Justin Broadrick, frontman of pioneering industrial metal duo Godflesh, has revealed that a severe hernia caused by decades of shouting over the band's music will force him to stop screaming live, prompting the near-40-year-old act's retirement. The condition, which he ignored for years while performing with hernia belts, eventually grew to 13cm before surgery in February 2026, leaving him at risk of further injury if he continued. The news matters because Godflesh, formed by Broadrick and bassist Ben "GC" Green in 1988, exerted a profound and often underacknowledged influence across heavy metal, from Metallica to nu-metal pioneers like Korn and Slipknot.

Godflesh will release two more studio albums, starting with the forthcoming record Decay, recorded before Broadrick's operation, along with possible archival material, before ending the project entirely. Broadrick, now 57 and based in a remote north Wales village, also discussed his 2022 autism diagnosis, his upbringing in Birmingham amid childhood trauma that shaped the band's bleak sound, and his ongoing work with other musical projects, including collaborations touching on artists such as Phoebe Bridgers.