The whole legendary-band-reunites-for-shows-and-eventually-releases-a-new-album thing has been done quite a bit in recent memory, typically with insane amounts of hype. Most notably, Carcass employed a calculated marketing campaign for what ended up being a serious winner in Surgical Steel, and the snippets of hints and announcements surrounding the upcoming new At the Gates album make us feel like we’re viewing the buildup for the metal equivalent of Episode VII.
Not so with how Justin Broadrick and G.C. Green have treated the unleashing of the first new Godflesh material in 13 years. In fact, if you don’t happen to follow Broadrick on Facebook or Twitter, you might have missed the quiet Bandcamping of Decline & Fall altogether. This is, quite honestly, refreshing as hell, and the no-hype approach fits the music within. Nothing to see here, just two dudes getting back to business.
And back to business is exactly what the EP brings. Decline & Fall could just as easily have been lifted directly from 1995 and dropped into our laps now, utitilizing most of the band’s various tools. (The only thing missing is the nihilistic noise of Godflesh and Streetcleaner.) Plus, Green’s bass tone is possibly the best of his career, and ought to unsettle bowels any time this is played at max volume in a car.
Each of these four tunes provides a touch of variety—or at least as much variety as you’d expect on a Godflesh release. “Ringer” is all thump, riding a straightforward drive and Broadrick’s cleans; “Dogbite” gloriously mixes the grooves of Hymns with the murderous dance-party industrial of Pure; “Playing With Fire” slows things down to doom tempos; the title track does a “Crush My Soul”-by-way-of-Us And Them trick, complete with some bottom-feeding riffs and a hints of upbeat catchiness.
Sure, it all sounds a lot like something you’ve heard before, but it sounds a lot like really awesome music that you’ve heard before. Those (few) hoping for some new, older and wiser version of Godflesh, in which Broadrick employs the lessons learned from years of Jesu, are apt to be disappointed. Others – those long-starving ‘Flesh fanatics craving annihilation – will be happy to know that the band is as sharp, bitter, and (holy-schnikies-this-is-heavier-than-the-planets-of-1,000-galaxies) crushing as ever.
Hype? Hype? Godflesh don’t need no stinking hype.
