Godflesh - Hymns (2001)

Hymns, the final Godflesh studio album, is yet another turn in execution and style. With a labelswitch from Earache to Music For Nations, and the return of Ted Parsons (ex-Swans, ex-Prong) on drums, everybody was understandably on their toes, anxiously awaiting the album release.

On Hymns the band are moving away from the more electronic sound of a few previous records, although not discarding them altogether (there's still a few loops thrown in for good measure), and heading back to the more guitar driven sound of their earlier albums. The songs are pretty straightforward in execution, riff-heavy guitars, grinding bass and Ted's unexpected and precise, at times metronome-like, drum patterns.

The production is immaculate, and perhaps too clean for some lovers of audiofilth, as they were coined the somewhat unnecessary nickname: "KornFlesh". The record is indeed groovy and grinding on all fronts, no doubt about that. Perhaps the more accessible songs, perhaps the spotless production, made Team Graybeard and the old industrial grumpies moan nonsense about "selling out" and "discarding their past".

Each record Godflesh put out was different, and I think Hymns was in no way different on that aspect. Even closing up the gap between Jesu and Godflesh, the last track even makes a clear transition within the song, from angry Godflesh to a more mellow Jesuesque sound. When you think about it now, approximately nine years later, you realize that both projects were not that far apart in sound either, especially on later Godflesh material. It was the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one.

As a conclusion, Hymns is a worthy swan song and goodbye from one of the greatest industrial metal acts of our time. Enjoy!

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