(Caldo Verde)

www.caldoverderecords.com

One may suspect, with some justification, that part of the reason Mark Kozelek (of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters) formed his own record label was as much about packaging as it was music.  Jesu's new Opiate Sun EP is a very different kind of music than most of what's been released on Caldo Verde to date, but the stark, striking back and white photography of its cover image and the almost sumptuously simple design and typography of the rest of the EP continues the label's tradition of offering albums that are beautiful objects as much as they are anything else.

Of course, for most of his career the idea of Justin K. Broadrick producing a beautiful object would have been a laughable one.  Beginning with brief apprenticeships in Napalm Death and Head of David, Broadrick's been ploughing various kind of determinedly ugly furrows for decades now, fusing doom metal and industrial music as Godflesh and exploring power electronics and brutal ambience as Final.  In 2003 after winding Godflesh down, Broadrick formed (and largely comprises) Jesu; with occasional help from Ted Parsons on drums and Diarmuid Dalton on bass, Broadrick started out playing a kind of monolithic, crushingly heavy but strongly melodic doom metal on Jesu's 2005 self-titled debut. 

Jesu was remarkably consistent and affecting over its 75 minutes, but Broadrick almost immediately changed tack; much of what Jesu has done since takes the subtler shoegaze elements of the debut and foregrounds them, meaning that at this point a typical Jesu track (if there is such a thing - releases like 2009's 50 minute "Infinity" make it clear that Broadrick is still determined to do whatever he wants) is as striking for how pretty it is as anything else.  That's not a slight - Broadrick's music is still made up of slow-motion volcanoes of guitar and enough fuzz to choke a horse - but I'd bet that the majority of metalheads would no longer recognize something like Opiate Sun as one of their own (and not just because, a strong self-deprecating/depressive streak aside, Jesu has never had much to do with metal's usual lyrical concerns).

For better or worse, though, Broadrick's exploration of his own potent blend of melody and noise hasn't always been as satisfying as the toweringly powerful Jesu was.  2007's Conqueror album, in particular, was a solid effort that was still slightly underwhelming, as if he hadn't quite figured out yet how to take Jesu in a more accessible direction without seeming hesitant.  Or maybe it's just that, the debut aside, Jesu works best in an EP format; the Silver and Lifeline EPs both worked superbly, and in general Jesu's sound is so overwhelming and unvaried that 20-30 minutes might be the best length to experience them at.

Opiate Sun, which sees Broadrick returning to his occasional habit of playing, producing and writing everything on a given release by himself, certainly presents a compelling argument that four songs and 25 minutes is near ideal for Jesu; it's more than enough time to luxuriate in the surprising richness of the sound and Broadrick's increasingly strong melodies without succumbing to a headache or crescendo fatigue.  The EP starts strongly with "Losing Streak," Broadrick's usual multi-tracked, half-muttered vocals lamenting "and we'll never see your face again" while the instrumental breakdowns give us one of his strongest, most off-kilter guitar hooks.  The title track opens with a riff that shows why Kozelek might have gotten interested in Jesu; it's not a million miles away from some of his Neil Young-influenced guitar sorties on Red House Painters songs, albeit slowed to a rolling boil and amped up with distortion.  And "Deflated" continues Jesu's examination of using heavy music as a backdrop for personal soul searching rather than metal's usual themes - certainly I can't think of many other songs that use chugging, drop-tuned guitars as a backdrop for repeated pleas to "give us hope."

Final track "Morning Light" is the closest thing Opiate Sun has to a non-standout number, and even that just means that it's only as strong as most good Jesu songs (and a few minutes shorter to boot).  And as this EP makes clear, that's very strong indeed.

Standout Tracks: "Losing Streak," "Opiate Sun" IAN MATHERS