- Country: United Kingdom
- Style: Industrial metal
- Label: Relapse Records
- Release date: 25 September 2026
Decay is the tenth and penultimate Godflesh album, and the circumstances are hard to ignore. Justin Broadrick recorded it with bassist Ben Green during the same sessions that produced 2023’s Purge, then reworked the songs over the following years while searching for a label, finally landing at Relapse. He mixed it after major abdominal surgery, and has since announced that Godflesh will no longer play live.
Sonically it is pure Godflesh: downtuned riffs recorded mostly on a seven-string guitar, Green’s bass thick as tar, and a pounding drum machine that never lets up. What’s different is the space. Across six tracks and around 42 minutes, Broadrick barely sings at all, and the long instrumental stretches let the mechanical grind become almost hypnotic. The production, done by Broadrick himself at his Avalanche Studio, is raw and heavy, with the low end pushed right to the front. “Living/Ending” recalls the lurching crush of Streetcleaner, while “Consume Me” closes the album in grinding, punishing fashion.
The minimal vocals mean some passages feel more like sketches than finished songs. But as a near-final statement from one of industrial metal’s pioneers, it hits hard and leaves you wanting the last chapter.
Best tracks:
Master and Slave
Living/Ending
Fear of Man
Consume Me
Author’s rating: 8/10
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