Search - Godflesh :: Pure

Clever title

Irish | 12/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"where do i start... this album makes me dance... and thrash... and stare vacantly at my shoes... its not really industrial-metal ( NIN , Ministry, Fear Factory etc.) but those bands did cop their style from Godflesh. its not really shoegaze ( My Bloody Valentine, Ride, etc. ) but Godflesh ( Justin Broderick & GC Green ) did borrow some off their plates. Godflesh were like post-apocalyptic scavengers, stuck in a pre-apocalyptic world. Pure is an old album, but i still put it on for a walk across town on a cold grey day. its uplifting, depressing, oppressive and liberating all at the same time.

its different than anything that came before, and nothing new will ever be the same..."

Pure brilliance (pun unintended)

Wheelchair Assassin | The Great Concavity | 04/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since I just described Godflesh's sound in some depth last month while reviewing Streetcleaner, this review is going to be a short one, but I still feel it necessary. While Streetcleaner was certainly a great album, those looking for a prime example of Godflesh's sound should pick up this monstrous masterwork posthaste. In tone and mood Pure is somewhat similar to the doomier work of black Sabbath, but its heavy reliance on abrasive guitar noise and pulsating pseudo-industrial beats bears the mark of such latter-day noise merchants as Killing Joke, Big Black, and even the Jesus Lizard. All thematic resemblances aside, however, Godflesh didn't really sound like any of those bands, or like anyone else for that matter. Pure is one of those perception-realigning albums that come along all too rarely, filled with lengthy, epic dirges of the sort that High on Fire and Neurosis have been specializing in lately. The gruff, throaty growl that frontman Justin Broadrick used to such great effect on Streetcleaner is still very much in evidence here, but in other places his vocals are more subtle, even somewhat melodic, blending effortlessly with the music to form mantras of yearning and disaffection that take much of this album well beyond mere aggro territory into the kind of sonic profundity that few artists in any style ever achieve. From the opening industrial-metal anthem Spite, to the mournful swirl of I Wasn't Born to follow, to the metallic scrape of Love, Hate (Slugbaiting), to the ominous collage of conflicting sounds that is the 21-minute closer Pure II, Pure is a testament to human emotion in its purest and bluntest form. Before you exit this mortal coil, you must hear it at least once."