Track Listing

1. Your Path To Divinity
2. Friends Are Evil
3. Tired Of Me
4. We All Faulter
5. Walk On Water
6. Sun Day
7. Man/Woman
8. Guardian Angel

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #83484 in Music
• Released on: 2005-02-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Named after the last track on HYMNS, the final Godflesh album, Jesu is a literal extension of singer/guitarist Justin Broadrick's pioneering industrial-metal work. (In fact, Jesu's line-up often includes latter-day Godflesh drummer Ted Parsons, formerly of Swans and Prong.) While the British act's 2005 self-titled full-length outing can hew closely to the crushingly heavy Godflesh sound (see the ominous, rumbling "Your Path to Divinity" and the pummeling "Man/Woman"), the record takes that dark, chilly aesthetic and gives it a surprising degree of emotion and warmth, particularly on the slow,pensive "Tired of Me" and the shimmering "Sun Day", hintingat the dreamy shoegaze approach that Broadrick would pursueon subsequent Jesu releases.

Customer Reviews

Life after 'Flesh...
Where Godflesh were perhaps the ultimate urban band (more so than any rotten punk band), Jesu are at least one of the ultimate rural, pastoral bands. Listen to this album on headphones while watching the sun rise, and I swear to God, you will never feel more in awe of nature; how beautiful and how terrible it is. No small achievement.
Where Swans are occasionally too arch and stagey, and Neurosis too introverted, Justin Broadrick makes this kind of thing accessible as well as impossibly dense. The mudslide of guitar here recalls My Bloody Valentine, but more so. In fact, Kevin Shields would quail at the maelstrom at some points, especially the most Godflesh-like song, 'Man/Woman', wherein a swarm of guttural voices from some godawful hovering abyss hector some poor person about being "faceless, dead-eyed". (My guess is the target is a record company drone who stiffed Godflesh back in 2001.)
'Sun Day' and especially 'Tired Of Me' are among the saddest songs I've ever heard, but they don't seem depressed as much as sheerly exhausted. Listening to them recalls Jonathan Selzer (of Terrorizer magazine)'s oft-reiterated claim that only through absolute surrender can you find absolution, and Broadrick seems readier to do this than ever before. Consequently, the darkness is always tinged with a ray of hope, a faith that once one finally transcends the self - the 'Flesh? - one will attain some kind of peace. My Bloody Valentine never had this kind of emotional impact, either.
The sequencing is a bit out of whack - the weakest songs are the opening and closing ones, which really ought to be the strongest, if you think about it - but that's a distinctly minor nitpick. And 8 songs stretched over 74 minutes is a bit...too much. But that's always been a Broadrick thang.
Nevertheless, this is highly recommended, especially if you think emotional heavy music is something confined only to (gag) Life Of Agony, Coheed And Cambria, and their self-pitying ilk. This crushes any and all 'emo' effortlessly. Nice one (again), Jus.

Godflesh Who?
Jesu are something of a musical enigma; as with the debut 'Heartache' ep, the sound (barely)contained on this plastic, mass produced disc tries to pass itself off as just a good metal record, with its doomy rumblings and skull crushing, dissonant intros. However, whilst this is all well and good, Jesu are something a little more special than that. They are actually quite astonishing in their provocation of emotion - speaking as a lifelong metal fan, i can still safely say that I cannot recall having been so moved by a record that most would term metal. The crushing doom of the distorted guitars is a backdrop for gorgeous, despondant and utterly hypnotic vocal and guitar harmonies, JK Broadricks frail, resigned voice transmitting a very human beauty across the atonal void of his guitars. Whilst we have heard hints of this brilliance in Cult of Luna's 'Salvation', and its ilk, never has the simultaneous interplay between fragility and bruised but ferocious noise been so mesemerising, so directly corresponding to particular emotions. Because of its sheer emotional honesty and the depths of inner horror it suggests, 'jesu' is not an easy record to get through, despite how hypnotic it is. It may even make you cry. But underneath all the sound and fury is an intelligence, honesty and beauty that will stay with those brave enough to tackle this album for a long time to come. Its stayed with me, anyway.

Jesu-Jesu
This album is a continuation of some of the themes Justin Broadrick explored with Godflesh to their logical conclusion. Although shorter than the "songs" appearing on the Heartache ep, tracks on Jesu still hang in at around 8-10 minutes creating hypnotic and melancholy atmospheres, that extend from some of my favourite Godflesh moments. Although beautiful and ambient, this is not too say that this album is not punishing and emotionally demanding. Rythmically quite slow and repetetive, topped over with hard bass lines and continuosly shifting guitar patterns drenched in well executed feedback, this is very expressive music that demonstrates Broadricks obvious talent for composition. Musical reference points are definitely any other work by Broadrick, Hydrahead Records (Isis, Pelican), Neurosis, and Swans. My only complaint would be that the restrained vocals are occaisionally a bit wobbly, but it all adds to the charm of this excellent debut album. I'll be looking forward to the next...