Digging For Fire Vol. 13: Head of David - White Elephant
I’m not really certain what the entomology of the word Alternative and how it attached itself in defining a whole wide variety of a genertions worth of music. I’m sure theres probably a whole marketing brief dedicated to it out there somewhere on the internet but either way I always thought it was a makeshift term in defining a whole lot of music with several generalities, crossover fans but really little in common in terms of sound. Bands who could be any one of a different things, depending in the predominant tastes of a particular fan. Nothing underscored this better than bands like Ministry, Unsane, Prong, Godflesh & of course Head of David. These bands were post-everything with equal helpings Metal, Hardcore, post-punk & Industrial they were whatever you felt your allegiance may lie. You could dance or you could mos and you could always bang your head.
Head of David in many ways help define the stifling and oppressive assault that would eventually get referred to as Industrial Metal. And despite two beloved albums I think th greatest tes to for their legacy is amount of noise, doom metal & even grindcore bands they would influence for decades to come
White Elephant was Head of David’s third album and tends to get overshadowed by their classic Debut and Dustbowl. It’s like the forgotten step-child after a divorce. Maybe it’s because the album is culled together from separate John Peel Sessions and not a true studio recording, or maybe LP and Dustbowl just too long of a shadow for this album to break free from. White Elephant features much of the same hard thumping rythem and aggressiveness Head of David already built their reputation upon but also lets more of their Stoner/Doom Metal side shine through in places. This always attracted me to this album, and I’m sure it’s no small part due to the fact that the album is entirely a live recording. This would end up being drummer Justin Broadrick’s final album with the band before leaving to form Godflesh and I can’t help to notice that sludgy blueprint to Godflesh’s first EP is written all over White Elephant.
Those of you who enjoy this or may already be fans of Godflesh & Head of David, I encourage you to track down Justin Broadrick’s newest band Jesu (if you already haven’t), in particular their self-titled debut album from 2005 which perfectly marries Doom Metal & Shoegaze.
August 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Good choice! I’ve been on a search to find Dustbowl on CD — or at least a good way of ripping the vinyl version I have to MP3 so I can preserve that glorious album. I have to believe that Broadrick was the main driving force for HoD. The first Godflesh album/EP was a natural progression from the Head of David days into something entirely new and even more “grind”. I found many of the Head of David releases were grind, but did have a bit of hook to ‘em. People who are interested can possibly find copies of these albums out there — good luck if you can but it’s well worth adding to the library!