June 23, 2023
Godflesh, One Leg One Eye, Victory Over The Sun
One of the first times I met GODFLESH everyone around me was in a state of alarm: Justin and Ben were due on stage shortly and were nowhere to be found. Who has their phone number? Do they have a tour manager? Where are they? Just as the concern was about to tip over into panic, they sauntered in - an absolute picture of serenity - and headed towards the stage. They’d been up the road at a Chinese restaurant, oblivious to their looming set time. With their stomachs sufficiently lined they delivered a masterclass performance - as they so often do.Â
They’ve done exactly that on their latest album, Purge, which came out a couple of weeks ago now. It’s released on Justin Broadrick’s own Avalanche Recordings label. Mentioning the label seems relevant because the industry within which Godflesh operates has shaped them as a band over the years. Having been at the forefront of extreme music in the UK in the 80s and 90s, Justin Broadrick is - for better or worse - a graduate of the Earache Records school of hard knocks. Given the opportunity, I would think that Justin would rarely venture outside his house, and his music would do all the talking for him. But he plays the game as is required, and whilst the reviews are favourable and the interviews are as charming and affable as the man himself, a new Godflesh album doesn’t arrive with the *puff-flash, puff-flash, bang* that many other big metal records do.
So, if Purge has flown under your radar until now, then it’s well worth 45 minutes of your time to acquaint yourself with it now it’s out. Justin and Ben have created quite the beast! Woven throughout the bleakly crushing industrial soundscapes are some gloriously catchy beats and electronic flourishes. Lauded as being so pioneering for their ability to combine post-metal with other genres, they do so with ease across these eight tracks.Â
If Godflesh is a new proposition to you entirely, then you’re extremely lucky - a whole anthology of extremity stretches out in front of you! It’s surely the best part about discovering a band new to you that’s already decades deep into their career; you’ve hit the jackpot here though, because besides Godflesh there are many other Broadrick projects to keep you extremely occupied. If you’re methodically minded then starting at the beginning of Godflesh’s back catalogue will give you the foundations upon which later works are built. If you want to dive straight in and suss out if this is a band for you, then you could do worse than their iconic Streetcleaner album or 2014’s A World Lit Only by Fire ‘comeback’ album.
Purge is available to buy HERE.
I recently picked up the debut album from ONE LEG ONE EYE on vinyl. This is a project from Ian Lynch of Lankum, I listened to it digitally a lot last year when it was first released and yet picked up a physical copy at a recent (amazing!) Lankum show. One Leg One Eye shares some similarity with Lankum in terms of drone and eerie tones - but there is little levity to be found on …And Take The Black Worm With Me. Ian’s voice is melancholy and haunting, against a sonic backdrop that owes as much to the rawness of black metal as it does to folk. I’ve mostly listened to this album in my office, but I feel like it would be best absorbed out in nature.
If you have hungrily devoured False Lankum and want more, then whilst One Leg One Eye walks its own path, this still might scratch that itch for you.
…And Take The Black Worm With Me is available to buy HERE.
A new album that I’m excited to dive into is Dance You Monster To My Soft Song! by VICTORY OVER THE SUN. I really loved the 2021 album, Nowherer and will be getting stuck into this new one in the coming days. Victory Over The Sun is the project of Portland, Oregan based musician Vivian Tylinska - and upon reading about how they compose their music I was immediately lost. Not being a musician myself left me at a serious disadvantage when trying to understand microtonality and equal temperament tuning scales - but didn’t impede upon my enjoyment of the music. I haven’t yet seen many write ups or interviews about this new record - I hope that changes soon. It’s a self-released album by an emerging artist which means that the odds are stacked against them to reach new ears. So if you check it out and you like it, then you should tell somebody about it too.Â
Upon first listen it’s a controlled chaos of cascading black metal riffs and proggier elements which I guess some people would describe as avant-garde black metal but I fear I don’t understand the boundaries of genre anymore so I wouldn’t dare be so bold as to definitively pin it down and categorise it. I just know I like it, and I hope you do too. I wonder if she will ever play live…Â
Dance You Monster To My Soft Song! is available to buy HERE.
Thank you for reading my first newsletter! My intention is simply to share music that I’ve been enjoying or thinking about a lot lately. I am a voracious consumer of new music but this newsletter is not tied to album cycles or release marketing. I believe we form connections to music and art in our own slowpoke time.
Missives may be a bit erratic and/or sporadic at first as I find my feet… or perhaps realise a glaring error after I hit send and then rush to compile another newsletter so you forget the horrors of the previous one. Anyway, thank you!
-Becky
(Image below is a painting titled Dance You Monster To My Soft Song! by Paul Klee)
