Broadrick, 57, recently went through an operation on a hernia which required an incision measuring six inches, leaving him unable to perform live due to his weak abdomen. “Open surgery is absolutely debilitating” as someone with Autism and C-PTSD, the singer said on Instagram. He also added that his abdominal wall “is not going to improve”, making live performance impossible.

The post is striking. It depicts Broadrick in a bed, alone, helping himself to hospital food with a shaved head. Its accompanying description is lengthy and details some of his previous health struggles.

“Godflesh live ended the day of my surgery” announced the vocalist. “If I perform and shout/scream… I am at high risk for more hernias”.  However, Broadrick is not done absolutely done with making music. He will be continuing to tour with his less physically demanding projects, Jesu and JK FLESH and has announced the continuation of Godflesh as a studio-only band. “I have been mixing what will be the penultimate Godflesh album… for release on Relapse [records] in hopefully July/Aug” the long tenured singer declared. Broadrick also went on to say that Godflesh will continue to release live material but will not themselves be playing live.

Broadrick’s exceptional career as a frontman has taken different incarnations, growing up in Birmingham’s punk scene and briefly serving as a member of grindcore pioneers Napalm Death, appearing as a vocalist and guitarist on Side A of their 1987 debut ‘Scum’. After leaving the band, he went on to reunify a band he’d been in prior to Napalm, Fall of Because, who renamed themselves Godflesh. Their debut album, ‘Streetcleaner’, released in 1989, helped define industrial metal as the sound that would dominate much of the mainstream metal scene in the 1990s. Having released six albums, the band disbanded in 2002 before a 2010 reunion at Hellfest, releasing three records publicly.

As he stated in the above quote, Broadrick had other projects to his name which tap into different musical styles. Jesu, founded in 2003, trade in shoegaze and drone metal riffs with an eye on poppy gloss, while JK FLESH, Broadrick’s solo output, takes on experimental and electronic sound. His longtime dance project, Final, is spacey and abstract, making music with that project since 1993.

“In the near future, a new solo project will emerge, further expanding parameters of heavy/ugly music”, but without including “shouted vocals”, perhaps so this new project would be better equipped for Broadrick to tour with. No comment has yet been made by Broadrick’s long-serving Godflesh bassist G.C. Green, in the band since its inception in 1982 prior to Broadrick joining.

Among the new names announced are Colour Haze, Frankie And The Witch Fingers, Pest Control, Morag Tong, Borracho, Noisepicker, Gramma Vedetta, Lodestar, Kulk, Earth Tongue, Skypilot, Wolfshead, Weedsnake, Orsak Oslo, WAXY, Horndal, Silverburn, Fires In The Distance, Sleemo, Midwich Cuckoos, Akersborg, Grand Atomic, Voidlurker, Under The Ashes, and Fuz Caldrin.

The festival has also unveiled its day and stage splits, creating a roadmap for attendees to navigate the musical celebration across various venues in Camden, London. Desertfest London 2024 is set to span six stages: Electric Ballroom, The Underworld, Roundhouse, The Dev, The Black Heart, and Dingwalls.

Friday’s Electric Ballroom stage will be headlined by Masters of Reality, with support from Colour Haze and Frankie and The Witch Fingers. The Underworld will witness the seismic performances of Mantar and Raging Speedhorn, while The Black Heart hosts the psychedelic sounds of Brume and Alber Jupiter.

Saturday’s Roundhouse stage welcomes skate-punk legends Suicidal Tendencies after a seven-year hiatus from London, joined by Cancer Bats, Bongripper, Acid King, and the newly added Pest Control. The day promises a dynamic array of performances across multiple stages, featuring Maserati, Monkey3, Domkraft, and more.

The festival reaches its climax on Sunday with headliners Godflesh, Ozric Tentacles, Monolord, Ufomammut, and Ashenspire slated to perform on the Electric Ballroom Stage. Bat Sabbath, the Black-Sabbath cover band formed by Cancer Bats, will close out the weekend at The Underworld Stage after-party.

Desertfest London stands as the pinnacle of independent festivals in the UK, dedicated to Stoner Rock, Doom, Psych, and Sludge music, showcasing not only renowned acts but also emerging talents across the genres. The addition of Suicidal Tendencies, marking 40 years since their groundbreaking self-titled debut album, introduces an unprecedented punk-metal energy to the festival. Furthermore, Ozric Tentacles, the iconic psychedelic prog-rock ensemble, will join the celebration, commemorating their remarkable four-decade journey in the industry.

Weekend and day tickets are already on sale and available for purchase here, with Friday and Sunday day tickets sold via DICE and Saturday day tickets sold via The Roundhouse. All tickets provide entry to every venue affiliated with the festival.

Desertfest London 2024 promises to be a captivating journey through the realms of Stoner Rock, Doom, and Heavy Psych. A yearly highlight in Camden, the festival draws metalheads and free spirits alike. Don’t miss out on this epic celebration of heavy music and underground culture.

Taking place in various venues across Camden between 17th-19th May, the festival promises to lay on an unforgettable few days. Following the success of the 2023 instalment, Desertfest will be returning with a bang as they prepare to host over 25 explosive acts.

Reflecting on 2023’s shows, the Desertfest team took to Facebook to share their gratitude, writing “The official Desertfest London 2023 recap is here & has us missing y’all so damn much already! As many of you know, Desertfest is a fully independent venture and your support of the event is the only reason we are still able to bring you a festival of this magnitude in a city like London. Thank you so much for continuing to buy tickets, merch, beers & everything inbetween.”

They continued, “We had so many amazing performances this year and the energy shared between the bands and you is what makes the festival so unique. Of course an extra special shout out to our amazing crew & venues, who not only put so much hardwork into make everything run flawlessy, but keep that extra special DF atmosphere alive.“

The enthusiasm for next year has already begun, as the Desertfest team announced their headlining act, Masters Of Reality who will play their first UK show in almost a decade. As expressed in a press release, “their combination of hard-rock blues with a progressive tinge makes no apologies for not sticking within the stylised box listeners would expect, yet simultaneously provides the perfect lesson in the musical ethos and story-telling of the Palm Desert scene.”

The lineup also includes heavy hitters such as industrial band Godflesh, California stoner-metal band Acid King and Italian experimentalists, Ufomammut.

Multiple other bands from the extensive lineup have taken to social media to share their excitement, including Maserati, Sergeant Thunderhoof and Sugar Horse.

Very excited to announce that we’ll be playing @DesertFest London in May 2024! @TempResLtd @voulezvouscie pic.twitter.com/eZp1OelYFX

— MASERATI (@MASERATI_BAND) November 10, 2023

A cold day in hell is upon us! The stars have finally aligned and we are delighted to announce we’ll be making our debut at Desertfest London in May 2024. We hope to see lots of you there to share some beers and riffs.

Tickets: https://t.co/77fZNU0fri #desertfestlondon pic.twitter.com/UnMnqSB5gb

— Sergeant Thunderhoof (@SgtThunderhoof) November 8, 2023

Hugely excited to announce we’ll be playing @DesertFest in London Town next May. TICKETS:https://t.co/aViazC5JwB pic.twitter.com/qSNEyF4NnK — Sugar Horse (@sugarhorse666) November 8, 2023

Tickets are available to purchase here.

A lot can change in two years, and that is by no means different for the main man behind Jesu, Justin K Broadrick. His previous group Godflesh reunited and played countless festivals all over the world, bringing a reunion after eight long years in the wilderness. He became a father for the first time, something which is covered throughout Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came. He was also furiously busy with his usual array of remixes, taking time to remix tracks by the likes of Mogwai and Cult of Luna. But all the while he had been working away at the latest collection of songs to be released by Jesu, taking enough time to precisely create something he was happy to air out in the open.

Opener Homesick sounds very much like traditional Jesu. Driven by a guitar sound that fills whatever room you may be in, it’s glorious, epic, and gives you exactly what you want from an album opener. It gets you in the mood, it fills you with excitement, you don’t want it to end. With a delicate keys performance in the middle, it builds you up, and then gets straight back at you with the kind of grunge-esque riff you would expect to have heard in the early 90s, when greasy long hair was all everyone wanted. The beginning of follow up track Comforter would just sound like a load of noises to the average person, but to a fan of music it is the peak of musical quality. The track kicks in around the three minute mark, and Broadrick’s haunting, booming vocals get involved, in an almost dream like environment. They’re reminiscent of what God sounds like in television shows, loud, dominant, with a sense of overwhelming power behind it.

The Great Leveller is where everything else just seems so insignificant though. Seventeen minutes of pure unrivalled joy, taking you on a roller coaster of emotions, leaving you exploring the deepest corners of your mind. With a dark, atmospheric introduction featuring piano and a string orchestra (well, it’s one person, Nicola Manzan, but it sounds like he’s borrowed Sydney Opera House for the song) before a snare rolls in, bringing with it an intricate riff, you just know it’s building up to something that’s just going to blow you away. And then before you know it, the walls are knocked down. Windows are smashed, glasses are shattered and dogs are howling all over the street. It’s as if they need to increase the richter scale for when it kicks in, and then it all calms down again. The strings make their return, although the deep riff remains, making you know the journey is far from over. You’re just in the eye of the storm, and with each passing second, you know it’s getting closer. Then it hits. Pandemonium all over again. There’s a violent thunderstorm somewhere in the world, the clouds crash and the lightning strikes. But it’s beauty at it’s finest.

EIGCTTLFWIC isn’t what you’d normally expect from a Jesu album. There’s the guitar heavy tracks of course, but there’s so much more to it. Listening to the record, if you were unfamiliar with Jesu before you’d be amazed to find out it’s purely one man putting everything together. Broadrick is a modern day music genius, and it’s brilliant to see that becoming a parent has only expanded his already broad (pardon the pun) musical mind. If this is what he’s created on his lonesome, then just imagine what he’s going to be releasing when the new Godflesh record hits stores. It’ll be monumental, and the slap in the face modern music needs.

Check out Homesick below for a taster of just what you can expect when EIGCTTLFWIC is released on 23rd of September.