Review Summary: Broadrick grows a heart.
Given that
Cold World is an EP that dates back to 91, I’m sure most fans of Godflesh have overlooked this and tend to focus on Broadrick’s full lengths rather than the tid bits that came from leftovers of studio sessions. Let me be quite frank here, do not overlook EP’s, especially when they are the supposed leftovers of great albums.
Pure was released in 92 and showed a huge growth in Broadrick’s ability to take the industrial genre to new heights with the inclusion of trance-inducing melody through his head-smashing mechanical beats and jagged guitar riffs. Everything on
Cold World could have fit naturally on
Pure, even surpassed the best tracks found on that full length if it hadn’t been decided to release the two songs as an E.P format.
To be quite honest, what heart that can be found on
Cold World is Broadrick making the best of his new found vocals, displaying his trademark croon throughout the song “Cold World”; a chilly, crawling tune that represents everything Godflesh had become after that point in time and a staple of their sound with it’s use of chugging guitars and dissonant leads. “Nihil” is an even better track, taking advantage of a shifty lead and using it to push the song forward through a dynamic display of rhythm changes and sharply used bass lines. The programming on this album plays little into the two main songs, but it’s not until the last two tracks where the electronic use is jacked-up on the remixes of “Nihil”. Terrifyingly violent, “Nihil (Total Belief Remix)” is like trying to escape a starship that is set on self-destruct with a group of flesh eating aliens blocking the only way out. Just when you’re thinking to yourself, “How can you remix a great tune not once, but twice?”, Broadrick somehow manages to pull his creative strings once again. “Nihil (No Belief Remix)” is still a great track, but unfortunately suffering a bit from a lack of variation between the original and “Nihil (Total Belief Remix)”.
Cold World may not be as cold as the album might lead on (title and depressing artwork thrown aside of course) with Broadrick giving us a glance that he’s not indeed a rusty machine, only capable of such nail bitingly intense albums such as
Streetcleaner. Broadrick’s display of vocal styles and a great use of dynamics makes this an extraordinary E.P. amongst Godflesh’s all-killer, no-filler discography and one of the best in the given industrial genre.
