A World Lit Only by Fire by Godflesh

A World Lit Only by Fire is the seventh studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 7 October 2014 through frontman Justin Broadrick's own label, Avalanche Recordings, and was the band's first full-length album since 2001's Hymns. It was preceded by the digital singles "New Dark Ages" in August 2014 and "Imperator" in September 2014, and it was followed by several international tours. Musically, A World Lit Only by Fire is a particularly heavy album driven by repetitive machine percussion, frontman Justin Broadrick's employment of an eight-string guitar and G. C. Green's distorted bass. Broadrick's low, guttural vocals explore the brutality of humankind and the corruption power brings, an approach partially inspired by the book from which the album derives its title. A World Lit Only by Fire was the band's first album to chart in America, peaking at positions 25 and 22 on the Tastemakers and Top Heatseekers charts respectively. Despite this relative success, a planned remix album was never completed. As Godflesh's comeback album after dissolving in 2002, it was the goal of Broadrick and Green to do more than just exploit the media attention of their reformation. Both the album and its preceding EP, Decline & Fall (2014), underwent a long recording and revision process, ultimately culminating in two critically acclaimed releases lauded by some critics as the ideal return for Godflesh; Exclaim! awarded A World Lit Only by Fire a perfect score, and Terrorizer named it the best album of 2014.