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Rating: De...Marga... & Galensorg Productions presents...
Justin Broadrick is eager to change, to once more challenge himself with his immense creation. For this reason, he leaves the historic label "Earache," may it forever be praised, to sign with "Music For Nations," another record label that requires little introduction given its historical importance in the realm of heavy music.
And for the second consecutive album, he also decides to use a human drummer, setting the drum machine aside; Ted Parsons, already a sonic agitator with Prong, is chosen. The sound that emanates from the album is undoubtedly more dynamic and looks back to the band's distant past, the more industrial, heavy, and obsessive one; the Dub/Electronic component that characterized the previous two albums, released at the end of the nineties, is almost entirely abandoned. These are the GODFLESH I prefer, period!!!
Noisy "Hymns" cloaked in claustrophobia and a heavy dark mood; thirteen tracks that erect and compose the oppressive sound wall created by the band. It's Justin's guitar that dictates compact and exasperated rhythms; along with his semi-growl voice that is always completely understandable. Not forgetting the metrical scans of the formidable and proud bass of longtime friend and companion G.C. Green; with that drum that adds further heaviness to the whole.
A warm flash of sparks is represented on the album cover; it could be a massive electric welding arc of some monstrous metallurgical industry. But the feeling I get from listening to the extensive work, over seventy minutes, is not warmth; indeed, we are on the opposite side. Ice, frost, intense cold: a mechanical masterpiece.
After the album's release, we are in 2001, Justin will put an end (fortunately temporarily) to GODFLESH; he will restart with Jesu, taking the name itself from the last song of "Hymns."
So the album is not one of the more cheerful, perfectly demonstrated by its mighty and distressing opening, with "Defeated" representing a sense of defeat and the desire for redemption.
"Deaf, Dumb & Blind" and "Paralyzed", with clear influences of the so-called primordial Nu Metal, are a conglomerate of dissonant harmonics and terrifyingly aggressive riffs, the kind that make you want to jump and break everything around you.
The atmospheres become even gloomier with demonstrations of dictatorial Metal, with "Tyrant" and "White Flag" laying down the law on slow and monolithic rhythms.
But it's with tracks like "Anthem" and "Regal" that the real detachment from the Godfleshian origins begins: the creature is growing, it has evolved over the years and is almost ready to leave its nest. Justin makes a clean break from the guttural vocals and demonstrates that he can also make good use of a clean and tormented voice, it has to be said.
The sounds remain dissonant and distorted but there is something different in the lyrics and atmosphere: Justin decides to show a side of himself that perhaps had never come to light before, an emotional and tormented side. His most intimate feelings are incorporated into these two exquisite tracks, giving a great preview of what would later become part of the key sound of the Jesu project.
I would like to conclude by mentioning the track which is, indeed, named "Jesu". A mechanical beast made of Doom/Industrial that advances slowly, roaring against anything that might come between it and its path.
Immediately following is the hidden track "If I Could See", where we find a whispering Justin over a decidedly electronic vibe foundation.
It would have been a monstrous swan song but will be followed, 13 years later, by another album entitled "A World Lit Only By Fire".
De...Marga... & Galensorg
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Defeated (06:05)
Everything I build I destroy,
everything I love always hurts,
everything I hate I'd rather love,
everything I am is everything im not.
How does it feel to be free,
how does it feel to clearly see,
I am you now, I feel complete,
I am you now, free of defeat.
04 Anthem (05:24)
And I found my soul,
when every feeling has been crushed by your world,
and you know, I'll find,
my purity inside is all that's mine.
You make me feel what you feel,
I will become you 'cause you know what's real,
and I'll see what you see,
you'll never be me 'cause I've found my soul.
[repeat 1st verse]
05 Voidhead (04:41)
Denial, no function, loveless, no meaning
Fearless, system, suffering on, existence
Meaning, distorting , shapeless, feeling
Fearless, system, suffering on, existence
Why am I, such a void
[repeat]
08 For Life (05:10)
I'm feeling, unneeded,
I'm seeing, believing,
so that I can be but nothing else,
maybe I'm a loser, no victory,
'cause I'm in it for life.
I'm in it for life [x3]
Deceiver, believer,
can't finish what you've started,
try feeling the pain of someone who suffers more,
I feel the pain of everything, it's what I am,
I'm in it for life,
and I feel it for life,
I'm in it for life,
I feel it for life.
[repeat 1st verse]
11 Antihuman (04:23)
Disown
Disgust
With [???]
We slave
Disown
Disgust
With [???]
We slave
Dead eyes [?]
See when
You're hurt
Stay down
Dead eyes [?]
See when
You're hurt
Stay down
Our souls [x4]
[???]
No sight
We pledge [?]
No sight
No soul [X12]
12 Regal (04:37)
I fall down, can't stand up,
I stay down, won't stand up,
I humanize everything,
everything is me,
[Repeat 1st verse]
13 Jesu (12:48)
Nature will step on you,
nature will eat you up,
Jesu...Jesu
Nature don't care for you,
nature don't see you.
Jesu...Jesu
You're Fucked
You've Lost
[repeat]
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