Godflesh pushed their non-metal influences into the emerging extreme metal scene and influenced many important bands (Sepultura and Fear Factory being notable examples). It isn’t dissimilar to what Sonic Youth might have done in a parallel universe. A personal highlight is "Mighty Trust Krusher", which is based on simple looped guitar samples. I’m not sure if they succeeded in recreating the beat, but they made a devastating track that equals the intensity of the source. The single, "Christbait Rising", was (apparently) based on a recreation of the beat to Eric B. The pace, nihilistic lyrics and imagery make it sound like a lost Swans song. "Life is Easy" is the best possible tribute to their main forebear (i.e., "Cop"-era Swans). Godflesh never concealed their influences.
This song has crunching metallic riffs, but the real weight comes from the bottomless, crawling bassline and from the ‘bounce’ of the hip-hop beat (courtesy of the drum machine). Nowhere is this better illustrated than on the opener, "Like Rats". Godflesh brought both the metal and the non-metal heaviness to “Streetcleaner”. The term means something else in hip-hop and dub the depth of the bass and the beefiness of the beats. In metal, heaviness almost always refers to the guitar (i.e., riffs, de-tuning and distortion). Regardless, "Streetcleaner" was the first album to bring a non-metal conception of 'heaviness' into the extreme metal ecosystem. The influences of hip-hop, punk and noisy avant-garde rock (i.e., Swans, Killing Joke, Big Black) are more fundamental. Still, the DNA of the sound comes from elsewhere. There are plenty of metallic riffs, and Godflesh were accepted by the extreme metal scene. I’m less sure whether it counts as a 'metal' record. “Streetcleaner” sounds as groundbreaking now as it must have done when it emerged (way back in 1989). This record is one of the cornerstones of the Earache canon, every bit as legendary as the likes of "Left Hand Path", "Altars of Madness" or "World Downfall".
The 'classic' part of that description is undeniable. I'm going to call this first Godflesh album a ‘metal classic’ for want of a better description.
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