Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, formed in 1988 by Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals, programming) and B. C. Green (bass, programming). Before forming Godflesh, the pair worked together in Fall of Because, a band that began in 1982 as O.P.D. and helped lay the groundwork for Godflesh’s formation. Through their fusion of hip hop–derived drum programming, metal riffs, and industrial dissonance, later exploring electronic and dub elements, Godflesh developed a sound widely recognized as foundational to industrial metal and post-metal, and influential across experimental and extreme metal.

The band signed to Earache Records in the late 1980s and released their debut album Streetcleaner (1989) to contemporary and lasting acclaim. After the release of their sophomore album Pure (1992) and their major label debut Selfless (1994), they started experimenting with live drums as well as hip hop and breakbeat sounds. The resulting albums, Songs of Love and Hate (1996) and Us and Them (1999), were followed by Hymns (2001), which saw a simplification of the band's style. Shortly after Green's departure in 2002, Broadrick ended Godflesh and pursued various other projects, such as Jesu. Broadrick and Green reformed Godflesh in 2009, releasing A World Lit Only by Fire (2014) and Post Self (2017) to critical acclaim. Their ninth album, Purge, was released in June 2023. In March 2026, Broadrick announced that Godflesh as a live act was over due to health complications and that two final studio albums were forthcoming.

As pioneers of industrial metal, Godflesh's early sound was defined by harsh machine beats, production-emphasised bass, distorted guitar and sparse vocals delivered in a low, guttural fashion. The band performed for most of their career as a duo with Broadrick and Green playing over preprogrammed percussion, normally to a backdrop of apocalyptic scenery and Christian iconography. Godflesh's music has been regarded as especially heavy and grim, with Streetcleaner being named by several publications as one of the heaviest and greatest metal albums.

The band that would eventually become Godflesh, O.P.D. (Officially Pronounced Dead), formed in 1982 when B. C. Green and Paul Neville, two young musicians living in cheap council estate housing in east Birmingham, started experimenting musically alongside a drum machine. In 1983, the band renamed to Fall of Because, named after a Killing Joke song and a chapter from an Aleister Crowley book. The band found a live drummer, Justin Broadrick, who lived in the same council housing as Green and Neville. Broadrick joined the group in 1984 after organising a concert at The Mermaid in Birmingham. At that show, Fall of Because, Final (Broadrick's first musical act), and an early incarnation of Napalm Death performed before a crowd of twenty-five people. In the months following that concert, Broadrick joined Napalm Death as a guitarist and Fall of Because as a drummer and altered the latter's sound by introducing albums from Swans, Sonic Youth and Discharge to Green and Neville. Only fifteen at the time, Broadrick said he "usurped" their band.

Fall of Because recorded a demo titled Extirpate in 1986, which contained several tracks that would become Godflesh songs. Due to these recordings not being widely available until 1999, they were retrospectively recognised as "eerily" ahead of their time by Exclaim!. Later in 1986, Broadrick was invited to play drums for Head of David, leading to his departure from Napalm Death and soon after from Fall of Because in 1987. Then, in March 1988, he left Head of David for being, according to Broadrick, "too noisy of a drummer", and contacted Green in April to reform Fall of Because as a duo. In that reformation, Broadrick took over on guitar, and the band went back to employing a drum machine for percussion. It was then that the group was renamed Godflesh. Broadrick explained the new name by saying, "I heard someone once say that music is the voice of God. The word 'God' conjures something immense and inconceivable. The 'flesh' part is what effects you on a physical level. Our music is loud and destructive."

Inspired by the bleak urban landscape of Birmingham and the extreme music Broadrick introduced to Green, Godflesh took on a distinctly more industrial tone than the primarily crust punk and post-punk-influenced Fall of Because. In 1988, the band established a presence in underground music by releasing their self-titled extended play (EP) through the Swordfish label. That EP, considered the source of industrial metal alongside Ministry's 1988 studio album The Land of Rape and Honey, combined programmed industrial beats, distorted vocals, low guitar and driving bass riffs to create the sound that Godflesh would become known for.

Shortly after the Godflesh release, the band recorded another EP titled Tiny Tears comprising four short, rough songs. Before Swordfish could release this EP, though, Godflesh were acquired by Earache Records, and the label's founder, Digby Pearson, convinced Broadrick and Green to shelve Tiny Tears and use the songs as bonus tracks on their first full-length album. The band agreed, and in 1989 they released Streetcleaner, which went on to receive critical acclaim and recognition as a landmark album in heavy metal music. Streetcleaner saw the reintroduction of Neville into the band, this time as the second guitarist, and it marked the band's first release of many on Earache. The album further defined Godflesh's sound, standing out from other metal releases with unusual production that emphasised mechanical beats and percussive bass over guitar. Streetcleaner is regarded as particularly heavy and bleak.

From February to March 1991, Godflesh were again in the studio, recording the Slavestate EP, which saw the band experimenting with dance and more electronic elements. Later that year in April, Godflesh embarked on their first tour of North America (a leg of Earache's Grindcrusher tour) with labelmates Nocturnus and Napalm Death. According to Mike Browning of Nocturnus, most of the shows of the 45-day tour were attended by 200 to 300 people. Godflesh missed the first concert due to permit issues, but they made it to the second date at the L'Amour in Brooklyn. The venue was full, and when Godflesh took the stage, their drum machine failed and the band could not continue. When a replacement machine was eventually found, Broadrick and Green hastily programmed in four songs to be ready for the tour's third show at the Channel in Boston. Despite these initial difficulties, the rest of the tour went well and Godflesh drew surprisingly positive reception. Slavestate was released in July after Grindcrusher had concluded. In August and October 1991, both Broadrick and Green guested on Buried Secrets (1992), an EP by Painkiller.