New Horizon (JK Flesh album)

Like the JK Flesh releases that precede it, New Horizon continues into minimal techno territory tinted by Justin Broadrick's decades creating metal music.^[4][5] Musically, the album is dark and textured, with pulsing beats and Broadrick's typically gloomy atmosphere.^[5][3] The sound is informed by dub music.^[6] About the album's deliberately stark style, Broadrick said:

I actually reduce things down so they sound more like a machine for me, not like a musical instrument. It’s somewhat trying to remove myself from the music and remove all shred of humanity.^[7]

Broadrick spent a week in early 2017 recording hundreds of music jam pieces at Avalanche Studios in North Wales which he then edited and mixed over a period of a month "using a combination of hardware and industrial gear, including tape loops and echo pedals". About the process, he said "It was very hands-on and very concise. I don’t generally spend even an hour on one thing—maybe 10 minutes and I’m like, ‘Right, I’ve said everything I need to say. On to the next one.’" The rhythms on the album average between 120 and 135 beats per minute.^[8]

My bottom line is often misery of some context. The new JK Flesh is very much about textures that become very earthy, burly, and somewhat hellish.^[8]

Andrew Ryce of Resident Advisor gave New Horizon a positive review, praising its ominous mood and its "push-and-pull between aggression and restraint".^[4] The Letter's Blair Millen called the album "cohesive, well sequenced and a thoroughly thrilling listen".^[9] Reviewing the album for Noisey's Stream of the Crop selection, Colin Joyce wrote, "It’s gross, it’s humid, but most importantly, it’s alive."^[10] Joyce also described the album as "a chilling and kinetic record of belt-sander techno that’s—to my ears—his defining work as JK Flesh and one of the finest albums he’s put out under any moniker".^[11] The Quietus singled out "External Transmission Stage" as one of their favorite songs of the year.^[12]