Send "Jesu " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 If music were only the sum of the adjectives generally used to describe it, Jesu-- beautiful, brutal, melodic, metallic, heavy, heavenly-- would probably be my favorite band of all time. Since 2003, Justin K. Broadrick has stretched gentle, arching pop tunes over relentless drums and electric guitars. Jesu is the more accessible extension of Broadrick's Godflesh, grafting that old band's maw to music both bleak and hazy, warm and hummable. If those ideas seem mutually exclusive, consider Jesu alongside a select cartel of drone, metal, slowcore, and shoegaze bands-- My Bloody Valentine, Alcest, Low, Elliott Smith, the Stars of the Lid-- who make music that's pretty but neither slight nor light.Jesu, however, works for me less than half of the time-- generally only when he finds balance between the polar adjectives above. Oftentimes, the beautiful stuff seems listless and flimsy (by and large, 2007's Conqueror) while the heavy stuff seems aimless and sprawling for sprawl's sake (the compelling but wandering self-titled debut, from 2004). Heart Ache & Dethroned, which combines two Jesu EPs, is an unlikely panacea: As focused on ideas and emotion as it is on clarity and concision, Heart Ache & Dethroned filters Jesu's essence into six diverse, dynamic tracks. If you're new to Broadrick's expansive aesthetic, this is an excellent inlet; if you're a veteran, it's a payoff both perfectly aggressive and magnetic. This collection gathers the previously unreleased four-track EP, Dethroned, and Heart Ache, Jesu's long out-of-print debut. The decision to couple the newest Jesu recordings with the oldest might seem odd, but it works both as a showcase of Broadrick's wide interests and of this particular project's careful, significant progress. Consider the two 20-minute tracks of Heart Ache, each ostensibly built to occupy one side of a 12". Each piece is a flood of ideas. The title track stunts a rhythmic march with a castrati choir, bass throb, and guitar noise. It all gives way to what's little more than a standard six-minute Jesu song that then cycles through a nihilist mantra for another unnecessary six minutes. "Ruined", as you might imagine from the title, is thematically hopeless, rebuking all the world's wisdom and opportunity for improvement. Broadrick delivers that message and spends the next five minutes grinding through the riff, doubling the rhythm and shouting, "Right. Wrong." The outro-- pretty, patient, mostly pointless-- lasts for eight minutes....full text |
| Popmatters |
| These days, it might sound foreign to try and release a debut record with just two songs that both stretch beyond the 15-minute mark, but UK experimental metal band Jesu did just that with the 2004 EP Heart Ache. Of course, Jesu’s sole force back then—founding member Justin K. Broadrick—had the pedigree to pull off the task. A former member of Napalm Death and founding member of Godflesh, Broadrick had more than a lifetime’s worth of metal-inclinded musical experience before he started Jesu with one big, lengthy bang. While Jesu has certainly garnered a healthy amount of critical acclaim and captured Broadrick’s built-in fan base, could Broadrick—or someone of Broadrick’s stature—have successfully launched a new musical project with a release like Heart Ache? When the a large amount of the conversation about music concerns digital singles—short, punchy tunes—could Jesu have muscled its way into today’s over-blogged music world? Perhaps that was some of the thinking behind Jesu’s latest release, Heart Ache & Dethroned. Jesu has proven itself an innovator in the metal world, taking elements of doom metal, ambiance, trip-hop, industrial and a host of other genres, and pureeing it into a vital sound. But, does Broadrick’s first batch of Jesu material—the Heart Ache EP and four previously unfinished tunes that make up the Dethroned half of the release—still pack a punch?...full text |
| Spin |
| Justin Broadrick is in it for the long haul -- he started with grindcore legends Napalm Death at age 15, spent decades making brilliant industrial sludge as Godflesh, and has created endless electronic projects. He's six years and counting into Jesu, blending ambient guitar buzz with hypnotic rock rumble. This set re-releases his 2004 debut EP, Heart Ache, two songs (at near 20 minutes each) halfway between Godflesh and shoegaze, plus the Dethroned EP, four old songs that lay unfinished until now. It's the sound of a man moving to his next stage, unsure how he should make his machines howl. Mournful or loud? Why not both?...full text |
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