Justin Broadrick already has a lifetime’s worth of incredibly heavy music behind him. In 1985, at age 16, the Birmingham native played guitar with UK grindcore pioneers Napalm Death; in 1986 he joined noise-rock band Head of David; and in 1988 he cofounded Godflesh, an ice-cold, beastly, drum-machine-driven band that helped lay the groundwork for industrial metal before dissolving in 2002. For much of the past decade, Broadrick has focused on relatively pretty music, mainly with electronic project Final and lush postmetal band Jesu, but even his beautiful soundscapes and earnest, heartfelt melodies have the mass and density he first learned to wield as a teen. In 2010 Godflesh began playing occasional reunion sets at metal festivals, mostly in Europe, and now—after the cancellation of a stateside tour last fall due to visa issues—the band is coming to Chicago for the first time in more than 15 years. Much to the delight of fans who love Godflesh’s early, harsher work, the group is hitting the road in its original incarnation: Broadrick, bassist G.C. Green, and a drum machine,

I would love to have a studio out in the country. I’ve done records in studios like that, and that’s always the best experience. You’re so isolated—there’s no distraction. To me, that’s the best way to work, for sure.

To be honest, if I had to run a commercial studio, I would’ve learned Pro Tools years ago. Obviously, I’m from a generation of one-inch, two-inch tape—even though Godflesh is renowned as being technological, it still took us some time. Even with the drum machine, it was really a necessary evil.

You just wanted the fucking nastiest sound you could get.

But yeah, like I said, Logic is at the core, and then I use a TL Audio tube console. Do you know their stuff, TLA?

Those things are great, man. I love those units. So when you mix, do you still use quite a bit of outboard gear, or are you mostly in the box except for a few things? [Editor’s note: Mixing “in the box” means working on a computer.]

Tue 4/15, 9 PMMetro$23, $21 in advance18+