Jesu - Ascension

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4...according to our Mike on Thu 12 May, 2011.

Justin Broadrick's back, and this time he's just the same as last time! I could write anything in this review and you'd still buy it. This guy's been ploughing the same furrow for years now with Godflesh and now Jesu and he really has got it nailed, to be fair to him. Glacially paced, wearily atmospheric, obsessively constructed tonal cathedrals...there's synth here too, I don't recall the previous Jesu stuff I've heard being this synthy. Ha, no sooner do I say that than he busts out with some kind of mid-90s indie rock stomper, 'Sedatives'. It sounds like Beezewax meets Slowdive, I shit you not. Maybe this album is more of a departure than I gave it credit for. The next track's right back to business as usual, though, and I can't see old fans of Broadrick feeling let down by this record. Very melodic, very slow riffs, a bit like that last Harvey Milk record, or if Isis weren't so overwrought. There's some unwelcome autotuned vocals here, but apart from that this is a tasteful and uplifting riff bonanza well worth getting your teeth into.

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According to Webster's dictionary 'ascension' is the moving to a higher or more powerful position. As a title for Jesu's newest album, its first traditional album since 2007, it's a perfect description. Jesu is Justin Broadrick and he has been on this path for many years now. 'Ascension' may be another way station on this journey or it may be a peak but it is certainly is part of a body of work that is rising with much power and majesty. The layers of atmospheric guitars and keyboards on the ten tracks on 'Ascension' build relentlessly atop each other creating a huge structure that seems to flooat or glide more like a weather pattern than a piece of music. As it moves overhead you are enveloped in a new world of sonic pleasure where the edges are soft and sustained but the weight is ever present. However through this cloak of sound great beams of sunlight occasionally break, lighting the clouds in spectacular colors. All is not gray in this world. Justin Broadrick first emerged as a force in music as part of the band Napalm Death in the mid eighties. He then formed Godflesh which cemented his place in a genre which is variously known as extreme, grindcore or just new metal. There are however, many arrows in Justin Broadrick's quiver. Over the last twenty years he has maintained a series of projects ranging in musical style from punk to industrial to the melodic atmospherics of his current band, Jesu. This ability to step outside the confines of musical convention sets him apart creatively from other writer musicians who have been working in his field over this period. Despite, or perhaps because of this stylistic diversity he has attracted an obsessively loyal fanbase and a reliably positive response from critics. The question is always, How does he sound so light while staying so heavy? Jesu's output has been spasmodic but of a uniform high quality. All instruments are played by Justin Broadrick and apart from the occasionally guest vocalist (Jarboe from The Swans) he handles all vocals..

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