Jesu - 'Ascension'

Just as the even-numbered Star Trek films are best (minus Nemesis), a similar constant governs Jesu releases. The full-lengths are always better. While frontman/multi-instrumentalist Justin Broadrick has released a string of EPs since 2007’s shoegaze/metal masterpiece Conqueror ranging in quality, his new full-length Ascension is the true sequel fans have waited for. It’s a mighty fine record, proving that Jesu isn’t just noise and stoner drone rock.

It takes a couple tracks to prove that, though. Opener “Fools” toys a little with the Jesu formula via acoustic guitar, but it still sounds like typical Jesu: Lengthy intro, long dirges and Broadrick’s plaintive vocals guide the track. “Birth Day” sounds like a Conqueror B-side, laden with ambient keyboards and the slowest drum beat of 2011. Then “Sedatives” kicks in.

The production on the first two Jesu tracks has a certain J. Robbins (ex-Jawbox/Burning Airlines/Channels/Government Issue) vibe. “Sedatives” is a straightforward rocker cloaked in shoegaze guitar, and it has all the uplift I associate with Robbins’ later work, even if it is a few BPMs short Jawbox territory. Jesu is known for being experimental, but “Sedatives” is a rock throwback that reaffirms Broadrick’s mastery. The lyrics are a little on the goth side (“You give life and then don’t feed it”), but they suit the style. “Sedatives” is a big surprise after a seemingly endless string of 20-minute ambient electronic song structures over the last few years.

“Broken Home” returns to classic Jesu, but “Brave New World” and “Black Lies” kick the record’s second half back into the Jawbox vein before “Ascension” calmly plays the listener out. Ascension’s biggest asset is its energy. While the casual listener will probably go, “Yep, this is Jesu,” fans should be excited by the sense of purpose in these songs. The drums are thunderous; the guitars roar. Broadrick keeps the vocals a little low in the mix in true shoegaze fashion, striking a balance between ambience and dissonance.

When Jesu dropped the 50-minute, single track Infinity in 2009, Broadrick insisted that it wasn’t the true sequel to Conqueror. At the time, I tried taking that on good faith, even though part of me thought he was backpedaling since Infinity wasn’t nearly as good as Conqueror. With Ascension’s release, I see that he wasn’t lying. It really is the sequel that took four years to complete.

Jesu - 'Heart Ache' / 'Dethroned'

With the Heart Ache/Dethroned re-release, fans get two possible paths for Jesu, a droning quasi-shoegaze act built around the machinations of Justin K. Broadrick (ex-Godflesh/Napalm Death). Heart Ache, originally released in 2004, shows where the band actually went, which is experimental ambient metal. Dethroned, a heretofore unreleased EP dating back to the same year, is more industrial-tinged. You could even call it sludge metal. Decide for yourself which sound is preferable.

Dethroned is more accessible, but Heart Ache is the better test. If you like the swirling, sludgy drone of the 20-minute title track (“Ruined,” the only other song, is even longer), then you will enjoy the rest of the band’s discography. Some of it’s more ethereal (the EPs), some of it’s more rocking (the full-lengths), but Heart Ache is both the origin story and fulcrum of Jesu. Everything better than Heart Ache is amazing; everything worse than it is pretty monotonous. This is the kind of recording that sounds good turned up like a jet engine or turned down to a whisper. Perhaps the nicest thing I could say is the songs are each 20 minutes long, but they feel like they’re only 10.

Heart Ache takes longer to appreciate, but it’s ultimately both the better half of this release and the right choice for introducing Jesu. Dethroned is still pretty good, though. This disc offers four tracks in 28 minutes. It’s more accessible than Heart Ache, if you can call seven-minute songs with the vocals buried “accessible.” A lot what Jesu does best is represented here: Slow dirges and otherworldly passages abound. But there are little differences. Sometimes it’s as subtle as hearing an actual piano on “I Can Only Disappoint You.” Or it’s in the way opener “Dethroned” is so much more aggressive than what came later that it’s sort of like a bridge between Godflesh and Jesu. It’s easier to get into than Heart Ache, but that kind of makes it disappointing in a way. By being easier to digest, it’s in turn easier to move on from. That said, it’s Jesu. Debate the details, but still listen to both discs.

Envy/Jesu - split

Summer’s halfway over, and I still haven’t made a beach trip yet. Haven’t burnt my feet on sand or dodged New Jersey’s tag policy or rocked my beach records. The Mescaleros, Band of Horses, and Minus the Bear always put me in a sunny mood, and that reissue of Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue was a welcome addition last year. Another album I always spin, preferably at night with the waves crashing in the distance and maybe some percussive rain, is My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. The penultimate shoegaze record, it’s a beautiful hazy mess. A thundering behemoth. The dreamiest, the swirliest, the gosh dang bestest. And while I’ve found other bands that kinda, sorta, almost approximate that sound (M83, Mogwai, Sigur Rós), or rather certain angles of it, nothing has ever quite hit me the same way. And while sometimes that makes me sad, it’s still great to hear MBV’s ideas live on, however directly or indirectly. Which is why I don’t mind the year it took for Envy and Jesu’s split EP to drop in the states.

Jesu and Envy are two top-notch post-rock/post-hardcore/post-MBV bands that blend passion and atmosphere quite well. Envy goes first on the split with three tracks. If these songs recall Envy’s work with Thursday last year, well, that might be because they were recorded around the same time in 2008. There’s a more profound rising/falling arc here than on the Thursday split, and the material, when taken as a whole, feels better conceived. And also like that other EP, Envy comes out sounding like the better band. “Conclusion of Existence” opens the album with a subdued, droning electronic beat and ethereal guitars. It’s so hypnotic and calming that when “A Winter Quest for Fantasy” repeats the same trick before exploding during its final 90 seconds, it’s revelatory. Here is a band with a grasp of both chaos and order, violence and passivity. After this superb rising action, “Life Caught in the Rain” brings the listener back down. Where Loveless blew out of the gate with “Only Shallow” before creating a mood that stretched across the album, Envy shows moderation upfront, with a dynamic second act. However, all three tracks need to be considered together; the sequencing is crucial.

Jesu fills out the record’s backend with two lengthy ambient dance jams. Loveless was a lot of things; one them being a prediction of the U.K.’s love of jungle and techno. “Hard to Reach” winks at “Soon,” blending in cloudy, swirling instrumentation over a mid-tempo dance beat. At almost 14 minutes long, it’s somewhat of a patience-tester. But then, if you’re going to hate Jesu for droning too much, you probably shouldn’t have put ‘em on in the first place. “The Stars That Hang Above You” is more manageable at about half the running time, and just as solid. The tracks lack the flow of Envy’s material, though. Not that it’s a knock or anything. It’s just that Jesu’s songs work more individually, especially since “Hard to Reach” cycles through a number of ideas before its conclusion.

I know it’s been a year since these songs were written and recorded and what-not, but I can’t help but wonder where Envy and Jesu will go from here. Envy’s half of this split is arguably the best I’ve heard from them so far. Jesu’s got a full-length and an EP nearing completion for 2009. Until then, at least I’ve got five more nighttime ocean jams.