Bio

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 (outside of  a 1986 demo tape titled Extirpate) until 1988 when Justin Broadrick and  G. 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.

Though the self-titled EP acted as Godflesh's introduction to innovation  and experimentation, their next release and first through Earache  Records, 1989's Streetcleaner, garnered even more recognition for its  musical importance. After the success of Streetcleaner, Godflesh  recorded Pure in 1992, which has drawn retrospective recognition as a  significant release in the post-metal genre. The band's third album,  Selfless (1994), was Godflesh's debut on Columbia Records. The album  sold under expectations, and that coupled with MTV banning the music  video of its lead single, "Crush My Soul", led to Columbia dropping  support of Godflesh. Regardless of the disappointing commercial  performance of Selfless, Broadrick considers that album and all of the preceding releases as Godflesh's best material.

In 1996, Godflesh, back on Earache, released Songs of Love and Hate,  which featured Bryan Mantia on drums; this was a significant departure  from the band's characteristic style, since all of their previous  releases had been structured around programmed industrial beats from a drum machine. Broadrick later described this shift as a dilution of  Godflesh's original goal, which was to meld human and machine music. Love and Hate in Dub, a remix album released in 1997, saw Godflesh again experimenting, this time with hip hop, breakbeats and dub. Those  experiments continued and heightened with the 1999 studio album Us and  Them, which again featured machine percussion. After Us and Them proved creatively dissatisfying for Broadrick, the band found a new live drummer (this time in Ted Parsons). Hymns (2001) was recorded in a  professional studio, which led to a great deal of frustration for the  band. Shortly after Hymns' release, Green quit Godflesh, and Broadrick officially ended the band not long after that.

Godflesh reformed in 2010 as Broadrick and Green. After performing  scattered shows for four years, the band's return album, A World Lit  Only by Fire (2014), was released to critical acclaim and appeared on  several critics' year-end lists. It was a notably heavy industrial metal  album focused again on downtuned guitar, distorted bass and driving  machine drums. In 2017, Godflesh's eighth album, Post Self, was  released. Like A World Lit Only by Fire, it drew critical praise and  award recognition; unlike that previous album, however, Post Self proved  introspective and experimental. Despite regular acclaim from critics and  fellow musicians, Godflesh have received only minor commercial success.