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Rating:
I have just returned home from one of my regular meditative pilgrimages to my mountains, now finally snow-covered. The bright and dazzling whiteness I encountered reaching the summit of Moncucco, almost two thousand meters high with a temperature nearing 10 degrees below zero, reminded me of this double anthology collection by Godflesh. Forget about the whiteness of the cover because this is a monstrous and suffocating compilation, which well summarizes the path of the band during their years at the "Earache Records" label.
My fingers are almost frozen from the cold I endured, it's hard to type, but I can't stop. I'm a stubborn mountaineer, and when I set my mind on something, I have to see it through; there are no half measures. Just as there are no half measures with the musical creation set up by Justin Broadrick at the end of the eighties after leaving Napalm Death; you either love them or hate them. It's always been that way with them.
You already know which side I’m on, given that this is my third review on "Godflesh".
Two discs for over one hundred and fifty nightmare minutes: it starts with the sparse and apocalyptic Industrial Metal of the beginnings, which then evolved and got contaminated with Dub and electronics in subsequent works. An intricate machine capable of creating a sound wall that stuns; Justin on guitar and G.C. on bass. The six strings cut you in half with a repeated and atrocious sound; no less is the distorted bass, terrifying in its mantra-like heaviness. Add to that an aseptic and detached drum machine which amplifies even more a sound from the infernal pit.
"You breed like rats, don't look behind you, you are already dead from the start": it's Justin’s desperate shout opening "Like Rats", one of the most famous and gruesome songs that Godflesh has composed. And we’re only on the second track of the first side named "Flesh Of God".
The second disc, named "Beyond The Flesh", gives room to the more experimental phase of the English band: there are remixes, rare and unpublished material, participation in the Peel Sessions of the renowned DJ John Peel. An excellent auditory compendium to understand the greatness of a band that never stopped, continually seeking evolution without ever denying the devastating industrial approach of their distant beginnings.
To be taken and listened to with appropriate caution, in small doses because they create dependence... AVALANCHE MASTER SONG...
Now I can tend to my numb body.
Ad Maiora.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Avalanche Master Song (05:14)
You're proud of being poor
Nothing changes nothing
You eat your skin
Your sould never existed
Screw you and your world
Perpetually cut with lies
I could stand the pain
For long enough
But the taste is just
Too bitter
02 Like Rats (04:13)
You breed, Like Rats
Breeding
Stylized
Deformity
Don't look back
Breeding
Fade out
Lies
Deformity
Stylized
Deformity
Don't look back
You were dead from the beginning
03 Streetcleaner (06:05)
Vision, Escape
Vision, This feels right (?)
Hell, Is where I lie
Now take the power, When we all die
We all die
04 Slateman (05:59)
Your blood on my hands, Your blood on my hands
Grey machines, Dying ocean
Slateman
With your hand on my heart, I need air
With your hand on my heart, I'll still survive
Slateman
[--Repeat first verse:]
05 Slavestate (03:58)
Jesus, _Weeping_
Hold on to me, Drown me in
_Hate_(Blood?)
Taught me hate, Feel nothing but pain
Exchange my _mind for it_, Pure forever
Slavestate
[--Repeat 1st verse:]
Blood
06 Mothra (04:33)
Your pain has no credential here
It's just a shadow of my wound
Our world...
If you wish to conquer pain
You must learn to serve it well
Serve it well
Your pain has no credential here
It's just a shadow of the wound
My world...
08 Pure (05:04)
Deny, Your disease
Isolate, Pure
Pure, By yourself
I'm so impressed, Pure
Pure
[Repeat 1st verse:]
10 Crush My Soul (04:28)
Swallow me whole Make me learn Don't need me Crush my soul, make me feel How can I See hope When I never See my light, I'm empty inside
12 Circle of Shit (04:55)
forget yourself
just don't respect yourself
reject yourself
just don't respect yourself
feel weak
you just mean nothing
feel owned
just feel like nothing
stand down
show your weak
stand down
make them smile
don't see yourself
don't see outside yourself
13 Frail (05:27)
owe yourself
but no one else
behind your eyes
inside your head
reach in
but don't reach out
i'll come and try
if only in vain
i've never watched in shame
i've never watched in vain
don't ever change no
just stay the same........
14 I, Me, Mine (05:16)
i, me, mine
i follow the signs
i, me, mine
take what i need
give me strength
but don't fight back
give me strength
now you don't exist
stand up straight
there's only me
i'm your world
there's nothing outside
listen to me
i'm always right
listen to me
'cos you're always wrong
15 The Internal (05:50)
our peace
is now in pieces
but what else would
you expect
but we're nothing
nothing in truth
here comes
the internal
winter
where innocence forgets
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