Review Godflesh – Decay

Justin K. Broadrick’s announcement came virtually out of nowhere: in February 2026 the guitarist and singer had to announce the end of GODFLESH – from his sickbed. The frontman had to undergo major abdominal surgery because he had a massive inguinal hernia. The cause of this was the years of physical strain from the intense GODFLESH live shows in combination with the band’s typical strained scream-style vocals. Any further activity of this kind would carry the risk that the abdominal wall could tear completely – the breakup of the band was essentially without alternative.

One piece of good fortune in all this was that before his physical condition became so critical, Broadrick was still quite productive. During extensive recording sessions in recent years, not only the album „Purge“, released in 2023, was created, but also material for two further GODFLESH albums – including at least partially completed vocal recordings. Six of these tracks can now be found on the album „Decay“ at hand – the rest, still instrumental, is to be released at a later date. And for the very last GODFLESH full-length ever, Broadrick wants to “experiment with alternative vocal techniques” – one can be curious.

„Decay“ comes across as significantly more unwieldy and inaccessible than „Purge“ – and includes with opener „Master And Slave“ and closer „Consume Me“ two of the longest tracks in the entire GODFLESH discography, at around 10 minutes each. The former, in addition to its hypnotically repetitive character, offers eerily reverb-drenched effect vocals that successfully intensify the atmosphere. In the second half of the song, „Master And Slave“ becomes noticeably more melodic and is strongly reminiscent of the JESU debut „Heartache“ – which, however, does not diminish the aforementioned atmosphere.

The following „Living / Ending“ is a cool midtempo stomper with a head-nodding hip-hop groove that also delivers the classic GODFLESH scream vocals. It could easily have been on the 2000 „Messiah“ EP and really kicks ass. The reverb-laden clean vocals of „Feral Colony“ and the equally soft-edged chorus guitars in „Fodder“ testify to Broadrick’s love of KILLING JOKE and are quirky but cool industrial post-punk. The up-tempo double-time groove of „Feral Colony“ also adds variety, while the verse of „Fodder“ comes across as similarly mechanical as the nightmarish „Fear Of Man“ with its plaintive vocals and a great earworm riff in the chorus.

The aforementioned pounding, mechanical industrial leaning becomes much more prominent in the second half of „Decay“, which leads to slight deductions in the overall score in terms of variety. On the other hand, the new GODFLESH full-length is just over 40 minutes long and ends in pleasantly uncompromising fashion with the massively distorted second half of „Consume Me“. What stands out: as was already the case on „Purge“, the distorted bass of Ben Green is not quite as front-and-center as on earlier works. The rest of the production is typically GODFLESH-cold and not really fat-sounding – but that is also part of the overall work of art and makes a lasting contribution to the oppressive atmosphere.

Thus, within GODFLESH’s almost 40-year discography, „Decay“ is without question among the darker, more unwieldy and, in the best sense, more uncomfortable albums. Whether they can win new fans with it seems unlikely – but those who already are will probably celebrate the album precisely for that reason. So overall it works quite well – provided you are in the right mood for the musical abysses of GODFLESH.

Publiziert am 28. September 2026 von Stephan Gossen