Jesu Saves
As i've mentioned before, my beloved Godflesh have been reincarnated as Jesu.
their first full length album is finally out. when they say "full-length", they mean it. their "ep" was 40 minutes long; this self-titled album is 74 minutes, completely filling every available bit, with most of the songs clocking in over 10 minutes.
the album is made up of the same kind of epic, lush, pained, atmospheric songs as the ep, just with more of everything. where the ep was just Justin alone in a studio, the album has a full band with Ted Parsons (from the Swans, Killing Joke, and Prong) on drums and Dermot Dalton on bass.
older godflesh material was very sparse; usually built around a pounding, persistent, mechanical drumbeat with some really loud guitars and distorted bass marching along with it and justin's tortured screams on top. Jesu is almost the exact opposite but somehow manages to achieve a similar hypnotic effect. Jesu is all about layers and layers of guitar, harmonics, and vocals all drenched in reverb. there's a strong beat and bassline underneath it, but it isn't the main focus anymore. it's hard to tell where notes begin and end amidst the delay and distortion, yet a clear melody always seems to emerge.