Body Count – Merciless

Do we do this? This was the question that popped into my head when this album dropped into my mail. Not a question I ask of myself very often, but when your offered a Rap/Metal album to review for a Punk site, I suppose its something you might think about for a second or two, but it only took me one second to say of course we fucking do!

This is Body Count‘s eighth album, hands up, I’ve not listened to every single one of them, that’s not saying its not music for me, quite the opposite, I’m a fan, just not a full on follower. I think this particular album has taken so many elements and just gone full on metal Slipknot on us, which is more of a good thing from my point of view.  

Driving into the heart of London, entering a shop, jumping into a chair and then realising its a murderous barber shop is just how it feels when you drop the first and title track into your head (or should that be “onto”). This is a theme that seems to flow through the heart of this bloody tirade of an album, the socio political side of the band is never far away, police and authority hating takes a platform, but what’s much more prevalent is the pure gore that this album takes on musically. Songs like ‘Purge’, ‘Psychopath’, and ‘Do Or Die’ make you fully aware of the chilling blood curdling music and lyrics on offer, and just how much of a driven long play this is. It takes all the cold hearted blood thirsty injustice and prejudice that lives in the world and turns it on itself!

The oddness of this album, you might think comes in the form of what they do on most albums, the cover song, ‘Comfortably Numb’ on which Pink Floyd‘s Dave Gilmour features, but even without the lyrical tweaks this version has, this would still stand up to the theme of this album. It’s a sense of the world becoming numb to what the world should not be ignoring, a feeling of let’s just end it whilst we can still feel. If you’re a Metal head, a Hardcore Punk, or just a compassionate human being, then plug this album straight into your brain Matrix style and EXPLODE!  Oh and did I forget to mention its ICE-T at his very best.

Out Now via Century Media Records

Check out the bands WEBSITE for the whole story.