Godflesh Streetcleaner (1989)
A lot happened in Justin Broadrick’s formative years. In 1983 he co-created the Post Mortem Rekordings label and Final with Andy Swan. From there, he formed Fall Of Because with G.C. Green and Paul Neville while playing with Napalm Death. Fall Of Because dissolves and Broadrick leaves Scum-era Napalm Death (1987) to drum for Head Of David. In 1988, Fall Of Because renames itself Godflesh and history would be made. Their industrial-metal defining debut self-titled e.p. was released but Streetcleaner fined-tuned it further and followed the next year to certain total acclaim. All this by the time Broadrick was 20. Broadrick and Green recorded the first five tracks themselves and with being acquired by the Earache label, labelhead Digby Pearson re-introduced Neville for the next five. In fact, some songs recorded through Fall Of Because, "Devastator", "Mighty Trust Krusher", and "Life Is Easy", would re-appear here on the Neville sessions. The Tiny Tears e.p. which was temporarily shelved by Earache, re-appeared on the album’s disc pressings, making Streetcleaner recorded across three separate recording sessions.
Perhaps nothing before this could even muster up a world that’s brutal, agonizing, and unforgiving. That’s the conversion from Broadrick’s bleak, confusing, and frustrating Birmingham upbringing. The screetching feedback from “Like Rats” that eerily opens the album, sets the tone for its entirety (that is, if the artwork, taken from a still of the movie Altered States didn’t), and says all about a world of total damnation, the fear state, and knowing once and for all that The Arrival’s not coming to save a sinned humanity. Broadrick’s vicious growls pass for the hellish and demonic, particularly the original closer “Locust Furnace” where he’s at his most disgusting. Guitars meld into unsettling streams that reek of squalid noise. Green’s heavy bass persistently pushes for the constant total misery factor.
There’s no live drummer to be found here. Here, Godflesh utilized an Alesis HR-16 drum machine, responsible for some of the most punishing bone-crushing assaults laid down on record. Its’ constant rush and heavy blows beat and tear down whatever soul is left held dear. See, feel, and hear “Pulp” for its’ most exhausting and smashing results. It’s what Loudwire declared "the most devastating drum machine ever employed" and responsible in raising the bar for what industrial metal would be. The Alesis was the basis for Streetcleaner’s expansive tempo and made the Tiny Tears’ session the most grueling moments of the album. The explosive power of “Dead Head” smashes it all into oblivion, then the amended closer “Suction” unforgivingly finishes it up and makes sure it leaves nothing behind.
Streetcleaner is now considered a landmark album, future-shaping the worlds of metal, industrial, grind, and even noise. Associated acts in Ministry, Neurosis, Fear Factory, Isis, Devin Townsend, Korn, and Converge had all been influenced or touched in some way by it. Dominick Fernow declared the opening squeals of “Like Rats” the basis of Prurient’s existence and why they now share the stage together. Last year, he returned the favor inviting Godflesh (Broadrick and Green) to perform the album at whole at last year’s Hospital Productions’ 20th anniversary showcase in New York City (which I attended upfront-and-center), the second time they did so. AllMusic, The Quietus, Fact, Alternative Press, and many other publications also heavily favored it in praise and various awards. With Broadrick now only 49, one could only begin to fathom his total output and legacy starting at a young age. With resurrecting Godflesh and having a multitude of ongoing projects, there’s absolutely no end to the amount of music he’s capable of creating.
In 2008, Kreation Records re-issued this on both mixed orange-and-black and orange-translucent and black splatter vinyl (250 each). Earache made a double-disc re-release of various demos and outtakes in 2011 and in 2016 released it again on translucent orange vinyl, mail-order only.
