Jesu is Justin Broadrick (of Godflesh fame) on guitars, programming, and vocals, Diarmuid Dalton on bass, and Ted Parsons on drums and percussion. Conqueror is the trio's follow-up to the Silver EP. Silver was perhaps the template for the sonic evolution of this drone-metal band as Conqueror has successfully married elements of shoegaze in the vein of The Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine and the post-metal dirges of the likes of Sunn 0))), Boris, and Neurosis.
From opening strains of the title track to the last note on Stanlow, the hypnotic rhythms on the bass and drums make up the bed that sets up the dramatic swelling and ebbing tides of guitar noise you'd hear throughout the record. The epic song lengths (no track is below five minutes long) are the equivalent of an unpredictable raft ride down the Deschutes river in Oregon--smooth and calm at certain sections, chaotic and dangerous few moments later. Somehow, the whole experience is immensely enjoyable nonetheless. Transcendental headbanging? You betcha.
