This album feels like it is a new beginning for the band. We feel really excited about having Ted Parsons in the band and working in the studio with him. There are two noticeable differences with this record than any past albums we have done. Unlike past albums, Ted recorded with us live in the studio this time around and was also an important part of the writing process for Hymns. Also, this album was recorded in a professional studio (at Foel Studio in Wales, UK) rather than our own studio. This was a huge studio with lots of engineers and people helping us get the exact tones we wanted. This was quite an experience for us. This album represents exactly where we want to be with Godflesh right now.
Justin Broadrick / Godflesh interview, Chronicles of Chaos, 2002
GODFLESH released their sixth album on this day in 2001 through Music for Nations. Hymns was the last GODFLESH album until A World Lit Only by Fire, released in 2014 after reforming in 2010.
This turned out to be a really long record for us. We put everything on this record that we had recorded. We just couldn't decide what to take off. We racked our brains on what should go and what needed to stay and it was just so hard to decide so we kept it all on. In this end, we said "fuck it!" We did eventually cut just one song, but that was more of an experimental song with beats that sounded like something from Us and Them. I didn't want anything like that on the record 'cause I absolutely fucking hated that album.
Justin Broadrick / Godflesh interview, Chronicles of Chaos, 2002
It all felt fucking wrong to me. I preferred the demos [to] the actual record itself.
Justin Broadrick / Godflesh interview, Aux.Out, 2015