Godflesh are undoubtedly one of my main influences. Like other bands that went on to become some of the more significant musical landmarks in my life, I was first introduced to Godflesh when listening to John Peel (R.I.P.) on Radio 1 at the very end of the 1980s. He was playing their first Peel Session, appropriately.

Godflesh definitely lit my path towards electronic music. A militant death metal / hardcore punk listener at the time, no other band could have introduced the stiffly quantised sounds of a drum machine to me - the sheer noise, darkness and intensity of "Streetcleaner" had me hooked from my first listen. Discovering that founder member Justin Broadrick had appeared on the debut LP of another favourite band, Napalm Death, consolidated my interest.

I saw them live at least 3 times, most recently in 1991 with Mick Harris guesting on "real" drums. Their live show was immense. Shattering waves of distortion, gut churning bass, and those imposing, almost military rhythms coming from the box that would inspire the odd "get a real drummer" shout from the more orthodox metal elements in the audience.

Like his occasional production partner Kevin Martin (with whom he has recorded as Techno Animal), Broadrick has remained constantly fresh in his approach and output. Godflesh retained it's sound while evolving throughout the 90s. With Godflesh now part of musical history, like Martin he continues to wow people with his current projects.

Birmingham's greatest sons since Black Sabbath. It's only fitting that Godflesh, the most innnovative band for heavy guitar-based music in the 1990's, should come out of that city. Stretching from the Swans-influenced early output to the techno-mergers of their later work, these guys (Justin Broadrick and G. Christian Green) not only defined the hard, bowel-crunching "metal" that is out there now, they became it's de-facto godfathers. The family tree that Godflesh belongs to is quite immense and multi-faceted. The best website for to see the whole scene is www.crumblingflesh.com, one of the web's longest running and invaluable resources for this genre. Starting with Godflesh, of course.