jesu sound like the complete opposite – emotional, fragile and moving. The religious overtones (those band names, the lyrical content) that always pervaded the music somehow felt spookily blasphemous with Godflesh, but Jesu transforms that into something elegiac and spiritual. Even the approach to the graphic design has stayed essentially the same, except that the overtly high contrast monochrome Godflesh sleeves have had the black replaced with gold.
An excellent and important record.