jesu 'Infinity' review

Discussion
1

I’ve been running it through for most of the day and this is what I make of it so far (still a bit early I guess, have yet to listen to it drunk):

It’s just under 50 mins long and it could be segregated as follows (these are just rough chapters rounded up or down, nothing near definite or official):

pt.1: 0:00-2:30
pt.2: 2:30-15:00
pt.3: 15:00-20:30
pt.4: 20:30-25:00
pt.5: 25:00-36:00
pt.6: 36:00-finish

Parts 1 & 4 act as sort of interludes.

Part 1 opens with some swooshing electronic sounds and a subtle heartbeat drum rhythym, a decent intro for part 2 to kick in. (this sequeway reminds me of ‘The Perfect Pair’ 1&2)

Part 2 constitutes most of the first sample track on the myspace page. I really like it, especially the hanging guitar notes and the energy. The drum parts work well but maybe could have been better using live drums… but maybe not.

Part 3 is what you might call the Godfleshy bit and it’s my favourite part. The guitar gets more intense sounding, even more emotive. JKB starts the old Godflesh vox in the 16th minute and when I heard it first I laughed because it comes unexpected but it made me nostalgic for the old JKB stuff. The 5 minutes or so of this part is quality JKB.

Part 4 meanders for a few minutes before coming into Part 5 which is the 2nd sample on myspace. Part 5 is a long drawn out "Earth"y affair, that works better on the album than it does isolated but still is too long and a tad boring.

In the 36th minute the guitar rises and hangs on what could have been a great break into something more lively but instead it just falls away again and wafts around for the rest of the album, bar a bit more guitar in the 42nd minute. Essentially the album loses all energy after the 20th minute.

The first 20 mins are jesu gold, and are the worth paying for alone. The subsequent material seems laboured and expendable. Maybe this will change over time but I have a sneaking feeling it wont.

I would give ‘Infinity’ no more than 6/10 overall. A better option would have been to make an epic out of the first 20 mins and slap another song or two with and make an EP. Therefore I would suggest getting the cheaper download option instead of CD or Vinyl if you’re concerned about €/$/£s.

As said already I’ve yet to listen to it drunk or high and sometimes that can make all the difference but I’ve less confidence about this one than I would say the “grower” effect of ‘Jesu’(2005). For fans of early jesu this is NO ‘Heart Ache’ or ‘Jesu’ but it’s better than the jesu-ultralite crappy split EPs of last year.

Not bad but not great JKB, let’s see what ‘Opiate Sun’ brings

2

Sounds like musical masturbation to me. Really unappealing. JKB was never a great songwriter and I’m not to eager to hear what he sounds like before hitting the cutting room…

3

thanks for the review mick.

looking forward to this, but in all honesty looking forward to final more!!

4

Not sure where this would rank yet, but i’m so far really liking this. When he started screaming, my first thought was “wow! Fuck yeah”. I think it’s a real return to form and a move forward at the same time. Much better flow than I was originally expecting.

5

the first spin left with a WTF kinda intro is this feel, but I really enjoyed the rest. Compared to other ‘only justin, only long songs’ releases of Heart Ache & Sundown/Sunrise, I think it’s squarely in the middle ATM. not as great as former but better than the latter.

I’m especially interested in the ‘unreleased EP’ vs this sorta release, since it dates from Heart Ache-era.

6

I know they’re from a little bit different scenes but I think it’d be interesting justin ever done any work with Mike Patton.

7

while it hasn’t happened yet, they have both been involved with Painkiller at least, so it’s not out of the question. Not to mention Dalek/Techno Animal (JkB/Kmart, the Bug) have done some stuff and Dalek’s on Ipecac…

8

I know they’re from a little bit different scenes but I think it’d be interesting justin ever done any work with Mike Patton.

No.

Even Melvins suck when Patton’s involved.

9

Fuckin’ A. Sounds pretty cool… I’ll have to snag it soon. Probably won’t EVEN come close to “Heartache,” but that’s a pretty tough act to top.

10

I’m not listening to any of this until I get the vinyl. It’s tough I know…but Toot is commited!

11

I’m not listening to any of this until I get the vinyl. It’s tough I know…but Toot is commited!

I know you’re a vinyl man but it may not be worth the wait & price. I think the sound could have been tweaked in some ways too (there are a few minor, presumably unintentional, glitches along the way). It doesn’t come across as well mastered as say some other jesu stuff. The CD offers nothing special either, the “booklet” is pretty crappy. Also the lyrics, not that this is very important to me it is JKB after all, are woeful. Overall I think more time could have been put into making it. Still the first 20 mins are good (the last 30 mins, a snoozefest)

In other matters has anyone heard the new Final? No download available yet, don’t want to buy the cd yet… just in case there was a similar amount of effort put into it as with ‘Infinity’.

12

The CD offers nothing special either, the “booklet” is pretty crappy. Also the lyrics, not that this is very important to me it is JKB after all, are woeful. Overall I think more time could have been put into making it. Still the first 20 mins are good (the last 30 mins, a snoozefest)

Broadrick’s churning out material now at a rate of knots and the quality is suffering dramatically. He’s been going steadily downhill since Silver - his last really strong offering.

13

Broadrick’s churning out material now at a rate of knots and the quality is suffering dramatically. He’s been going steadily downhill since Silver - his last really strong offering.

Conqueror and Lifeline raped Silver.

As for churning out material…most of that has been sitting on the shelf for years.

Broadrick’s the man. Period.

The only thing that could make him even more the “man” in my eyes would be for him to go down Kevin Martin’s road and start making some bad-ass Dubstep records.

14

Conqueror and Lifeline raped Silver.

No.
Late,
grmpysmrf

15

Conqueror and Lifeline raped Silver.

That is the most unique point of view I’ve heard this week.

‘Heart Ache’, ‘Jesu’ and ‘Silver’ are classics, it’s been hit and miss ever since.

I think jesu would benefit from longer periods for writing and producing an album and maybe have at least one other musician involved in the process for most of it as well, to keep him on his toes so to speak. But I guess that’s not going to happen.

16

Broadrick’s the man. Period.

The only thing that could make him even more the “man” in my eyes would be for him to go down Kevin Martin’s road and start making some bad-ass Dubstep records.

Why?!?!?!?

WHAT IS HE DOING THAT’S SO SPECIAL?!?!?!

Slow/Mid Tempo shoegazer post rock/ metal!!! This is what has you so flabbergasted??? I’ve heard so much of this type of thing over the past 15 years. It’s nothing new. Really. His music is good and I enjoy listening to selected albums but recently he’s taken his artistic development…pretty much nowhere. Even the album artwork is a yawnfest. Where’s the creative growth and maturity? How is he challenging himself artistically with this new stuff?? I don’t see it. It’s all the more disappointing considering how he introduced himself with an enormous BANG that was heard around the world during the late 80s. Now he’s content to merely float along on the back of past achievements.

It’s all so one dimensional and transparent.

17

is it programmed drums or a live drummer?

18

is it programmed drums or a live drummer?

Mostly programmed but JKB does play some live drums in the second half of the song.

19

[reply]

Broadrick’s the man. Period.

The only thing that could make him even more the “man” in my eyes would be for him to go down Kevin Martin’s road and start making some bad-ass Dubstep records.

Why?!?!?!?

WHAT IS HE DOING THAT’S SO SPECIAL?!?!?!

Slow/Mid Tempo shoegazer post rock/ metal!!! This is what has you so flabbergasted??? I’ve heard so much of this type of thing over the past 15 years. It’s nothing new. Really. His music is good and I enjoy listening to selected albums but recently he’s taken his artistic development…pretty much nowhere. Even the album artwork is a yawnfest. Where’s the creative growth and maturity? How is he challenging himself artistically with this new stuff?? I don’t see it. It’s all the more disappointing considering how he introduced himself with an enormous BANG that was heard around the world during the late 80s. Now he’s content to merely float along on the back of past achievements.

It’s all so one dimensional and transparent.[/reply]

This is more or less how I feel about the whole Jesu thing. The last one I really liked was ‘Silver’.

The band really needs some fresh blood in the studio. An artistic foil to spice things up a bit.

20

Well, I like most all of jesu’s stuff. Wasn’t a big fan of the split EP’s (worst stuff under the jesu moniker) but other than that I have loved it all in varying degrees. I wouldn’t say that it couldn’t be better because it could, but the more I listen to Infinity the more I like it. Stated off loving the 1st 20 minutes (moe GF like) but find that I am leaning towards the middle/last 20 minutes. Don’t care for the “noise” outro at all but the last bit sounds a lot like his jesu output lately. Infinity is great but it is a grower. If I put it all out in my order of best to least :

Heart Ache (sonically unequivalent)
Sun Down/Sun rise (beautiful)
Pale Sketches (whimsical and fun)
Conqueror (just a solid jesu album)
Infinity (this could move up in the coming weeks)
Lifeline (eh… not bad but nothing special)
Silver (this is cool but too poppy for me)
jesu (liked it at 1st but now it’s boring)
Why Are We Not Perfect (yawn)
Eluvium/Battle Of Mice/Envy Splits (WTF?)

I’m just hoping that Opiate Sun will fall at least somewhere between Heart Ache and Conqueror for me. With the release of Infinity it seems very likely that it will.