Tech Level 2 - Hymn/Hard times (2000), Tempest/Lexicon (2001), Teknological/Master (2002)

Contrary to my earlier "one album at a time"-posts, I'm deliberately posting this batch of 12" EP's, kindly contributed by a reader of the blog, in one happy threesome, so that you can download and hear the progression between EP's for yourself.

Tech Level 2 is yet another project by Justin Broadrick, with the focus being on drum and bass. Having only heard Chemical before, a track featured on the Genetically unmodified- and Mind the gap Vol. 28-compilations, I was anxiously awaiting these tunes.

As I listened through these digitized pieces of wax chronologically, I was pleasantly surprised with Broadrick's sound- and beat-wise progression. While the first two EP's are nice pieces of solid drum and bass sounds, they sadly were not much more than that. Admittedly I had high expectations, and perhaps I set my "standards" a bit too high, as I had hoped for a bit more of a flogging sound.

If the previous ones were a bit of a letdown for me, most of my doubts were then cast aside as Teknological came on. The track builds up rather slowly, a calm before the storm, which then finally breaks out somewhere around two minutes into the track. Now, this is something I was looking forward to.

The furious Master isn't really going to give you any more room to breathe either. An assault on every front, armed with some howling bass and truely raging beats, this one stood out as my personal favourite of the bunch.

While not presenting us with anything truely groundbreaking, I like what Tech Level 2 had to offer. It's an honorary attempt at drum and bass by a bloke who is really into what he does, willing to experiment beyond those childish genre limitations of what is accepted and what is not. But like I stated above, my expectations were admittedly a bit too high this time around, and my hopes for another scorcher in the vein of Krackhead were a bit over the top.

While the first two EP's are lacking some crucial punch in a few right places, in my opinion Tech Level 2 still ends up on the positive side of things with Teknological/Master. Check it out and hear for yourselves. Enjoy!

Download the 'Hymn/Hard times' (Dub) 12"EP
Download the 'Tempest/Lexicon' 12"EP
Download the 'Teknological/Master' 12"EP
(Hymn/Hard times (Dub): 18MB/192CBR)
(Tempest/Lexicon: 15MB/192CBR)
(Teknological/Master: 18MB/192CBR)

Godflesh - In all languages (2001)

Ok. I promise. This will be the last Godflesh-related post for a while. It's time for the two-CD retrospective, aptly titled In all languages.

The first disc, titled Flesh of god, serves as a best of-compilation, trying to capture Godflesh's varied and versatile career into fifteen songs, and doing a damn good job at that. The tracks are laid out chronologically. Beginning with Avalanche master song from their self titled EP, and laying down various favourites from along the way, up until Us & them. The Slavestate and Pure-era material are remastered versions.

The second disc, Beyond the flesh, is a collection of rarities and compilation tracks. Starting off with the emperor beast itself, Love is a dog from hell. Eight minutes of gnarly industrial metal filled with heavy riffs and crushing bass in synchronization with Machines. If you never got ahold of the Pathological compilation where this song was originally featured, now is the time to amend your ways.

Next up is Crush my soul (Ultramixedit), an edited and shortened version of the 'Ultramix' appearing on the Merciless EP. It was also treated to a remastering job, including Slavestate (Radiostate) and Xnoybis (Clubdubedit), the latter being another edited and shortened version taken from the Crush my soul/Xnoybis-disc.

On a personal note, I love the sound on the Peel session-recordings, and luckily two of them made their way onto the disc too, namely Tiny tears and Pulp. Raw and undisciplined!

The compilation is rounded up with two 'unreleased tracks', Witchhunt (Tyrant remix) and Us & them (Defensive remix). They are remixes from the scheduled Us & them in dub, which then got cancelled at some point, and sadly this release never saw the light of day.

In my opinion this is an extremely good compilation. The first disc features a bit of everything, and serves as an extremly good introduction to anybody who is new to Godflesh. The second disc offers little new to the 'Flesh aficionados, give or take the few previously unavailable tracks, but it's still a good view into the more experimental side with various remixes and compilation appearances.

Trust me on this one: It's worth it for Love is a dog from hell alone. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

Download Flesh of god part 1
Download Flesh of god part 2
Download Beyond the flesh part 1
Download Beyond the flesh part 2
(CD1 Flesh of god: 95+70MB/320CBR)
(CD2 Beyond the flesh: 95+77MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Messiah (2000)

All roads must come to an end, and even my stream of Godflesh EP's is starting to run dry.

There's this certain missing gem though, namely Messiah.

The material featured on the disc is some of the gloomiest stuff ever presented by the band. The source material was recorded and mixed between 1994-1995, and put out on Justin's own Avalanche Inc. on CDr, in a limited run of 1000 copies. In 2003 Relapse records reissued Messiah with new artwork on CD.

The disc features eight songs, four tracks and their dub counterparts, with a running time of 50 minutes. The first four tracks present us with a broad spectrum of music and emotion.

Beginning with the desolate and hopeless atmosphere of Messiah, which in my opinion features some of the best vocal performances in a Godflesh song ever. Going through the beatfueled Wilderness of mirrors, the bass-heavy Sungod and ending up with the slowly creeping and erupting rage of Scapegoat.

Up next are the dub counterparts of the aforementioned songs. Justin used recognizable chunks of the original songs, threw in some dense and fat beats and reworked them into these massive sensory assaults. Blissful!

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(95+18MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Love and hate in dub (1997)

Love and hate in dub. For some it's a curseword, a time when Broadrick's influences and other projects finally mixed into Godflesh. For others it was an eye-opener into more experimental and sample-based music. I witnessed a few, let's say rather close-minded, metalheads taking a surprising turn in audial interests after taking a few listens to this.

In all simplicity, Love and hate in dub is the band remixing their own Songs of love and hate, leaving out Amoral and Hunter. Like with any good dub, the emphasis lies heavily on the bass and beats. And trust me, there's plenty of those elements to share.

While Justin's guitars are mostly stripped away or buried in the mix, Benny's bass is pushed to the front of the mix, distorted and bellowing. Alongside this bass-heavy mayhem there's a wide array of beats thrown in. There's thunderous hip-hop beats, raging jungle- and breakbeats, cut-up and rearranged washes of white noise .. and most surprisingly, all of this seems to work out in the end.

A very diverse record, and one of the strongest remix albums to ever hit the market. The constant battle of the raging beats against the warm drones floating in the background is truely enthralling. Reflecting upon it today, I think the album has stood the test of time with flying colours. It's still that raging monster today, just like it was back then.

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(95+57MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Crush my soul (1995)

The first press of this promotional EP was released in 1994 by Columbia, before Selfless hit the shelves. One year later, Earache put out this alternate version of Crush my soul with an additional track, Xnoybis (Psychofuckdub).

The disc starts off with the Selfless album version of Crush my soul. Up next is Crush my soul (Ultramix), a 15-minute remix which incorporates electronic beats and various effects. Although the mix is interesting, in my opinion the track is a bit too drawn out and lacks focus. Perhaps a shorter version would have been more fitting? Although the track names differ, the Ultramix is the same as the remix on the '94 promo.

Everything ends with Xnoybis (Ultrafuckdub). Another long remix. 17 and then some minutes in length, this is the same track as featured on the Xnoybis promo CD.

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(82MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Xnoybis (1994)

Xnoybis overdose, anyone?

To play on the, some would say radiofriendly, atmosphere of the catchy and hook-filled Xnoybis, this four-track promotional disc was sent out to different radio stations.

For a quick rundown, it's just four different versions of Xnoybis. The first, fittingly titled Xnoybis (Edit), is an edited version of the original track. The second track, Xnoybis (Clubdub), is an extended remix with a rather mellow atmosphere. The third, titled Xnoybis (Psychofuckdub), also found on the Crush my soul EP, is a rather drawn out atmospheric remix. 17 minutes of an "ambient droning guitars"-affair. The disc ends with the Selfless album version.

Chill-out tunes by Godflesh. We've seen it all now, haven't we?

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(78MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Merciless (1994)

Merciless is second in line for the EP-series. The disc features four tracks with a running time of 28 minutes.

It all begins with the title track, which is actually an old Fall Of Because-tune. It's a suffocatingly slow piece with crushing riffs and heavy bass. Although it's rather simple in execution, it's truly merciless in atmosphere.

Up next are two Biomechanical remixes, the moniker under which Justin remixed Pantera. Both Blind and Unworthy lean more towards the industrial side of things, featuring some looped beats, lot's of sound effects and, especially on Unworthy, a rather uneasy atmosphere.

The disc ends with Flowers, a droning deconstruction of Don't bring me flowers from Pure. Robert Hampson of Loop is credited for guitar appearances on the third and fourth track. Raw and clear in sound, this comes highly recommended!

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(63MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Cold world (1991)

As promised, I'll be doing a series of Godflesh posts, cranking out all those overlooked EP's and the In all languages-collection.

We'll get the show running with Cold world. The EP contains pre-Pure-era material, which would have had no problem fitting on the full length quality-wise.

Featuring four tracks, the title track Cold world and Nihil, in addition with two Nihil-remixes. Both unremixed tracks are golden in my books and essential Godflesh material. Although I'm all for remixes and deconstruction of sounds, these two just sound very much alike and offer little variation for the listener. I'm not saying that they're bad remixes. For my tastes there are just too many similar elements in both, and sadly they end up sounding a bit stale.

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(50MB/320CBR)

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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(95+65MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Us and them (1999)

Godflesh return once again, this time as a two-piece with Ben and Justin at the helm. Ditching the live drums once again, they cleared the path for the return of Machines and setting the stage for Godflesh's most experimental release to date.

Initially it was this experimentation that had the listeners divided into a few camps again. While some were cringing and snarling the "the album has no soul"-mantra, others were really into the incorporation of drum and bass lines and hip hop rhythms. "Sometimes you get some, sometimes you lose some".

Sadly the exploration and experimentation was mostly just a scratch on the surface, leaving me craving for a more thorough implementation of their new sonic tools. Not to say that the result is hollow, it isn't. I just know, or I sincerely hope that I know, that these guys had way more to show than what they offered here.

Although the "bodysplitting breaks" Justin promised didn't find their way onto the disc, the end product is, still to this day, a surprisingly diverse and heavy album. Especially the last two tracks, The internal and especially Live to lose, which dates back to as early as '95, but was never released before, are clearly the beginning of the audial transformation what will be later known as Jesu.

As a conclusion, now that over ten years have passed since the release of this disc, one could state that the days of 20-minute feedback-laden outros are long gone, but luckily the band still managed to push some new ground and explore new ideas. To top everything off in cinnamon sugar and happy thoughts, I have to admit that I've developed a certain fondness of this album. It has certainly grown on me over time, and I'm happy to admit that I'm liking it (much more than in those olden days, anyway). A guy is allowed to change his mind and grow, right?

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(95+47MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Songs of love and hate (1996)

Godflesh return to the scene two years after their previous album. The fourth full length took me completely by surprise after the slight disappointment that was Selfless.

The band added a third member, Bryan Mantia played live drums for the first time on a Godflesh record. He left before the tour, only to be replaced by Ted Parsons (Swans, Prong and later in Jesu). Although Machines had been dethroned, there were still mechanized beats incorporated into the mix.

The first track, Wake, already proves that the band is not here to fuck around. Extremely catchy, filled with hooks and extremely in your face. It's not an easy task to pull of heavy, pissed off, industrial metal with almost danceable rhythms and samples, but these guys are surely on their A-game here! Once Wake is over, you have barely time to catch your breath before Sterile prophet emerges from your speakers. Another onslaught, what is going on?

How should I sum up my feelings about Songs of love and hate? Despite being another Leonard Cohen-reference, it's easily one of my all-time favourite records. This is a biased view onto things, but I'll say it anyway: Everything that was wrong with Selfless, is fixed and reimbursed for on this album. And then there is Frail, perhaps my favourite melodic Godflesh track ever. There's a personal story attached to it, but let's not go into that. Ha, 13 or so years should be more than enough by now.

Enjoy!

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(95+33MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Selfless (1994)

After a long delay I'm back. We'll continue down the small path we've begun, this time the fork in the road takes us to more Godflesh. Their third full length, Selfless.

Selfless has been called Godflesh's "rock and roll"-album, even by Broadrick himself, and in my opinion it's not that far off. Although it's more accessible than their early material, it's not commercial or "selling out" by a far shot.

The album goes into the works with a familiar recipe. Although the twosome discard much of the noisy guitar tone and feedback, the hypnotic, repetitive and droning guitar riffs are still present. Green's bass is still heavy, thumping and audible in the mix. The Machines still provide the beats, always on time, always against the grain. The vocals are cleaned up more, and there's even clear singing. There is more melodious work on the album, which makes it sound almost upbeat and joyful at times, then bouncing back to some pulsating industrial grit.

In my honest opinion it's not their brightest release, and I know for a fact that I enjoy their less-polished early material more, but this is still noteworthy progression of a very diverse band. The ending track, the 20-minute Go spread your wings, is not Pure II, but it's really damn close.

What the hell, try it for yourself. Go ahead and see what you make of it. Hope you enjoy!

I see so much, burns my eyes, lift your arms up, touch the sky.

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(95+78MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Pure (1992)

This is the band's second full length album, and the first Godflesh release to feature Robert Hampson of Loop on guitar (He is featured on four tracks: 'Spite', 'I wasn't born to follow', 'Predominance' and 'Don't bring me flowers').

Pure was clearly a transitional album for the band. They added more melodic elements into the mix, and reduced the gap between their heavy early days, and their later, at times almost groovy sound.

Whether this was too metal for the industrial crowd, and vice versa, is open for debate. The drum machine is still here, it's clear and more present than ever; the precise programming is again a key factor for the 'in your face'-feeling of the album. Although Broadrick's vocal style is transforming towards a more clearer and melodic output, there's still enough barking and snarling to satisfy the more metal part of the crowd.

The CD-version featured two additional tracks to the vinyl: 'Love, hate (Slugbaiting)' and 'Pure II'. The first three introductory minutes of Love, hate (Slugbaiting) are Fall Of Because live with Paul Neville on guitars. Pure II is a rather long piece of industrial ambience, twenty something minutes of droning feedback more reminiscent of Broadrick's other sound manipulation projects.

Only one questions remains to be answered: Where is Pure III? Hope you enjoy this classic release!

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(95+81MB/320CBR)

Final - Solaris (1996)

The "moar Final, dude"-mails I have recieved have worked. Time for more ambience, then. Originally released on Alley Sweeper, I present you the 1998 reissue on Invisible Records with an additional 30-minute track entitled Dying star. Most of the material was recorded by Justin in the summer of 1995 (with G.C. Green featured on the second track, Light), except for Dying star which was recorded in late 1995, with additional help from Dermot Dalton. Final went for a very calm, minimal approach on this EP. It's almost soothing in a way. Hope you enjoy!

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(95+49MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Slavestate (1991)

Two years after their breakthrough album Streetcleaner, Godflesh released a four song EP titled Slavestate. This ended up being released in three different formats: the four song EP, a three song remix EP and the nine song mini LP featured here. The thrive for a more electronic sound, which is almost "techno" at times, is what really divided people into two camps: disappointed haters and people who liked the album. Which one do you belong to? Hope you enjoy!

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(95+33MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Streetcleaner (1989)

This is Godflesh's second release and their first full length album. Streetcleaner was recorded in three sessions: the first with Justin and G.C. Green, the second featuring Paul Neville, and a third session which was entitled Tiny tears, although this EP never saw the light of day in it's intended format (These bonus tracks don't appear on the vinyl version).

Call me biased, but I still think that this is one of the most bleak and pessimistic albums ever put out. If you're looking for variation, look elsewhere. This is very direct and pummeling, in a big way this is achieved through the use of the drum machine: the battering is almost like a pneumatic drill, it's precise and never misses a beat.

If I have to point out flaws, my only gripe would be with the overall low volume on the record. As fate would have it, Justin is remastering Streetcleaner into it's second coming. [Source]

Without further ado, enjoy!

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(95+51MB/320CBR)

Godflesh - Godflesh (1988)

Godflesh continues to blow my mind to this day. This was their first release. Originally it was only released as vinyl on Swordfish records, I now present you the 1990 Earache re-release with two additional tracks from an unknown recording session.

The ultra-fast grind of Justin's previous band Napalm Death turned into quite the opposite with Godflesh: a mix of cold and oppressive industrial and metal. When you combine a drum machine (the holy Alesis SR-16), G.C. Green's dissonant and bellowing bass, Broadrick's droning and feedback-filled guitar playing with his effect-bathed vocalisations, you get the beginning of a new era of industrial metal. This was revolutionary in 1988, and even today it tends to leave people dumbstruck upon hearing it. Absolute recommendation, do not accept cheap substitutes!

Another request, hope you enjoy this one!

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(95+24MB/320CBR)

Final - 3 (2006)

The number 3 in our series was released on Neurot Recordings as a double CD in February 2006. Gathering recordings from 2001 up to 2005, the album features quite a broad spectrum of sound. While the second disc has Justin going at it pretty much alone (except for assistance from D. Dalton on Barely here and Northpole), the first disc is a great collabrational effort by Diarmuid and Justin (except again for a few tracks of Justin going solo). Great experimental music here, and with both discs featuring over 70 minutes of material, you're highly unlikely of running out of new sounds to discover. Enjoy!

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(CD1: 95+64MB/320CBR)
(CD2: 95+66MB/320CBR)

Final - 2 (1996)

Featuring nine tracks, this album once again features experimental and minimal ambient by our beloved Justin. The running time is over 70 minutes, and includes all-revealing track titles such as *******, /////// and ;;;;;;;. All material written between 1993-1995 by Justin, with additional help from G.C. Green and D. Dalton on a few tracks.

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(95+25MB/VBR V0)

Final - One (1994)

Started by Justin at a very young age, Final released several tapes in the early-to-mid '80s on his own Postmortem label. It basically began as a noise/power electronics project, lots of feedback and screaming; eventually turning into the ambient project you are priviledged to be hearing on One.

The album features eight tracks, of which seven were recorded and mixed at Avalanche studios in '92/'93. The only material written prior to this, was the last tune: 1983-1987 (Edits). Another interesting tidbit of information involves the running time of this digipack by Subharmonic. I have no idea why they had to shave off two minutes in total running time on the digipack, in my opinion a few minutes wouldn't make that much of a difference on an ambient recording.

As I pretty much despise reviewing ambient music, I will let you dive into the whirlpool of sounds yourself. Enjoy!

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(95+77MB/320CBR)