Pitchfork

For someone who's known as one of the godfathers of experimental extreme metal, Justin K. Broadrick is a pretty happy guy. Or at least he sure seemed that way when he spoke to Pitchfork recently about his current band, Jesu, which also includes bassist Diarmuid Dalton and drummer Ted Parsons. The former Napalm Death/Head of David/Godflesh/Techno Animal member was chatty as a schoolgirl when discussing Jesu's upcoming album and North American tour with Isis, not to mention his slew of other projects.

The second Jesu album, Conqueror, comes out on Hydra Head on February 20 in the United States, February 19 in the UK and Europe, February 2 in Japan, and February 27 in the rest of the world. (Whew.) The Japanese version will be amended with a bonus disc containing the songs "Sun Down" and "Sun Rise", originally released on a limited edition vinyl EP on Aurora Borealis. The vinyl version of Conqueror comes out February 27 on Conspiracy Records.

The appropriately epic title track can be heard by downloading the exclusive mp3 below.

As has come to be expected from Jesu, Conqueror obliterates everything in its path, particularly anything droney, shimmery, or -gazy. But unlike Broadrick's previous work with the project, there's a certain amount of uplift to the album that's been absent before. Whereas 2004's Heart Ache EP, 2005's self-titled album, and 2006's Silver EP wallowed in their own exquisite misery, Conqueror feels like the point just after you've realized that it's physically impossible to cry anymore. Or at least that's how it feels to me.

Broadrick agrees, sort of. "The songs are still rooted in the same sort of sadness that everything that Jesu has done has, really, if you know what I mean," he says. "But it's definitely going on what I consider an anthemic route. Songs that have that uplifting, anthemic feel to them, and a very transcendental sound. But it's weird, thinking of it as happy, it couldn't be anything further for me. I guess it's maybe self-consciously doomy."

Broadrick sees Jesu as his version of a pop band, with Conqueror the most extreme extension of that aesthetic. "Being poppy is a big part of Jesu as far as I'm concerned. I think people miss the point, if they think that we're just being cheesy. It's all part of the master plan."

He adds, "I really concerned myself with melody with this album, even before texture and all that. Whereas the first album was all about texture and repetition and hammering a very depressing point home, I think [Conqueror] is just a bit more expansive, and more--dare I say--rocking? "There are a few moments like that, but they're still subdued, it's still softer in that respect. I still think of it as a heavy record, and in extreme basics as a rock record, but I guess it's more psychedelic than the first album."

So what's the reasoning behind the album title, Conqueror? (Other than the fact that it's one of the metal-est words this side of "Destroyer".)

"It's just a huge, loaded word," Broadrick explains. "I just love how many literal meanings you can get from it. And, yeah, there's always a personal thing to me about conquering my own fears, a very personal thing to some extent. And I've always considered myself an extremely fearful person. I was brought up in an environment where I was affected by fear to some extent, and the way my mother brought me up, she was always a very paranoid, nervous wreck of a person who managed to taint my life with the same black cloud to some extent.

"I've just learned through my years now, that I need positive influences around me to keep my head above water. It's just a process of reaching out to people who can have that sort of impact on me in a very positive light, so I'm not drowning from over-emotionalizing everything."

The title also serves as a response to Jesu's success, as the group's fan base has grown exponentially since the release of the first EP. "I would never have picked that title for, say, that first album," Broadrick says. "Because it would have been so fucking cliché. You would expect some real heavy metal band, long haired guys with swords to come on stage. So the more popular the music gets, the more I feel inclined to have titles that reek of rock and all that sort of bullshit."

Jesu will have the opportunity to expand that fan base even more this spring, when they head out on their first North American tour, opening for Hydra Head labelmates Isis. The trek marks the first time Broadrick has played in America since a Techno Animal jaunt in 2001. "I haven't even been in the States for six years, so I'm really excited about this tour, to be honest," Broadrick says. "It's been a long time coming."

However, figuring out what songs to play on the tour hasn't been so easy. "We played the first album a lot around Europe and the rest of the world, but not in the U.S.," Broadrick says. "So in the U.S., a lot of people will be expecting to hear stuff off the first album, so we'll have to oblige, obviously. But myself, I'd love to do mostly the new album, really, but I think we're going to have to spread the set quite thin, really. It's going to be laughably titled 'Greatest Hits'. What we think people will respond to most, I guess, and actually give people what they want, as opposed to being selfish about it.

"And obviously, our songs are so long, [on] the first album, every song's near the ten-minute mark, and we're only going to be playing 45 minutes a night. It's an absolute drag, really. You can get four or five songs in. We want to play an hour and a half."

As usual, Jesu is just one of many projects the prolific Broadrick is involved with at the moment. He has "at least five" albums by his recently reactivated solo project Final in the can, though he's still figuring out how to release them. As Final, he's also in the process of remixing Fear Falls Burning for a box set, and under the Jesu name, and as previously reported, he contributed a remix to the limited edition deluxe version of the forthcoming Explosions in the Sky album All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, due out February 20 on Temporary Residence. Jesu also have a split EP with Eluvium due as a joint venture between Temporary Residence and Hydra Head, as well as a split EP with Battle of Mice on Robotic Empire in the works.

As previously reported, Broadrick mixed the sound on the forthcoming Pelican live DVD. He's working on the sound for a live Isis DVD as well, though release details have yet to be determined.

Finally, Broadrick has a new experi-metal supergroup, Grey Machine, in the works. So far, only Broadrick's former Head of David bandmate Dave Cochrane is committed, but Broadrick mentioned that Isis' Aaron Turner, as well as "a lot of people that I can't mention" are involved.

"The basics is me running the band, but at the moment the first album is me on drums and layers of guitar. Some of the stuff is born from improvising and jams and some of it is from just layering stuff on multi-tracks. And it's meant to be a real super cathartic release. It's hard to explain, but it's definitely in that area of the much nastier stuff I was doing in the mid-80s. Less friendly and more punky to some extent. It's got elements of bands like Flipper and No Trend.

"Very psychedelic as well, but it's all very un-pretty next to Jesu, which is very pretty."

Conqueror:

01 Conqueror
02 Old Year
03 Transfigure
04 Weightless & Horizontal
05 Medicine
06 Brighteyes
07 Mother Earth
08 Stanlow

Jesu tour:

02-20 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
02-22 San Diego, CA - Casbah *#
02-23 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse *#
02-24 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad *#
02-26 Oklahoma City, OK - The Conservatory *#
02-27 Ft. Worth, TX - Ridglea Theater *#
02-28 Austin, TX - Emo's *#
03-01 Houston, TX - Numbers *#
03-02 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon *#
03-03 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree Lounge *#
03-05 Orlando, FL - The Social *#
03-08 Athens, GA - 40 Watt *#
03-09 Charlotte, NC - Tremont Music Hall*#
03-10 Richmond, VA - Alley Katz *#
03-11 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *#
03-13 Philadelphia, PA - TLA *#
03-14 New York, NY - Irving Plaza *#
03-15 Austin, TX - SXSW
03-16 Austin, TX - SXSW
03-17 Cambridge, MA - Middle East *@
03-18 Montreal, Quebec - Theatre National *@
03-19 Ottawa, Ontario - Barrymore's *@
03-20 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House *@
03-22 Chicago, IL - Metro *@
03-25 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club *@
03-26 Iowa City, IA - The Picador *@
03-27 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre *@
03-28 Denver, CO - Marquis Theater *@
03-30 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue *@
04-01 Boise, ID - The Big Easy
04-02 Spokane, WA - The Big Easy
04-03 Seattle, WA - Neumo's *@
04-04 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre *@
04-06 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's *@
04-08 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre *@

* with Isis
# with Torche
@ with Zozobra