On the second
Jesu full-length -- following up the critically acclaimed
Silver EP --
Justin Broadrick, who has worn as many hats (artist, producer, engineer, DJ, etc.) and played with as many sounds as is possible in his career and the man isn't even half done -- does a near 180 at distancing himself from his influential days founding speed metal freaks
Napalm Death and industrial forefathers
Godflesh and cocks a firm ear backwards toward the '90s while still pointing his "heaviness" Geiger counter ever forward. There are eight cuts on
Conqueror, all of them deeply melodic, ploddingly slow, and emotionally melancholic. It's no longer about metal that's punishing nor is being purposely obnoxious and irritating (though the more musically conservative black-clad metal hordes might be offended by this) but rather, about digging deep into the well of the heart for what's actually true for the songwriter (at least for right now). While the former was another of the man's trademarks, the latter is where he's moved toward -- just a tad -- with more subtlety all along. The nod to the past comes from apparently listening to the early records of
Ride,
Catherine Wheel, and the like -- yeah, yeah, the shoegazers, though they were never, ever this heavy. Distorted blurring guitars, rangy, space-noise programming, low-end dirge tempo basslines (courtesy of
Diarmuid Dalton) and a basic, force-driven tribal thud with shimmering, cymbals for balance (by
Ted Parsons).