Posts Tagged ‘Justin Broadrick’

Album of the day: Godflesh – Streetcleaner (Reissue)

Posted on Friday, August 20th, 2010

Praise for Godflesh‘ Streetcleaner (Earache) from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: It really doesn’t take much for us to find an excuse to gush about this, one of our favorite metal records EVER, the industrial metal juggernaut that is Streetcleaner. A crushing sonic milestone by which all other heaviness must be measured, and we’re not exaggerating (as we’re prone to do) when we say that Streetcleaner still sounds better than 90 percent of the heavy records we hear today, which is incredible considering that it was recorded more than 20 years ago!

If for some insane reason you don’t own this already, this deluxe double disc reissue is the perfect reason to finally get it, and for the rest of you, if as obsessed with Streetcleaner as we are, a whole disc of demos and unreleased versions should definitely be enough to get you to buy it again. More on the bonus disc down below, but first, let’s get to the record itself, the mighty Streetcleaner…

It’s weird to think that amongst the legions of fans out there who LOVE Jesu, there are probably loads of folks who don’t realize that Jesu was born out of the mighty behemoth that was Godflesh. Justin Broadrick, who started off in grind pioneers Napalm Death, made a quick pitstop in Head Of David, and eventually struck out on his own in Godflesh. These days, drum machines and metal are not strange bedfellows, but back in the day, this was some seriously what-the-fuck action.  Metalheads and punk rockers alike were confused, but got over it pretty quick once they realized that Godflesh might just be the heaviest, fiercest thing they had ever heard.

And Godflesh at their heaviest was to be found right here, on Streetcleaner, adorned with the now iconic image of crucified men on crossed in front of a cascade of burning lava (a frame from the genius movie Altered States), this record, originally releases in 1989, still sounds as fearsome as ever.

And now that we have a handful of Jesu records to reference, it’s easy to hear that some of the seeds that would eventually blossom into the dreamy shoegazy metallic bliss of Jesu, were present even back then, albeint buried beneath a black hole crush of churning downtuned riffage and blistering skull rattling programmed beats. Our old three sentence / 14 word review still says it best: “One of the heaviest, scariest “metal” albums EVER. Drum machine doom death. Godflesh’s best.”

And as if that weren’t enough (which it most definitely IS!!), this new version comes with a second disc, overflowing with awesome rarities, including a whole mess of previously unreleased original mixes, which definitely sound different enough to be worth your while, as do a handful of 1990 live tracks, some rehearsal tracks from 1989, and coolest of all, a couple demos, just Broadrick with guitar and drum machine!

As if the above didn’t already make it abundantly clear, Streetcleaner gets the absolute highest aQ recommendation. And remains one of THEE most essential metal records EVER.

At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.

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Posted in 2010, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | 3 Comments »

The Quietus: Godflesh – Justin Broadrick Talks Reformation

Posted on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

The Quietus’ Rob Haynes speaks to avant metal pioneer Justin Broadrick about getting the gang back together for a series of hellish shows… Following the news that the 2010 edition of Birmingham’s acclaimed annual Supersonic Festival will be headlined by Swans, Capsule are hugely excited to announce the second headlining ...read more

Godflesh To Play Supersonic Festival, Birmingham

Posted on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Following the news that the 2010 edition of Birmingham’s acclaimed annual Supersonic Festival will be headlined by Swans, Capsule are hugely excited to announce the second headlining act, Godflesh. Acclaimed by many as founders of the industrial metal movement, Godflesh will be returning to their Birmingham roots to play the ...read more

Godflesh: Streetcleaner re-release due in June

Posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010

British industrial metal pioneers Godflesh have announced that they are to re-release their seminal album from 1989, Streetcleaner as a deluxe multi-panel digipack including a bonus disc featuring previously unreleased tracks, live performances and alternative mixes and demos. All tracks on the original album have been re-mastered by founding member ...read more

Album of the day: Jesu – Opiate Sun

Posted on Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Lovingly pinched from Pitchfork: The EP might be the ideal format for Justin Broadrick’s music, regardless of his alias. Whether he’s trying to erase your head via concrete-slab guitars in Napalm Death, reduce techno to a series of clockwork hammerblows with Final, or massage your pleasure centers with neo-shoegaze in ...read more

Godflesh Mainman Justin K Broadrick Doesn’t Rule Out Possibility Of New Material

Posted on Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Godflesh the industrial metal band from Birmingham, England which formed in 1988 by Justin K. Broadrick (guitar, vocals, and programming) and G.C. Green (bass) and disbanded in 2002, will perform at this year’s installment of the Hellfest, set to take place June 18-20, 2010 in Clisson, France. This will mark ...read more

CraveOnline reviews Greymachine’s Disconnected

Posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009

On the exact opposite end of the scale are the Greymachine and their new album Disconnected which is a brutal and ugly album. How ugly? Imagine a low flying plane cruising over the remnants of a burned out city filled with desperate people killing each other for basic survival. Take ...read more

Greymachine’s Justin Broadrick has a warning for his fans

Posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Matt Debenedictis of  Noisecreep recently conducted an interview with Justin Broadrick. An excerpt from the interview follows below. If you like the musical-landscape-mixing melodies and heavy drone of Justin Broadrick’s main gig Jesu, he has a warning for you in regard to his newest musical venture Greymachine. “I am making ...read more

Pitchfork news: Jesu + Isis = Greymachine

Posted on Saturday, July 4th, 2009

Basic physics:  When the frontmen of two of the heaviest bands in the world get together, they are guaranteed to make something extremely fucking heavy. Jesu mastermind and former Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick and Isis leader Aaron Turner have teamed up to form Greymachine, along with fellow Jesu / Godflesh ...read more