Justin Broadrick launched his Jesu project in 2004 with Heart Ache, an EP consisting of two 20-minute tracks that stretched Godfleshs drum machine rhythms out and added more shoegaze-influenced guitars. The project gradually gained more melodic and electronic elements, but generally clung to a cold, bleakly beautiful mood with its albums, EPs, splits, and collaborations over the course of two decades. After releasing a revamped edition of Heart Ache in 2021, including two additional versions of the song "Ruined," then giving the deluxe remastered treatment to full-length debut Jesu, Broadrick revisited the format of two side-long slabs of doom with the EP Pity/Piety. "Pity" is Jesu at its most lethargic, slowing the tempo down to a trudge and distorting the atmospheric guitars into a hazy blur, nearly resembling a vaporwave remix of doom metal. However, the lead guitar melodies in the foreground are much clearer, and though theres delay effects scattering Broadricks vocals, nothing obscures his pain when he sings, "There isnt a day that goes by when I dont want to give up." Some of the clouds drift away towards the end, when the guitar melodies become brighter and more fragile, and a pounding drumbeat emerges. It all sounds raw, seemingly played and looped in real time. "Piety" also starts out slow and pitched down so that it sounds crushed and flattened, and after an instrumental period of woozy, disoriented synths, a wistful slowcore guitar melody enters the picture. It remains persistent, and is eventually joined by a supportive bassline and chiming synth textures. Both songs seem to originate from the depths of despair, but end up sounding like flowers growing from the wreckage. ~ Paul Simpson

Rovi