Album Review: Godflesh - Purge
Reviewed by Patrick O'Reilly
Actual titans of the extreme music scene for over 30 years, Godflesh return with a new full length entitled 'Purge'.
'Purge' elaborates on themes and ideas first conjured up in 1992’s 'Pure' album and combines that old school Godflesh sound with some new concepts to come up with an intriguing and thought-provoking album. Opener 'Nero' heralds the album with a repetitive 90s hip hop style beat before Justin Broadrick’s trademark barked vocals and feedback drenched guitar bring the track truly to life. It’s a great opener and the up-tempo drum loops make for a somewhat easier listen than you may be used to with Godflesh.
The rest of the album follows a similar path with drum loops based on hip hop, DnB and other forms of dance music.
A heavy, pulsing bass tone is constant throughout giving the album a huge deep sounding bottom end that really contrasts with the jarring higher pitched guitar. Familiar Staccato snares pop up on track four, 'Lazarus Leper', which sounds like a classic Godflesh track, whilst track five the upbeat 'Permission' brings to mind Fear Factory and in particular ‘Dog Day Sunrise’ with its bright shining atmosphere.
Everything is tuned down a notch for track seven 'Mythology of Self' though which comes across as pure Doom/Drone and really shows the depths of darkness and heaviness that Godflesh can so easily navigate.
The album ends with glorious washes of feedback as final track 'You Are The Judge, The Jury, And The Eexecutioner' draws to a close leaving your ears ringing yet still hungry for more.
As a band and an institution of extreme music Godflesh are truly masters of their craft and again they have crafted a real gem here. Highs and lows, peaks and troughs in terms of actual sound and tone and also emotionally are traversed on this musical journey, one which leaves the listener to assign meaning and reference to one’s life and experiences, it also works on a more superficial level as a quality industrial metal album with some cool drum patterns, booming bass and screeching guitars. It’s up to you to decide how much you want to put into the listening experience and how explicit and personal you want it to be.
Fear Factory’s dog day sunrise was a cover of Justin Broadrick’s old band, Head of David.