Godflesh, Ministry and Voivod have all been called "industrial metal" but they have little in common. The most frequent comparison is between Godflesh and Ministry. They do have a few things in common. For one thing, they have toured together. What's more, they both bands have a strong following in both the thrash and the industrial communities. [ If you don't believe me, check out rec.music.industrial and alt.thrash. ]
Godflesh and Ministry both use heavily processed vocals, grungy guitars, drum machines and samples. But where Ministry are ultra-fast and use the drum machine to do things that a drummer wouldn't be able to do, Godflesh are slow and sombre, the drumulator pounding out a heavy, simple rhythm with deep, distorted grindcore guitars and samples on top. And [mark my words] NO guitar soloes!
For some reason, Godflesh have never been that popular in their native Britain. They have certainly never been approved of by the infallible NME. I get the feeling that things are very different on the other side of the Atlantic.
As my use of the word grindcore sort of implies, Godflesh is the brainchild of ex-Napalm Death member Justin Broadrick. On this, their latest offering, Godflesh is a trio consisting of Broadrick, George Green and Robert Hampson who used to be in Loop but now seems to have become a full-time member of Godflesh.
The CD "Pure" is without doubt the longest CD in my collection. It clocks in at 79:46, and the last 20+ minutes are taken up by "Pure II" which is nothing but ambient feedback. Bound to give you a haedache or two. The other tracks are more traditional, structurally (as far as Godflesh is concerned is, i.e. adhering to the drum machine + grindcore + samples formula). The title track, "Pure", begins with a samba-like rhythm that suddenly mutates into the pounding menace of a typical Godflesh beat. "Baby Blue Eyes" would not appeal to Frank Sinatra; following a weird sample we get what I _think_ is a song about genetic experiments. But I really wouldn't want to comment on the lyrics of "Pure"; the vocals are heavily processed an almost always unintelligible, and I tend to think of Godflesh as instrumental music. I mean, if they were serious about the lyrics, they would have included a lyric sheet.
My personal favourites have to be "Mothra" and "I Wasn't Born To Follow", however. The former has a pleasantly dissonat sample as the intro, and the latter has an almost standard riff throughout the song, only the riff is given the full grindcore treatment so that it sounds extremely threatening. There is also the bizarrely titled "Love, Hate (Slugbaiting)" (Godflesh love bizarre song titles).
- So, you may ask, do I _like_ "Pure" ? Yes, definitely. Listen to it whenever you are in that special, strange, angry, sad mood. And oh yes, the CD itself has some realy nice artwork.
To Mr. Big fans: Avoid. All others: Buy.
Dopeness rating (the Isbell system): SlugDope.
Hans H{\"u}ttel, Office E1-111 - hans@iesd.auc.dk Mathematics and Computer Science, Aalborg University Fredrik Bajersvej 7E, 9220 Aalborg {\O} DENMARK - North Jutland is for lovers.