After the release of their sophomore album Pure (1992) and their major label debut Selfless (1994), they started experimenting with live drums as well as hip hop and breakbeat sounds.

As pioneers of industrial metal, Godflesh's early sound was defined by harsh machine beats, production-emphasised bass, distorted guitar and sparse vocals delivered in a low, guttural fashion.

(Officially Pronounced Dead),[1][2] formed in 1982 when B. C. Green and Paul Neville, two young musicians living in cheap council estate housing in east Birmingham, started experimenting musically alongside a drum machine.

[5] In the months following that concert, Broadrick joined Napalm Death as a guitarist and Fall of Because as a drummer and altered the latter's sound by introducing albums from Swans, Sonic Youth and Discharge to Green and Neville.

"[11] Inspired by the bleak urban landscape of Birmingham and the extreme music Broadrick introduced to Green,[12][13][14] Godflesh took on a distinctly heavier tone than the primarily Cure-influenced Fall of Because.

[18] Before Swordfish could release this EP, though, Godflesh were acquired by Earache Records, and the label's founder, Digby Pearson, convinced Broadrick and Green to shelve Tiny Tears and use the songs as bonus tracks on their first full-length album.

[37] The album further defined Godflesh's sound, standing out from other metal releases with unusual production that emphasised mechanical beats and percussive bass over guitar.

[42] With the successes of Streetcleaner, Slavestate, a concert opening for Nirvana and the Grindcrusher tour,[4][43][44] Godflesh started on their second album, this time without Neville, who chose to focus on his other project, Cable Regime, which featured Broadrick as a recurring producer.

[50][48] Though Godflesh's most overt experiments with hip hop and breakbeats occurred later in their career,[51] Pure featured elements of both buried under the wailing guitar, shouted vocals and aggressively repetitive drumming.

[52] The album continued its experimentation with atypical song structures on its conclusion,[53] "Pure II", a twenty-minute ambient drone piece with a submerged beat that, as AllMusic's Ned Raggett said, "hits like a distant cannon".

[57][58] Due again to issues with entering the United States, Godflesh were forced to cancel a number of these dates;[59] they later returned to those markets as headliners to make the missed shows up.

[63] Later in 1994, the band released their third album, Selfless, which represented a shift in the group to a more high-end production approach and to a greater focus on traditional heavy metal riffs.

[68][69] In 1996, the band returned to Earache and created their fourth studio album, Songs of Love and Hate, which was Godflesh's first music made with a human drummer since the early Fall of Because days;[70] Bryan Mantia of Praxis provided the aggressive, non-mechanical drumming.

[70] In retrospect, Broadrick believed Songs of Love and Hate marked the point where Godflesh lost sight of their original goal and started making "self-conscious" music.

In October 2001, the same month Hymns was released, Broadrick received a call from Green just two weeks before Godflesh were set to tour with Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory.

[78] Not long after this short-lived incarnation of Godflesh performed a handful of shows that Broadrick later said "felt completely wrong",[72] he experienced a nervous breakdown the day before departing for another tour of North America, this time with High on Fire and Isis.

"[102] He also revealed that the likelihood of new material was "fairly minimal", but that the possibility still existed;[102] though later, in 2014, he insisted that "ultimately, the whole reformation thing was pretty much fundamentally about wanting to make new music".

"[122] Decline & Fall and A World Lit Only by Fire were heavy, distorted, riff-driven industrial releases that Broadrick saw as a return to the direct simplicity of Godflesh's original form.

[124] Following a number of tours in support of A World Lit Only by Fire and an attempt at an In Dub remix release with Parsons providing additional drumming,[99] Godflesh returned to the studio in 2016 for a new album.

[136] A shortened digital edition, New Flesh in Dub Vol 1, comprising the majority of Godflesh's reformation-era remixes alongside two otherwise unreleased tracks from the Post Self sessions, was released ahead of the full compilation.

[144] Drawing inspiration from early industrial and noise groups such as Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse, as well as from ambient musician Brian Eno, noise rock band Swans, post-punk innovators Killing Joke and also Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd., fellow Birmingham heavy metal band Black Sabbath and a wide range of hip hop artists such as Public Enemy, Eric B.

[193] Despite acclaim among critics and fellow musicians, Godflesh have only experienced minimal commercial success; in 2002, shortly before the band dissolved, Broadrick said he had no illusions about selling out stadiums.

[194] Streetcleaner's cover is an image from the movie Altered States, a 1980 horror film by director Ken Russell,[8][64] and the album's liner notes feature frames from David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977).

[87] Additionally, Godflesh appeared in the 1995 film Hideaway;[196] during one of the movie's club scenes, Broadrick and Green can be seen playing onstage in the background, performing the song "Nihil" from Cold World.

[202] Songs of Love and Hate and Hymns saw Godflesh's greatest profusion of vocals, while A World Lit Only by Fire and Post Self returned to Broadrick's predominantly succinct style.

[128] Broadrick's voice has been compared to Killing Joke singer Jaz Coleman's,[203] a self-proclaimed vocal influence in addition to Kelvin Morris from Discharge and Michael Gira's early work with Swans.

[208][209] Godflesh typically perform as a duo, with Green playing bass and Broadrick providing both guitar and vocals while the percussion is relayed over the speakers,[210] often at a notably high volume.

[99] In a 2014 interview, he clarified that the percussive additions of Mantia and Parsons brought "something amazing" to Godflesh, but that the band's name should have changed so as to not dilute the original focus on machine drums.

[99] A handful of other musicians have briefly performed with Godflesh: Mick Harris in 1991;[214] Diarmuid Dalton in 1997, 1999 and 2001;[74] Steve Hough in 1997 and 1999[74] and both Paul Raven and Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke in 2002.

[210] Godflesh only occasionally employ a smoke machine, and the lights are generally static;[216] Toby Cook of The Quietus highlighted this unusual approach in a review of a 2014 concert, writing, "Over-lit and with no dry ice in sight, they look alarmingly exposed".