Customer Reviews

Street Cleaner

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Godflesh, Streetcleaner (Roadrunner, 1991)

I cannot imagine what sheer and utter joy a select few had upon buying this album, slipping it into the CD player, and hearing it for the first time. I discovered Godflesh later (with the "Slavestate" single), and by the time I got around to buying a copy of Streetcleaner, I already knew Slavestate and Pure backwards and forwards. So I was ready for the opening bars of "Like Rats," and I knew what I was about to hear, more or less.

But oh, my, what it must have been to hear something so thoroughly brutal and unrestrained, with lyrics that wouldn't overly confuse a bright six-year-old and a repetitive drum line that sounds like it was created on a cruelly cheap Roland (mainly because it was), and yet at the same time have all that coalesce into the work of profound beauty that is Streetcleaner.

There is something about certain pop bands that defies all logic. Somehow, they take all that is worst about pop music, put it all together, and come up with pure delight. You know the feeling-- when a band you've always thought to be as talented as a terrarium full of sea slugs (say, Sneaker Pimps) comes up with something that you not only don't clutch your ears in pain when you hear it, but you actually want to listen to it again (say, "6 Underground," the Nellee Hooper mix). Godflesh are like that, but they managed to do it for two albums and a handful of singles. Every song. On every record. Think about it for a second. Either there was some sort of weird electromagnetic field surrounding them, or they were the luckiest band in existence. Of course, having friends like John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Mick Harris (collectively, PainKiller, for whom the Godflesh boys recorded some tracks) probably helped as well.

One way or the other, though, Streetcleaner will melt your head. You've never heard anything like "Christbait Rising" before, and it's not terribly likely you ever will again. An essential album of the nineties. *****

There is no pretense on this album- no "look what I can do", no "look how many words I know"...just complete and utter oblivion. Majestically crushing, and unrepentantly dark and morose- this is a truly unique and self-dissolving piece of plastic. You completely lose yourself into it. Not to mention, it kicks an a$$ or two. Like Rats and Christbait Rising (a favorite- "don't hold me back/ this is my own hell") are immaculate. Really not recommended for people who don't appreciate crushing, dark music, but those who do will love it. I place it with Swans' Great Annihilator (that's more cereberal), Burzum's Hvist Lyset Tar Oss (that's more evil), and Ministry's Filthpig (that's sleazier), as the grand dukes of crushing spaciousness. This is more the "city" version of those, if that makes sense. If when someone says "Industrial", you think VNV Nation, and "Metal" you think "Iron Maiden", you'll hate this. This is completely it's own animal, and you will either hate it or love it. I love it, but these guys are despised by some people I play it for. It doesn't get much darker than this- there are hundreds of metal bands that could learn what real darkness sounds like from this cd. Not a cd for parties by a long shot, but somehow both aggressive and soothing at the same time, I usually listen to it when I'm by myself and either reading or screwing with photoshop. Buy it if you like looking the beast in the face, and tell him I said hi.

Back in college I used to be a DJ at WKNC in Raleigh, NC. A place that specialized in metal and home of Corrosion of Conformity. I picked this CD up one day while browsing online and NOW I remember why I LOVED these guys. "Like Rats" is simply one of the most brutal songs I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. "Christbait Rising" is almost as brutal.
I saw these guys live back in "the day". Chaotic guitars, bass and a drum machine. They were booed off the stage of the local metalfest.
Now I listen and just dig this CD. It was about 8 years ahead of it's time. No, this is not the fastest band. No, it's not the most obscenely fast, gross or technical band.
Godflesh is just BRUTAL. Simplistic lyrics repeated over simplistic beats. And it hits you upside the head like a sledgehammer! Harsh guitars give way to an early 90's sounding drum machine. And it ROCKS!
"Breed, like rats". Repeated over and over.... it's brutal!!
Lyrics are just growled enough to understand and the beat is constant. Yeah, it's a drum machine but it is HEAVY! Syncopated rhythms that do not stop. They keep on hitting you upside the head. God, I LOVE this CD.
It's nothing that you have not heard before. Growling vocals, slamming guitars and a mediocre drum machine. However, this album continues to bludgeon you with it's intensity.
Not a feel-good CD. Just something to put on when you are (angry) at the world or just want to relive the "glory days" of youth. I swear, 10 years later, I still feel the heaviness of this CD reverberate deep within my bones....

So, you are into Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. Perhaps, you went even deeper and checked out Ministry and Skinny Puppy. Yeah, there really is no such thing as "industrial" music... at least there is no concrete definition of it. To some people, the commercial friendly music of NIN is industrial, or the hollow shock rock antics of Marilyn Manson. Other people will tell you that Skinny Puppy is "true" industrial and that everything else is a waste of time. I don't know... have they heard of Godflesh? Out of all those bands, Godflesh is the only band I could picture listening to while driving through the decayed center of an urban city. Godflesh lives in this world. It lives in a world of burnt down houses, graffiti decorated buildings, and old factories. Godflesh is the ultimate soundtrack to the apocalypse....

Streetcleaner is Godflesh's most chaotic record. In many ways, it is a huge expansion on the sound that is found in The Swans' Cop album. It also came out before the band experimented with hip hop, electronica, and more rock orientated structures. And even though Justin has put out a ton of really good material, Streetcleaner is something that is going to stay with him forever. To some people, it is the best thing he has ever done. I can see why. It is a very abstract, surreal, and unique record.

I first heard Godflesh on their label Earache's "Grindcrusher" sampler (yes, the one with the yellow cover) - which was available only as an import at the time and which also led me to such wonders as Morbid Angel, Terrorizer, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, etc. At the time this was the most exciting music coming out of the European metal scene - and Godflesh, who never really fit in with any of these other bands and who were saddled with the "grindcore" label even though that genre was a million miles away from their sound, were the most exciting band. Why? One listen to the first two songs on this album will tell you. Godflesh take the basic mechanisms of death metal, industrial (think Throbbing Gristle, not NIN), and psychedelia and tear that machinery apart - only to reassemble the collected elements in a completely idiosyncratic fashion. At the time there wasn't another band on Earth who sounded like Godflesh - now there are legions of copycats and followers, and this album has "influenced" so many musicians it is ridiculous. Godflesh is just original. I believe this album is their most "pure" expression in that it is the most experimental, and the melodies and rhythms used are the most expressive and atmospheric out of all their songs. Every one of these songs - including the bonus tracks - is just simply breathtaking. Listen to a whole new genre, style, and way of looking at "heavy" music being invented right here. Yes, it is crushing, brutal, aggressive, angry, and (at times) frightening - but it is also flowing, lyrical, multilayered, dense, expansive, and deeply soothing. A creative force at their most innovative time.

Considering the songwriting and the production, this album is a big improvement upon Godflesh's self-titled debut. Still, I don't find "Streetcleaner" as brutal and aggressive as some other reviewers. There are several elements I've already heard in '80s psychedelic rock bands like Loop, My Bloody Valentine, or Band Of Susans. It's no surprise that GF have always attracted more fans of avant-garde guitar rock than lovers of death metal. Typical for GF's early releases, "Streetcleaner" is a rather minimalistic mix of innovative, not-too-heavy guitar playing, violently distorted bass lines, and mid-tempo machine rhythms over which JKB's voice storms with all the subtlety of a tank in overdrive. There are some weak moments in the middle of this album, though. The bonus tracks feature noisier guitars and faster rhythms, but more laid back vocals. There are actually 14 songs on this CD because "Devastator/MTK" are two separate pieces. My favorites are the first three and the last two tracks. Admittedly, I'm rather a fan of GF's later era, when they loosened the clamp, started incorporating elements from techno and ambient, and branched out in all directions with several solo-projects like Ice, Final, and Techno Animal. "Streetcleaner", however, is a strong statement, and although it was no commercial success, it defined GF's status as one of industrial rock's leading bands.

Even as a moderately hardened noise freak, I was not prepared for what awaited me when I first popped this, my first Godflesh album, into my stereo. Other bands have attempted to render the sound of the apocalypse with varying degrees of success, but these guys may have mastered it. Streetcleaner doesn't burst forth from your speakers so much as it oozes out, a primordial industrial-metal sludge that's almost unspeakably doomy in its pummelling. It's more about atmosphere than technicality and more about heaviness than complexity, but Godflesh accomplish their goals so well on this album that it's hard to take issue. In the category of frightening listening experiences, Streetcleaner is right up there with Meshuggah's Chaosphere, Soilent Green's A Deleted Symphony for the Beaten Down, and Today is the Day's In the Eyes of God. There are no catchy melodies to be found here and very few concrete song structures you can grab onto, just collages of irregular and imprenetrable beats. The ponderous bass and (mechanized) drum patterns are all twisted and distorted into rhythms and song structures that are difficult and unpleasant even for the industrial metal genre. The guitars don't play riffs so much as screeching shards of industrial noise, while Justin Broadrick's vocals are semi-intelligible scorched-earth growls seemingly calculated for maximum insanity. The deservedly legendary Christbait Rising is driven by an almost impossibly heavy groove, while Head Dirt lurches forth in a bizarre time signature that sounds sort of like a crossbreeding of Napalm Death and Skinny Puppy (come to think of it, that would rule!). Life is Easy and the title track are perhaps the two most horrific songs ever placed back to back on an album; the former a swirling, noisy testament to pain and disaffection, the latter a cavernous musical black hole which hope can neither enter nor leave. For this edition, the good folks over at Earache Records have also seen fit to include five bonus tracks, including the surprisingly uptempo Wound, pushing Streetcleaner to over an hour of sonic punishment. You now have no excuse not to check it out.

a deviation from the normal order, form, or rule of what we consider rhythm and pleasurable sound. and it is absolute pure musical genius. i have never heard anything so dark and heavy in my life...and i probably never will. yet it is so ethereal and enchanting. these tracks will take your brain and slowly compress it into nothingness. i am not a death metal fan by any means. i am a music lover that leans toward the heavier side of life. and this is downright HEAVY. Streetcleaner is that CD that you want to hold above your head with both arms and yell to the world, "I have it...I have the key to the universe. the Rosetta Stone." i guess i just cannot perfectly describe how miraculous and beautiful this album is. let's just say that it is INCOMPARABLE.

In a world full of derivative music, Godflesh did what couldn't be done... create something totally unique.

I actually bought this album based on some word of mouth. I had heard that Mike Patton named it his album of the year and said it made you think the batteries were going dead in your Walkman. So I immediately went out and hunted it down. Nothing was the same afterwards.

13 years later and Christbait Rising and Life is Easy still give me chills. Hell, I don't know what else to say except to give a nod to the person who mentioned Gira - I've thought about that connection before too, especially when listening to the Swans live Public Castration is a Good Thing.

...are you ready?

ah, godflesh.. they were always despised by the common metalhead, you know the one who thinks he's better than you just because he listens to the most extreme music around (the extremely stupid cannibal corpse, the extremely pompous cradle of filth and dimmu borgir,the extremely cheesy iron maiden, you catch my drift), but never had the guts to listen to a classic like this one at least two times (when i showed this to a metalhead who is a friend of mine he'd listen only to thirty seconds of each song and said:"don't like it..too slow".. well i'm gonna shine a light over your head: it is supposed to be slow..drum machines provide the rythm, bass pounds your head in and the guitars slowly tear you appart..lyrics are an afterthought, what matters most is the mood...and the mood here is of an impending mechanized destruction....

jk broadrick and gc green were f*cking geniuses... godflesh -mission terminated- 1988-2002