Streetcleaner is the debut studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 13 November 1989 through Earache Records and was reissued with a second disc of previously unreleased material on 21 June 2010. The album is widely acclaimed by critics and is often cited as a landmark release in industrial metal; though not the genre's first release, Streetcleaner helped define what industrial metal would become.
Recorded in three distinct sessions and partially refined from pre-Godflesh demos, Streetcleaner is a weighty, bleak album that blends heavy metal with industrial music by means of production-emphasised bass, distorted guitar and, most importantly, machine percussion. Unlike many metal albums, guitar is employed to create screeching noise rather than discrete riffs, and the drums and bass are louder than is typical. Streetcleaner was supported by a series of concerts where Godflesh played alongside Napalm Death, and it was on the North American leg of the tour that the band began to gain significant international traction.
Since its release, Streetcleaner has received a number of accolades and has been performed in its entirety by Godflesh twice (once at Roadburn Festival, a recording of which was released as a live album in 2013). Many other metal bands have cited the album as particularly influential, including Neurosis, Fear Factory and Isis, and Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick considers it one of his landmark releases. In 2017, Rolling Stone named Streetcleaner the 64th greatest metal album of all time.
Background and recording
Before performing as Godflesh, G. C. Green (bass) and Paul Neville (guitar) played together in a band known as Fall of Because.[1] That group, formed in 1982, were less overtly heavy than what they would become as Godflesh, drawing musical and aesthetic influence from bands like the Cure.[2] Future frontman Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) joined Fall of Because in 1984 and introduced Green and Neville to Swans, Sonic Youth and Discharge.[2] Inspired by the dissonance of this music, the group recorded a demo called Extirpate (1986).[1] The songs "Devastator", "Mighty Trust Krusher", "Life Is Easy" and "Merciless" were included on this demo, the first three of which would be rerecorded for Streetcleaner.[3] These early versions were eventually released on a wide scale in 1999 via the compilation album Life Is Easy.[4]
An Alesis HR-16, the model of drum machine used for Streetcleaner's percussion
Shortly after Fall of Because dissolved in 1987, Broadrick and Green reconvened without Neville and, in April 1988, renamed the project Godflesh.[5] They released their debut self-titled EP on the independent label Swordfish later that year.[5] That EP, though described by critics as raw and unrefined, is considered one of the originating industrial metal releases and proved to be the foundation upon which Streetcleaner would fine-tune Godflesh's approach to the genre.[6][7][8] After the underground success of Godflesh,[9] the band played several shows across Europe and recorded a four-track EP titled Tiny Tears.[10] Before they could release the EP on Swordfish, Godflesh were acquired by Earache Records, and Digby Pearson, the label's head, urged the band to shelve the tracks and instead focus on putting out a complete studio album next.[10] Broadrick and Green agreed and began recording Streetcleaner in May 1989 at Soundcheck in Birmingham and Square Dance in Derby.[11]
The Birmingham sessions saw Broadrick and Green recording and mixing the first half of the album, while the Derby sessions (which yielded tracks six through ten) saw the temporary reincorporation of Neville into the band, this time as a second guitarist.[11]Tiny Tears was appended to the end of CD versions of Streetcleaner, resulting in the album including material from three separate sessions.[12] The entirety of the creative period was reinforced by an Alesis HR-16 drum machine.[13] This choice was at first made out of necessity since Broadrick could not play the beats he wanted acoustically (he described himself as "[not] a great drummer"),[13] but he came to embrace machine percussion and consider it a defining feature of Godflesh.[14]:2Loudwire called the HR-16, specifically in regard to its use on Streetcleaner, "the most devastating drum machine ever employed".[15] In a retrospective interview, Broadrick described the release as "one of the most alienating albums" he had ever made and referred to it as the band's landmark record.[16]
Composition and style
"The bass sound and texture, this is an integral part of the Godflesh sound. People often say that the bass is so loud in Godflesh they'll barely find another band [like it]. And that's entirely intentional, obviously."
Musically, Streetcleaner was one of the earliest albums to merge industrial and heavy metal music.[6][17][18][19] It accomplishes such a fusion through combining programmed, repetitive drum machine loops with Green's overdriven bass and Broadrick's distorted guitar.[8][20] The vocals are sparse, guttural and bleak,[21] and, according to Peter Buckley's Rough Guide to Rock, "misanthropic".[22] Inspired by the harshness of early Swans material,[8][19]Streetcleaner has been noted for its extreme weight and crushing aggression.[23][24] Unlike the music of Napalm Death's 1987 album Scum, a release for which Broadrick provided guitar shortly before starting Godflesh,[25]Streetcleaner is exceptionally slow,[22] and the focus is placed on percussion and bass rather than vocals or traditional riffs.[26][27] The style of guitar playing has been described as abrasive and deliberately grating,[21][28] and the album is laden with factory sounds, stiff mechanical beats and overwhelming washes of noise.[29] Thematically, Streetcleaner's dismal tone was born from Broadrick's troubled upbringing and from the oppressive Birmingham environment.[30][31] About the album's desolate fury, he said, "there is a pure nihilism in there. Totally anti-everything. I couldn't come to terms with anything. It was all a struggle, and I just wanted to lash out at every target I possibly could".[32]
Streetcleaner begins with one of Godflesh's most well-known tracks, "Like Rats".[33] The introduction of the song, and of the album at large, is a wall of feedback.[34] After the brief noise introduction, "Like Rats" descends into an intense, scathing song with prominent percussion, driving bass and piercing guitar.[12] The screamed vocals, which Consequence of Sound's Andy O'Connor called "spine-chilling" and "some of the angriest verses laid to tape",[35] are harsh and regularly noted for their punchy efficacy.[36][37] Eduardo Rivadavia of Loudwire called the song "the genre standard",[38]Decibel's Jonathan Horsley referred to it as "anthemic" and Revolver described it as "far-beyond-heavy".[39][40]
Streetcleaner's second track, "Christbait Rising", has been cited by several critics as another high point of the album,[8][33] and Decibel named it one of Godflesh's five best songs.[41] While this track does feature a riff-heavy guitar breakdown in its latter segments, it is still dominated by machine drumming.[12] According to Broadrick, the song's beat was his attempt to copy a rhythmic break in "Microphone Fiend" (1988) by Eric B. & Rakim.[42] Luca Cimarusti of the Chicago Reader described "Christbait Rising" by writing, "Drum machines clank and scrape by, creating an eerie cyber-racket, while Broadrick and bassist G. Christian Green lay down impossibly heavy riffs on top. Broadrick's vocals—guttural and processed to sound like some sort of gigantic monster—make the whole thing sound like something out of a nightmare."[43] "Pulp", the album's third track, is entirely built around a locked, repeating, uncomplicated drum loop;[12] Green and Broadrick play over the beats, which completely drive the track.[44] Because the percussion on "Pulp" features little to no changes over its running time, Godflesh occasionally performed extended versions of it where they simply allowed the machine to continue.[45] "Pulp" and "Christbait Rising" were issued together as a promotional single in 1989.[46]
"Dream Long Dead" is Streetcleaner's fourth song. Much of the track puts the squealing guitar of Broadrick at the forefront, but significant portions of the second half descend into heavy, repeating percussive movements where all instruments double the drums. The sixth track and the first recorded for the album,[47] "Head Dirt", displays an unusual compositional structure, with the first half comprising a disjointed, jagged rhythmic loop and the latter half being almost entirely high-pitched guitar feedback.[48] Those swelling waves of noise transition into "Devastator" and "Mighty Trust Krusher" (sometimes listed as two separate songs, sometimes listed as one combined track[11][45]), the first composition on Streetcleaner from the recording sessions with Neville as a second guitarist and the first rerecorded remnants of the Fall of Because project.[3][45] This nine-minute stretch is dark, dismal and oppressive, with enigmatic, growled lyrics and sounds underlaid with samples of voices.[12][45] Ned Raggett of AllMusic considered it, along with "Like Rats" and "Christbait Rising", one of his favorite pieces on the album.[8]
The seventh track on Streetcleaner, "Life Is Easy", is another holdover from the mid-eighties Fall of Because demos.[3] Broadrick's and Neville's guitars clash and scrape against each other, creating eerie cacophony before the bass and drums kick in. The album's eighth song, its title track, begins with a sample of convicted serial killerHenry Lee Lucas speaking during an interrogation.[44][49] "Streetcleaner" proper is one of the album's faster, more aggressive songs; as AllMusic's Stephen Cook describes, it "pummel[s] the listener with jackhammer percussion and ultra-demonic vocals",[50] and Charlie Wood of Clash agreed, also calling the drumming similar to a jackhammer.[51] "Locust Furnace" was originally designed as the album's closing track.[11] The song itself is characterised by the drums and bass trading off with the vocals and guitar, and it concludes with Broadrick repeatedly shouting "furnace" as he grows gradually hoarser.[12]
The four Tiny Tears bonus songs (the title track, "Wound", "Dead Head" and "Suction") are Streetcleaner's shortest pieces.[45] Because they were recorded apart from the album, they are compositionally different, more focused on propulsive hard rock riffs and beats than the stark, industrial sterility of Streetcleaner proper.[52] Broadrick employs clean singing rather than growls, and multiple critics have described the tone of the songs as "ethereal".[12][53] Noel Gardner of The Quietus called the EP a "muscular, enveloping follow-up, and utterly worth hearing".[12] "Dead Head", a frantic song with stretched vocals, even has a tone that Sputnikmusic characterised as almost optimistic.[36] Digby Pearson considered "Tiny Tears" one of his favorite Godflesh songs,[10] and "Wound" would be revisited by Godflesh multiple times on future releases.[54] One such future release, Earache's 1990 reissue of the band's debut EP Godflesh, featured two songs entitled "Wounds" and "Streetcleaner 2".[55] Both are extended songs that have been manipulated and altered, something common for Godflesh. While "Streetcleaner 2" primarily builds upon and distorts "Streetcleaner", it also features deconstructed segments of "Pulp". It is one of Godflesh's earliest tracks to experiment with ambient elements.[56] Another track, "My Own Light", was recorded during the Streetcleaner sessions but only saw release on label compilations.[47][57]
Release
Streetcleaner was released on 19 November 1989 through Earache Records. In the United States, it was released the following year in December and was part of Earache's first push into the American market; it was deemed a success.[58] While the vinyl and cassette versions contained ten songs, the CD release included the Tiny Tears EP as a set of bonus tracks.[11] In April 2010, Broadrick remastered the album and compiled seventy minutes of extra material for a double-disc reissue that was released later that year on 21 June.[45] The bonus disc contained original unreleased mixes of songs from the Soundcheck sessions, live recordings from 1990, rehearsals and demos of some Tiny Tears songs that Broadrick believed revealed melodies that had been lost in the original mixing process.[45][48] On all releases, the album's cover is a still frame of a hallucination scene from the 1980 Ken Russell film Altered States.[13]
Godflesh toured Europe and North America in support of Streetcleaner from 1989 to 1991.[4] Many of these shows were under the Grindcrusher Tour umbrella, which included fellow Earache acts Napalm Death and Nocturnus.[5] By 1991 when Godflesh played in North America for the first time, the band was gaining "unexpected success" and "a loyal following".[4] Neville performed with Godflesh during many of these shows, playing only on the songs which were recorded at the Derby Streetcleaner sessions.[59] On 27 August 1989, Godflesh performed a four-song Peel session for BBC Radio 1. On the tracks played, "Tiny Tears", "Wound", "Pulp" and "Like Rats", the band experimented live, with Kevin Martin playing saxophone over "Pulp".[60][61] Half of this session was released on the 2001 Godflesh compilation In All Languages, while the other two songs were only released through label compilations.[62]
Apart from these initial tours, Streetcleaner tracks have remained a staple of Godflesh's set lists, and the album has been performed by the band in its entirety twice: once at Roadburn 2011 and once at the Hospital Productions 20th anniversary show in 2017.[63][64] The Roadburn performance was recorded and released first through vinyl in 2013 as Godflesh's debut live album, then again in 2017 digitally and on CD.[65][66]
Streetcleaner was met with positive reviews upon release, and its acclaim grew with time; several publications now list it as one of the best metal albums.[26][69][70] Ned Raggett of AllMusic praised Godflesh's ability to deliver the apocalyptic impact of metal without resorting to invocations of Satan and death, and he highlighted the precision of the execution as particularly impressive.[8]Chicago Tribune'sGreg Kot called the album one of the most menacing ever released,[71] and Entertainment Weekly's David Browne emphasised how intense and frightening it was.[67] In 1992, Luca Collepiccolo of Blast! labeled the album as legendary.[72] In a retrospective review of the album, The Quietus' Noel Gardner called Streetcleaner Godflesh's best material,[12] a common stance; Joe DiVita of Loudwire wrote that Streetcleaner "borders on perfection",[15] and Alternative Press' Jason Pettigrew regarded the album as a masterpiece.[73] In 2010, Blabbermouth.net also agreed with Gardner, writing, "Streetcleaner was Godflesh's second release, proving to be one of the band's finest and most recognized albums and helping them to become one of the most influential industrial bands ever",[74] and in 2013, Fact magazine lauded Streetcleaner as "arguably the 1980s' most important piece of extreme music".[70] AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier called it "a landmark album whose status has steadily grown in stature over time".[25]
As well as impressing critics, Streetcleaner has cultivated a major following among other musicians. Neurosis said that the album "was a game changer for everybody" that "forever changed heavy music",[75] and Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory said, "[it] is a fantastically produced and written record; every song is an opus".[76] Roy Christopher of Slap Magazine wrote, "1989's Streetcleaner is the seminal industrial-metal hybrid sound that bands all over the world are still trying to recreate".[77]Devin Townsend also called the album "seminal" and claimed it as a major influence on his music,[78][79] and in 2014, Revolver's Jon Wiederhorn wrote that Streetcleaner and Godflesh's second album, 1992's Pure, influenced bands like Korn, Isis and Converge.[80]Dominick Fernow (better known as Prurient) credited the song "Like Rats", especially its noisy introduction, as a major influence on his musical experimentation.[34]Aaron Turner of Isis described hearing Streetcleaner the first time by saying, "It honestly scared me. I was like, 'What the fuck is this?' It didn't even sound like music to me. Like, the first time I saw the Melvins, I didn't like it, but it made an impression on me that I can still recall today".[81] In 1999, Isis covered the title track, beginning a long partnership between Turner and Broadrick.[82] Broadrick reflected on the album as a highlight of his career by saying, "I'm really proud—even though it's been like an albatross around my neck—of the Streetcleaner album by Godflesh, because it was made without any ambition, and it seemed to change a lot of things in music and have a really wide effect".[83]
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the original title O.P.D. but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick and B. C. Green renamed the band and decided to use a drum machine for percussion. Melding heavy metal with industrial music and later with electronic music and dub, Godflesh's sound is widely regarded as a foundational influence on other industrial metal and post-metal acts and as significant to both experimental and extreme metal.
Justin Karl Michael Broadrick is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and industrial music. Following Godflesh's initial breakup in 2002, Broadrick formed the band Jesu.
Slavestate is the second EP by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released in July 1991 through Earache Records. The EP saw the band experimenting with more samples and electronic sounds than their predominantly industrial metal prior releases.
Pure is the second studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 13 April 1992 through Earache Records. Though originally labeled only as industrial metal, the album has since been recognised as one of the earliest post-metal releases. Musically, Pure is rhythmically mechanical and features harsh guitars, with protracted songs and an abundance of deliberate repetition. Like much of Godflesh's music, it is regarded as particularly heavy and aggressive, and these elements helped it gain critical acclaim.
Selfless is the third studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 26 September 1994 in Europe and on 18 October 1994 through Earache and Columbia Records. Being the band's major-label debut, the record features a more conventional and rock-oriented sound compared to Godflesh's previous releases. It spawned two singles, "Xnoybis" and "Crush My Soul". The music video for the latter was directed by photographer Andres Serrano.
Us and Them is the fifth studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released through Earache Records on 17 May 1999 in Europe and on 8 June 1999 in North America. As with Godflesh's 1997 remix album Love and Hate in Dub, Us and Them is influenced by breakbeats, drum and bass, oldschool jungle, trip hop and hip hop.
Hymns is the sixth studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 23 October 2001 through Music for Nations and was the band's final album before breaking up in 2002. In 2010, Godflesh reformed and in 2014 released their comeback album A World Lit Only by Fire. Hymns had a troubled production and was intended to be distinct departure from Godflesh's intensely regimented industrial sound to something more traditionally hard rock. It was the band's second and final album to feature a live drummer rather than a drum machine.
Paul Neville is an underground experimental guitarist and musician from Birmingham, England.
Godflesh is the debut EP by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was originally released in 1988 through Swordfish Records and later saw several reissues on Earache Records with two additional songs. An unexpected underground success, the eponymous EP made it onto the UK Indie Chart and peaked at position 20. Though not supported by any singles or music videos at the time, a fan-made video for "Avalanche Master Song" has since been made official by the band.
"Slateman" is a song by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released as a 7-inch single in 1991 through Sub Pop and later reissued on Earache Records as a CD, a 7-inch and a 12-inch. In 1996, the single was repackaged alongside Cold World (1991) on one disc by Earache Records as the compilation Slateman/Cold World. Both "Slateman" and its b-side, "Wound '91", were appended to the end of most issues of Godflesh's 1991 EP Slavestate.
Merciless is the fourth EP by English industrial metal band Godflesh, released in 1994 through Earache and Columbia. In 1996, the EP was reissued along with the Selfless (1994) album as the compilation Selfless/Merciless.
Love and Hate in Dub is first remix album by English industrial metal band Godflesh released on 24 June 1997 through Earache Records. The remixed songs are sourced from their 1996 album Songs of Love and Hate, and they adopt a more ambient, dub and drum and bass flavor.
In All Languages is the first compilation album by English industrial metal band Godflesh, released on 24 July 2001 through Earache Records. It is a double album, and a companion music video DVD was also released in 2001. In All Languages' first disc acts as a greatest hits collection spanning from Godflesh's 1988 self-titled EP to their 1999 studio album, Us and Them. The second disc compiles rare and unreleased tracks.
The English industrial metal band Godflesh have released eight studio albums and six extended plays along with a number of singles, compilations and remix and live albums. The group formed in 1982 under the name Fall of Because, but they did not release any music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick and B. C. Green changed the project's name to Godflesh and recorded a self-titled debut EP. That EP, released through the independent label Swordfish, was met with underground success and has since been recognised as one of the first industrial metal releases, if not the first.
A World Lit Only by Fire is the seventh studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 7 October 2014 through frontman Justin Broadrick's own label, Avalanche Recordings, and was the band's first full-length album since 2001's Hymns. It was preceded by the digital singles "New Dark Ages" in August 2014 and "Imperator" in September 2014, and it was followed by several international tours.
Streetcleaner: Live at Roadburn 2011 is the first live album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. The release was recorded on 14 April 2011 at the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. Apart from being the group's debut live album, it was also the first time they played Streetcleaner in its entirety.
"Xnoybis" is a song by English industrial metal band Godflesh, taken from the album Selfless (1994). It was released in 1995 through Earache Records as a CD, and was also distributed as a promotional to radio stations.
Post Self is the eighth studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 17 November 2017 through frontman Justin Broadrick's own record label, Avalanche Recordings, and was the band's second album since reforming in 2010. The single "Post Self" was released for streaming on 31 October 2017, and a second track, "Be God", was released for streaming on 11 November 2017, six days in advance of the full release. Godflesh avoided interviews in the wake of Post Self, hoping to retain some of the album's purity and give listeners a chance to digest the music in a vacuum.
"Mothra" is a song by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was taken from their 1992 album Pure and saw release as a radio promo and music video in the same year. The track's title is derived from 1961 Japanese film of the same name by Ishirō Honda. Musically, "Mothra" is a grinding, mechanical song with shouted vocals and heavily distorted instruments.
↑ "Pulp" / "Christbait Rising" (Vinyl liner notes). Godflesh. Combat Records. 1989. ICPROLP-0908.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Godflesh (1990 reissue) (CD liner notes). Godflesh. Earache Records. 1990. MOSH 20CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Pathological Compilation (CD liner notes). Various artists. Pathological Records. 1989. PATH CD 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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