Godlfesh have been heralded as innovators within the music scene, generating an austere and hypnotic sound that pioneered the formation of the ‘Industrial’ genre. The band was initially founded in Birmingham in 1988 by Justin Broadrick, formerly the guitarist with Napalm Death and Head of David, and the ex-Fall of Because bassist Christian Green. The simplicity of the line up characterised Godlfesh’s infamous appeal, with the on-stage use of a drum machine and various collaborative contributions from musicians within the industry. Their debut album ‘Streetcleaner’ released in 1989 features additional guitars from Paul Neville and ex-Napalm Death drummer Micky Harris has previously toured with the band.

With a debut record under their belt Godflesh toured as a part of Earache’s ‘Grindcrusher’ tour, taking their emotion-fuelled raucousness out on to the road. However, in 1991 Broadrick began hinting at an involvement in other projects at the same time, as he issued a side-project with God’s Kevin Martin, entitled Techno Animal. The straying nature of the band members was also seen as Paul Neville decided to leave the band and concentrate on his own side project, Cabel Regime. This departure saw the short-lived addition of ex-Loop guitarist Robert Hampson, who quickly left the band during a European tour in the same year, following the release of Godflesh’s ‘Pure’ album in 1992.

Even in the slight position as a duo, Broadrick still continued to concentrate on other projects, playing guitar parts on Scorn’s ‘Vae Solis’ album at the same time as recording the 1994 album ‘Selfless’ and the single ‘Merciless’. This included remixes of two Pantera tracks; ‘Walk’ and ‘Fucking Hostile’ that found their place immersed amongst Godflesh’s metallic, passion-fuelled distortion. The sheer emotion that exudes from Godflesh’s industrial sound impelled the band on tours opening for Type O Negative and Danzig in 1994, with session drummer Brain being recruited to emphasise their heavy sound.

1996 saw Godflesh release the album ‘Songs of Love and Hate’, which was followed up by a revamped version of the same album, formed by dub mixes and alternative versions of songs on the album, entitled ‘Love and Hate in Dub’. 1999 saw the release of the fifth full-length album ‘Us and Them’. But, this seemingly wasn’t enough to capture all of Broadrick’s imagination, as in 2000 he generated a further side-project Thrones with Joe Preston of The Melvins and Earth. Broadrick also took the innovative decision to contribute a version of ‘For Those About to Rock’ for the AC/DC tribute album ‘Back in Black’. Earache also released an exhaustive double CD set chronicling the band’s career to date including unreleased tracks and remixes, together with a companion DVD featuring all of the band’s video clips, including the amazing Andre Serrano directed ‘Crush My Soul’.

Amidst the side-projects and Broadrick’s energies being fuelled elsewhere, Godflesh released the album ‘Hymns’ in 2001 and switched to the label Music for Nations, propelling them on a tour of Britain with Industrial heavyweights Fear Factory, before embarking on a tour in December 2001 with Devin Townsend and Kill II This. But Broadrick could never recover from his demons and in 2002 suffered a nervous breakdown that was the final straw in the decision of Godflesh to separate.

However, the separation of the band gave way to a new lease of gutsy and aggressive life for Broadrick, who formed Jesu in 2003 with Paul Neville on guitars, Demot Dalton on bass and Ted Parson taking the position as drummer. Even though the band were no longer together, Godflesh’s raw spirit was kept alive by cover versions of their emotion-filled, uneasy songs of passion. In 2003 Nihilisic Holocaust recorded a Godflesh tribute album, which was a double-disc ensemble of acts such as Infection Code, Begoten and Propheration paying their respects to the mastery of Godflesh’s songs. In 2005 Fear Factory also recorded a cover-version of ‘Anthem’ for their album ‘Transgression’.