Never EP - Jesu: Review
is the experimental rock project of Justin Broadrick formerly of Godflesh fame. The project has dabbled in heavier sound like sludge and doom metal as well as shoegaze and ambient to create a dense musical palette and varied discography.
Review By Lavender:
I love Jesu, and while I consider albums like Jesu and Conqueror to be among the more underrated experimental rock records of the 2000's nothing has blown me away quite as much from Justin in the 2010's. While the insane and awesome shoegazing of 2013's Everyday I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came as well as the pair of Mark Kozelek collaborations are great I was still waiting to be knocked back once again. That was until Never which got my hopes up with a great single, and delivered with a great set of tracks.
Because Of You was that lead single that had me so excited for this as it opens up with a dreamy blur of distant pounding percussion and heavily manipulated vocals that grabs me from the moment it comes on. The song introduces some high tempo rousing electronics before fading into a pseudo drone only for Justin's vocals to come crashing back in. The song is energetic yet beautiful throughout its 6 minute runtime and is one of my favorites I've heard from Justin in years. Never There For You is next and it starts by pairing some warm looped vocal samples with walls of dreamy guitar and eventually a stuttering drum loop. By the time Justin's vocals emerge the song has sort of warped into something very intimate despite the huge sound. His performance guides the track into its last major section and its a very welcomed one. The second half of the song feels like you could slip it into a Nine Inch Nails category with hints of industrial and emotionally potent vocals, the mix is wonderful.
The title track Never is the shortest of the songs here although not by much. It's a wiry and hazy cut that starts off with some sonic blur where nothing really takes precedent, and in a funny way the mixing here reminds me of Animal Collective at their more experimental side where the song is just dizzying trying to make out all the details. Once the vocals come in the track sort of rests its mix settling down with some dreamy lead guitar and I'm not quite as big a fan of the second half of the track. The song seems to get into a bit of a tight loop that realizes itself pretty quickly and hangs around for longer than I would like as an outro. Suffocator kicks off with some very icy keys and a roaring guitar passage that is unsettling and cinematic from the moment the track gets started. My favorite thing about this track is that the keys just never let up leaving a tangible and intoxicating level of fuzz over the entire track that i find totally irresistable. Even if this isn't the strongest songwriting or structure in the EP it more than makes up for it with great sound play.
Never dips its toes into so much of what Jesu has done over the years but settles in a metallic blend of shoegaze and wiry drones that reminds me of so much of the experimental rock music I love from the 2000's. Even then the EP has much more to offer than can be listed in just a few genre labels and each return I had to the project saw me uncovering and enjoying it more and more. Never may be one of the best EP's I've heard all year. 8.5/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
This cover is extremely simple buy I really like it for some odd reason. It looks like a piece of abstract art at first but when you look at the details you make out the trees and the nature inside the image. It relies so much on the color that it wouldn't be impactful if it was just a regular colored image. The expanse of blankness is what draws you in. I do think that adding some sort of small text might have helped make it a more recognizable but it doesn't necessarily need it. Although when put up to other covers this one will either stand out or fade into the background since there is no focal point. 6/10
For more experimental rock check out my review of Jhenny Beth's To Live Is To Love here
