Godflesh Goes Mainstream? Not...quite.

Review Score: (6/10)
Out of all the swelling pit of fiery noise that is Broadrick's body of work, this disc is probably the most listenable and the most conventional. Not to suggest for a moment that it is bad, but it simply doesn't have the freshness and "wow" of the other Godflesh releases. What we have here is what bands like KoRn and the Deftones would sound like if they had a modicum of talent. Hip-hop rhythms are mixed with smothering Streetcleaner-esque guitars and strident samples. Screaming hatefully throughout it all is Broadrick, who mixes the vocals quite well; it definately adds to the music, but the lyrics themselves do leave a lot to be desired. I can't stand to read the lyric sheet; it's so pretentious in some areas it borders on chuckle-inducing. Luckily, most of the vocals are unintelligible or obscured by the instrumental fury of Songs of Love and Hate. Most of the songs on this particular outing are strong, with only one track that I would consider weak(Time, Death and Wastefulness). Godflesh's personal artistic Achilles' Heel has always been a lack of tasteful brevity, as was demonstrated many, many times in Selfless; they just stretch songs farther than they can go. Ones that would be perfectly fine at 3-4 minutes are made into ones that last 7, sometimes 9. This flaw seems to be more or less cleaned up here; I can see only three songs where they over-extend themselves, and even then, it's not that much of a song-ruiner. On the whole, it is solid and a must buy for any Godflesh fan, but simply isn't up to the experimental bar that Broadrick and Green usually set for themselves. It's good, but all sounds just a tad too familiar to be great.

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