Industrial metal pioneers GODFLESH have released their tenth studio album, Decay, today via Relapse Records. To mark the arrival of the record, the duo have also shared its closing track, “Consume Me.”
The six-track Decay arrives three years after Purge and represents a significant point in GODFLESH’s history, with mastermind Justin Broadrick describing it as the band’s penultimate album.
“Music, for me, is rarely complete,” Broadrick explains. “But it has to reach a point where enough is enough. Creatively, there has to be self-discipline. One has to end it.”
From Purge to Decay
Although Decay follows Purge, the two albums share the same creative origins. Broadrick revealed that the material for both records emerged from one larger collection of songs, with the tracks that best suited his vision for Purge being selected first.
“Decay was born from the same sessions as Purge,” Broadrick says. “It was one huge pool of songs. I picked what I felt was appropriate for what I wanted to achieve with Purge, with the intention of releasing the songs that didn’t fit as a new album within a year of Purge being released.”
Those plans ultimately took longer than expected as Broadrick searched for a new label home for GODFLESH. The band eventually joined forces with Relapse Records, giving Decay its home while allowing Broadrick additional time to revisit and reshape the recordings.
The resulting album features six tracks, beginning with “Master and Slave” and ending with the newly highlighted “Consume Me.”
Nearly four decades of GODFLESH
Formed by Broadrick and bassist Ben Green in 1988, GODFLESH became one of the defining forces in industrial metal through the punishing combination of distorted guitars, mechanical rhythms and bleak atmosphere heard on records including Streetcleaner, Pure and Hymns.
Following a lengthy hiatus, GODFLESH returned with the Decline & Fall EP in 2014, followed by A World Lit Only By Fire later that year. Post Self arrived in 2017, while Purge followed in 2023.
“It’s all just instinctive,” Broadrick says of GODFLESH’s creative evolution. “I write and create when appropriate, and as I feel and as I need.”
The sessions that eventually produced Purge and Decay began taking shape during the 2020 pandemic lockdown, when Broadrick found himself drawn back toward GODFLESH after previously feeling the project had reached another natural stopping point.
Broadrick looks toward life beyond GODFLESH
Decay also arrives following major abdominal surgery Broadrick underwent earlier this year. According to the musician, recording for the album—including the vocals—had already been completed before the procedure, although portions of the record were made while he was dealing with a hernia.
“The album was mixed post-surgery, and while I was still in some pain and considerable discomfort,” Broadrick explains. “But fortunately GODFLESH is generally me expressing my pain, albeit [usually] mental, philosophical and existential, whereas this was physical pain.”
With GODFLESH now approaching the end of its active existence, Broadrick says he is ready to explore heavy music beyond the boundaries established by the project over nearly four decades.
“It expresses my pain, and I’ve put my body and soul into this expression for the majority of my existence,” he says. “I feel quite lucky, because GODFLESH is now physically impossible for me, rendering it useless. I now wish to move out of its constraints, move on creatively with heavy/ugly music to new ground.”
Decay is out now via Relapse Records
Decay track list
- Master and Slave
- Living/Ending
- Feral Colony
- Fear of Man
- Fodder
- Consume Me