There is no mistaking the industrial hammer that is Godflesh in 2023, complete with the band’s original blend of noise, e-drum, and mid-punchy guitar riffs. The time between albums is not so much felt as it just sits there, asking its listeners to imagine some kind of bridge between these otherwise disparate epochs, both musically and world-historically. The inwardness of the past years barely merits a passing mention here but for Justin Broadrick’s (Godflesh’s driving member/engine) own searching path to recovery. Godflesh, it must be said, did not go the god route, convalescing in the tepid waters of some ambient reanimation. No, feel as bad and horrible as you want – Purge is a reminder that the underbelly of recovery is still recovery. The ingredients of the band’s signature sound are still present, with occasional moments that border on angsty nostalgia.

 

Nothing on Purge will shock or deturn whatever one has come to expect of the band, and this is a feat, above all: that 30 years on, there is still a thrash that is equal parts metronomic and metal. The last of the eight tracks, “You Are the Judge, The Jury, and The Executioner”, is the longest and most non-Godflesh of the pieces, moving without the usual beat and getting into more drone-like soundscapes of crashing symbols and noodling guitars. The journey of having originally begun somewhere and then starting over is surprisingly moving, for all of the thunder and sonic brutalism of Godflesh’s aesthetic.

 

In finishing Purge is recommended to fans of the band's past output, and others interested in beat-driven industrial hardcore.