Godflesh – A World Lit Only by Fire
It took Justin K. Broadrick 12 years to write another Godflesh album. But he wasn’t lazy in the meantime, as we all probably know. He kept up his creative output with several projects, such as Jesu, Pale Sketcher, Final and more. I could get into most of them, more or less, but I especially liked the more mellow Jesu stuff, such as the Silver EP and the split with Battle Of Mice. After a while, I did find myself craving some raw Godflesh heavyness and was rewarded with the ‘Decline and Fall’ EP earlier this year, which was a good preview of what was to come…
Maybe Broadrick felt it was time to blow off some steam again, because ‘A World Lit Only By Fire’ is an angry and gloomy motherfucker. From the start, you’re being battered with pummeling, gritty low end, piercing dissonance and industrial cold. ‘Deadend’ paints a dystopian picture in my mind – of bulldozers slowly crawling through a wasteland and people hiding in sheer panic; hungry and desperate for a glimpse of hope. But in ‘A World Lit Only By Fire’, there is no such thing. ‘Obeyed’ brings more discordance into the mix and only reinforces the bleak atmosphere of this album. At this point, I find the vocals worth to be mentioned, because they’re massive and angry as fuck most of the time. Together with the super low tuned guitars, they really create a destructive force. ‘A World Lit Only By Fire’ keeps its desolate vibe up until the end and finishes with an extra intense duo, consisting of ‘Towers Of Emptiness’, which has a really epic outro, and ‘Forgive Our Fathers’. This final track bundles all the hopelessness of A World Lit Only By Fire and hits you where it hurts. If there is any positivity left in you after you’re done with this album, you must be a happy camper like no other.
‘A World Lit Only By Fire’ is a monster of an album and among the best, that Godflesh have done throughout their career. No need to say more…!
